With
seven years of Australian television experience under
her fashionable belt, the Aussie veterinarian thought
she had seen it all. But nothing prepared her for the
animal adventures she encountered on this side of the
ocean in her popular TV series, Beverly Hills Vet. "Australians
love their animals but in Los Angeles, people are obsessed,"
Katrina says, laughing. "I went to a dog séance
and birthday parties and even a bird wedding. I'm not
sure if the macaws appreciated they were actually married
but it was fun."
A specialist in animal behavior, Katrina felt many of
the strange situations she encountered stemmed from people's
inability to let animals be animals. "One of the
most challenging cases was an aggressive pot-bellied pig.
He was raised in the house like a dog but pigs are herd
animals and he really should have been outside where he
could root around and have a bit of a natural life."
The pig wound up spending down time at a pig camp called
Little Orphan Hammies.
Another case involved a woman who carried her little dog,
Spike, with her everywhere. "She simply could not
put the dog down," explains Katrina. "If she
did, he would start crying. This woman had no dates or
social life she just spent all her time with Spike."
Katrina says problems like these are not with the animals,
but with the humans, and trying to resolve them is really
difficult because the behavior patterns are so well established.
"We tried to encourage Rebecca to put the dog down
for five or ten minutes at a time and just ignore him.
We would give him things to occupy himself, such as raw
bones to chew on. We tried to get her to take Spike to
the park so he could run around and really be a dog. People
need to remember that it may be fun to dress them up and
have birthday parties and such but they are animals and
you have to allow them to use their instincts and run
for awhile, too."
Trained in conventional veterinary medicine,
her television work has given Katrina the opportunity
to explore more alternative therapies, which are just
starting to make their debut in Australia.
"We did a couple of great stories on the show about
a horse who had chiropractic and massage and you can see
how much the horse loved his massage. We've done stories
on acupuncture, herbal remedies and animal communicators.
I've met three or four communicators and one made the
hair stand up on my arms! I say to people, If it enhances
your relationship with your animal, then I think it's
all worthwhile."
| The
complete article appears on page 22 in
the January/February 2004 issue of Animal
Wellness Magazine. SUBSCRIBE
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