If you're on this page you obviously know me as Dr. Chris Brown,
not only the OPTIMUM brand ambassador, but perhaps also as the
Bondi Vet. But many of you may not know that I didn't always want
to be a veterinarian. That was my father's profession as I was
growing up and although I was surrounded by furry friends and our
backyard was home to everything from koalas to cattle, it wasn't
the path I initially wanted to follow.
But then something happened during high school. My dear friend
and family dog, Claude, passed away suddenly from a heart
condition. This was a turning point in my life. It was then that I
decided to find out exactly how Claude got sick and what I could do
to keep animals healthy.
I graduated from Sydney University in 2001, where I completed a
Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree. After graduating, I began
working at a clinic on the North Shore in Sydney. Part of my job
here, was to travel to remote Aboriginal communities in the deserts
of the Northern Territory to treat animals that had never been
treated before by a vet. This was a significant experience for me,
as with extreme temperatures and basic living conditions, the
health of the animals as well as the people who could contract
diseases from animals depended very much on having a veterinarian
available to treat and educate them.
The unique combination of animals that we treat in Bondi
Junction is one of the reasons that we shoot on-location at Bondi
Junction Veterinary and also get to work off-location. The Bondi
Clinic is very supportive of having TV crews around. With the
clinics backing, we all have the opportunity to work from the beach
to the bush, with the scary and the strange as well as those just
needing a second chance. This experience has given me a multitude
of interesting stories that I hope people at home get to enjoy as
much as those of us who get to meet the animals.
While Bondi Vet is my most well known profession, my work with
Bondi Junction Veterinary Clinic has also opened the door to many
other opportunities to enrich the lives of people and their pets.
These include my connection with
OPTIMUM™ and the
work they do with the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition to develop
nutritional formulations for cats or dogs of all ages and sizes, as
well as publishing a book or two and my work with Network Ten and
the living room.
Finally, on a more personal note, some of my hobbies include
photography, mainly landscapes and animals of course as well as
surfing. So obviously living in Sydney and enjoying surfing Bondi
is a great spot for me. Oh and I can't forgot to mention I also
have a dog; a kelpie named Rusty.
Feel free to look around my pages, where I have answered some of
your burning cat and dog questions.
Dr. Chris Brown