Get To Know Dr Adriaan Adank from Hayfields Veterinary Hospital
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Thinking back, I never imagined how being a vet would take me on a journey of both miles and mindset. After qualifying from Onderstepoort in 2010, I soon realised that academic knowledge had merely given me a license to learn through daily experiences. After a brief stint in the UK with my veterinary nurse girlfriend at the time – now my wife – I returned home to sunshine and blue skies in Namibia. My first years of ‘vetting’ (as my friends called it) were spent in mixed-animal practice settings in Windhoek, Otjiwarongo, Mariental, and Okahandja. I treated livestock, horses, and pets, while also assisting local wildlife and game capture teams. I was involved with AFSCAN (the African Small Companion Animal Network), and attended inspiring conferences in America, Tanzania, and Uganda. At the end of 2018 my wife and I moved to Hilton in KZN and I have been a partner at Hayfields Vet since 2021.
My love of animals and medicine started early. Growing up in a nature reserve, with parents who shared a love of nature and medicine, gave me an early empathy for animals and a real appreciation for the privilege of caring for them. Add in a lifelong fascination with wanting to take things apart just to see how they fit back together, and veterinary medicine turned out to be a natural fit. Solving puzzles and trying to help creatures that can’t speak for themselves.
When people ask what a typical day looks like, there really isn’t one. While I now work in an appointment-based clinic, veterinary work remains unpredictable. One moment consulting, performing surgery or taking radiographs, the next removing porcupine quills from an unfortunate puppy’s muzzle… one moment showing an owner how to clean ears or feeding an injured bird, and the next, doing an ultrasound on a koi fish or treating a trauma patient.
I’ve always had a special interest in surgery and I find great satisfaction in repairing a physical injury or an anatomical problem. Whether it is a caesarian, a fractured leg or a horse with a cut running the length of its trunk, I love it.
Of course, treating the animal always means navigating the human side of the equation. Veterinary medicine can be emotionally demanding, and compassion fatigue and the heavy mental load are real. Balancing clinical decisions while holding space for an owner’s worry and financial constraints takes a toll, and protecting our well-being helps us stay grounded. I try to read between the lines, tuning in to what owners are saying (spoken and unspoken) so we can untangle the various factors contributing to a pet’s health and welfare together.
Away from the surgery, my life looks different now from when I was often on emergency horse and farm callouts. While I certainly enjoyed the exhilaration, I now cherish this more predictable phase of family life far more. Currently, my favourite moments are quieter, spending time with my wife and our two beautiful daughters. I still like taking things apart though, and sometimes get carried away with fixing things. My girls often say, “Pappa likes to fix things… and break things!” Be that as it may, I do believe strongly in leaving things better than you found them – whether that means repairing a fractured leg, easing an old dog’s pain, helping an anxious owner understand what comes next, or occasionally fixing whatever I have just broken at home.
Veterinary mediciars ago, but one thing hasn’t really changed: every day still brings something I haven’t seen before. And perhaps that is the privilege of being a vet – we never really stop learning, because our patients never stop teaching us!
