‘Dr. K,’ the exotic pet vet from South Florida, is back on TV for new season of wild office visits
Lifestyle
Dr. Susan Kelleher is an exotic pet vet in Deerfield Beach. Viewers and clients call her Dr. K. She treats almost anything that fits through the door. For four years, she’s been the host of “Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER” on Nat Geo Wild.
Dr. Susan Kelleher is an exotic pet vet in Deerfield Beach. Viewers and clients call her Dr. K. She treats almost anything that fits through the door. For four years, she’s been the host of “Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER” on Nat Geo Wild. Johnny Diaz , the setting for Nat Geo Wild’s cable reality show “Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER.”
For the past four years , cameras have shadowed Kelleher and her staff of 13 as they treat just about anything that can crawl, hop, slither or fly through the front door. Her motto is “If it fits through the door, I’ll treat it” — except venomous snakes. Her cases have included neutering a rat, installing a pacemaker for a ferret and having a shell made from a 3-D printer for a tortoise that was injured by a driver after Hurricane Irma.
“Every day is different,” Kelleher said with a smile as she sat in her office between surgeries. She had just treated a 24-year-old Russian tortoise for a wound, one of her six patients by midday. “That is one of the cool things about my practice, we see animals that live decades and decades and decades, which is fascinating. You don’t see that in a dog and cat practice. It’s a whole different level of bond with the pet when people have them that long.”
The Broward Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital in Deerfield Beach is the setting for Nat Geo Wild’s cable reality show “Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER.”
Dr. K is Dr. Susan Kelleher. For the past four years, cameras have shadowed her and her staff of 13 treat just about anything that can crawl, hop, slither or fly through the front door of her clinic.
Here is a look at some of Kelleher’s wild patients and her offices. (Johnny Diaz)
We caught up with Kelleher, a married mother of three children ages nine to 14, ahead of Sunday’s 9 p.m. season premiere of her show. As the Loxahatchee resident sat in her office under anatomical posters for rabbits and birds, she talked about life on and off camera in South Florida.
What are your most common patients?
“It depends on the day. A lot of birds. A lot of rabbits. You really honestly see everything and anything on any given day. We get fish. A lot of reptiles. Primates. Invertebrates. We have people bring tarantulas in. Large exotic cats like lynx or tigers. A lot of pot bellied pigs. People don’t realize how popular they are and how amazing they are as pets. We see anywhere from one to four pigs a day. Mostly intestinal issues. … People absolutely love them. They are phenomenal. They are great family members. They are intelligent. They are fun.”
Is it difficult working with cameras all around you?
“You do get used to having the cameras on. Even though I have done this for 23 years on a daily basis, there is still something that I’ve never seen or something I haven’t necessarily done before that comes in and you’re not only doing it for the first time, you’re doing it on camera for the first time. So that part of it can be a little nerve-wracking. The production company Spectrum (Productions) is great. They are respectful of our space and patients.
“When they are actually filming, this place is mobbed. Ten to 12 extra people, the producer, the show runner, the (production assistants), three camera guys, the sound guy. It’s just a ton of people here. There are Go Pros. Camera guys everywhere. It’s intense. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s intense. This isn’t a lot of space and if they are in the middle of filming something, and they can’t move, you need to … it’s challenging.”
When did you know you wanted to be a vet?
“I am that corny story that I had wanted to be a veterinarian literally since I was 3. This is all I ever wanted to do. And so as a kid, I had a lot of pets, not necessarily normal. I lived in the suburbs of Buffalo. I had a pet chicken, rabbits, dogs, all different kinds of (animals) what my parents would let me have.
“I went to vet school ( University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine) thinking I wanted to be a zoo vet but I really enjoyed the one-on-one relationships with clients. I love people as well as the animals. I like doing that one-on-one with the animals with the clients and family member. There is a lot of value in zoos but you do a lot of herd health and there’s a lot of politics sometimes. I love this. I love what I do with the clients. I enjoy it.”
You’ve been called the MacGyver of vets because you’re resourceful in treating your patients. Is there a recent case that stands out?
“We just had a tortoise who after Hurricane Irma last year, got out of the yard because the fence got damaged. A car drove over it and literally scraped off his top shelf. He had this huge gaping wound, the spine was exposed.”