Fanimals
Kiwi vet Stacey Tremain finds a new audience
Popular television vet Stacey Tremain is taking on his toughest challenge yet – answering questions from Kiwi kids.
The former Kiwi Living and Vet Tales star is the ‘‘Ask Me Anything’’ Vet on the new weekday afternoon TV series Fanimals.
Made by Christchurch’s Whitebait Media, the team behind popular family shows What Now and The Adam and Eve Show, the programme sees Tremain joined in the studio by host Jess Quilter, Molson the dog, rescued kittens Micro and Chip and two rabbits.
Stuff caught up with the Rotorua-based veterinarian before the show’s debut on Monday, March 12.
What are you most looking forward to about your new role?
I like that I’m going to be able to help educate Kiwi kids. As my title suggests, I’m the ‘‘ask me anything vet’’.
When viewers have a question, they can just call or go via social media and I can give a nice answer that’s at their level.
However, I have heard that Jess also has got a whole lot questions designed just to absolutely stump me.
Have you found, in your own vet practice, that kids have a different perspective to adults?
Yeah, the kids are the ones that you ask what happens on a day-today basis.
That’s because Mum and Dad are so busy, they come and go, ‘oh, there’s a problem and I’m going to fit it in here’. But if the pet hasn’t been eating, drinking, or there’s an issue with toileting, I often ask the kids about it, because they’re the ones that know. I think their observations are better than we give them credit for.
So how do you determine how much information or detail to give kids, if there’s a problem?
That is one of the things I learned out of Vet Tales.
On a daily basis, I can look in a child’s eyes and kind of judge what words to use and decide whether or not to talk about the potential gore that might be about to happen.
With Fanimals, I think the environment here is perfect, because I can tailor make it. What I tell Cathy from somewhere who is 8 years old is going to be a different answer to such and such who is 12.
Do you think there are geographical differences in New Zealand with regards to the animals kids own or are interested in?
Generally, the only thing I’ve noticed is probably a city versus country divide.
When I was in Gisborne, it was pretty much pig dogs and hunting dogs, whereas in Auckland it was just completely cats and little dogs.
Rotorua is pretty cool because we get a little bit of both. You get the farming kids who are pretty rugged and only come in if there’s a proper problem, like their dog has a broken leg.
Then you get little Timmy from the flash part of Rotorua by the lakes who brings in his little maltese who has got a little bit of red on his paw.
I also think, in New Zealand, things are kind of going the way things were when I was back in London 10 years ago. The scope of animals has become wider.
We are starting to see more lizards – bearded dragons, bluetongued geckos – than five years ago.
What would be the one message you would like to get across to kids (and their parents) about animal ownership?
The thing for me is dog and pet safety in general. Some kids, and this is just one guy’s observations, they clearly love animals, but they’ve just got no idea.
They don’t know what they don’t know, so they either come in too hot or too cold. The cat or the dog then gets a bit freaked out or scared and then we get a situation on our hands where somebody’s hurt.
And then, all of a sudden, the bigger picture is that we then have kids that are scared of animals and that goes into adulthood.
Whereas, if we can maybe have some basic skills and grow the child-animal relationship in general – and maybe I’m going too far here – then you’re going to get a better society.
Because if you’ve got that caring aspect towards animals, you’re going to grow a much better society in general.
Finally Stacey, tell us a little bit about your own animal history and how you became a vet.
When I was a kid, Mum and Dad both worked in the city and so I got shuttled out to the country.
I look back now and think I was lucky.
I had a best friend in the country and a best friend in the city and it was just normal. I got to ride dirt bikes, go and get the cows in and feed the lambs, while, at the same time, I also had a paper run and going to whatever sports practice I had on my bike.
Because we moved around a bit I never had a dog and I felt hard done by, to be honest. However, as I was growing up I thought, ‘‘what do I want to do’’ and it was either animals or kids. Now there are days where it doesn’t feel like work. It’s suddenly home time and I think, ‘‘man, I get paid to do this?’’
I think I’ve made the right choice. It’s gone pretty well so far.
Fanimals 4pm, weekdays, TVNZ2 from March 12.
'I have heard that Jess also has got a whole lot questions designed just to absolutely stump me.'
Stacey Tremain