Introducing Our Practice Team:

Everyone at Heronden Vets is committed to providing you with the very best in pet healthcare.  Our veterinary team is a wonderful group of very professional people who have a shared attitude of compassion towards you and your pet.

Veterinary Surgeon and Director of Heronden Vets

Dr Victoria Vidal - BSc Hons DVM MRCVS

Victoria started her career in horse racing in Newmarket, going on to work in Africa on a black rhino conservation project and subsequently in Geneva. She has worked in both small animal and equine practices around the UK and after pausing her career for children, she opened Heronden Vets as a practice focused on compassionate care. Victoria lives in Tenterden with her husband, daughter, three horses, two dogs, a cat and two lazy snakes. At home, Vicky has a fondness for buying old, pre-loved furniture and riding her horse..

 

Our Team

Andrei Uricaru CertAVP MRCVS

Andrei has been working as a surgical bias vet since 2012 and as a referral surgeon since 2014. He is used to busy and challenging cases and he loves working as an orthopaedic surgeon. He is competent in a wide range of surgeries, from fractures and cruciate ligament surgeries to arthroscopies. 

Having 3 cats and 2 dogs at home, he knows and understands the pressure of putting your loved friend through surgery and he will always have the best interest of your pet at heart. 

Katie Cranstoun - BVetMed Hons MRCVS

Katie qualified from the Royal Veterinary College London in 2007. She began her time in practice as a mixed and equine vet. For the last seven years she has worked in small practice. She has a particular interest in soft tissue surgery and pain management in older pets. She also practices veterinary acupuncture.

Outside of work Katie enjoys horse riding, running with her slightly crazy boxer dog Mabel and spending time with her husband and their two young children.

Anna Skinner - BVSc MRCVS Cert AVP (small animal medicine)

Anna graduated from Bristol Uni in 2010 and worked in Essex and Suffolk for 5 years (as a small animal vet and doing a small amount of equine work) until she moved to Kent with her husband Tim. In 2016 she completed her RCVS certificate and became an RCVS advanced veterinary practitioner in small animal medicine. After a few years in a practice in Surrey, 2 daughters, getting her cat Gingerbread and a house move she joined the Heronden in 2021.

Anna particularly enjoys challenging medical cases and soft tissue surgery. Her spare time is taken up with her two small children, but she hopes to get back to her hobbies (horse riding and netball) when she has more time! 

Adam Urbanski - PGCERT SAS DVM RCVS

We are delighted to welcome Adam to the practice who will be standing in for Vicky while she is in the practice but recovering from wrist surgery. 

Adam qualified as a vet in 2006  and loves general practice but in particular loves cardiovascular/scans and all apsects of surgery.

We are thrilled to have him on the team.

Charlie Allaway - Practice Manager

Charlie spent the early part of her career working in London and travelling the globe on business.  Charlie’s true passion is horses and she competed successfully at Eventing before having her children.

Having started a family she began working part time within the pet industry to allow her to balance her family, work and love of animals. In 2012 she moved down from Buckinghamshire to set up a livery yard near Rye. Her children regularly compete all over the country with their ponies. Charlie loves all creatures great and small and has her own menagerie, including several chickens, pigmy goats, three dogs, four cats, five horses and too many reptiles to mention!

Lolly Thompson - Receptionist

Lolly joined the practice full time in October 2023 as part of our Reception team.

Lolly has completed her Level 1 training in Animal Health which she is looking to continue & has spent the last 10 years working in the Equine and Dairy industry.
 
She has a  love for all animals, big and small and has a specific interest in Critcal and Emergency Care.

 

Outside work Lolly enjoys walking in the countryside with her flatcoat retreiver and spending time with family and friends.

 

Jessica Summers RVN - Head Nurse

Jessica Summers RVN is Head Veterinary Nurse at Heronden veterinary surgery, she is also clinical coach to our nursing student. Jessica trained to be a registered veterinary nurse at Canterbury College in 2017 and has a passion for all areas of veterinary nursing, especially emergency critical care and medical nursing. Jessica has undertaken further training in areas of nursing consultations such a diabetic monitoring, feline behaviour and dentistry.

When she is not at work Jessica enjoys spending time in the Kent country side walking with her two Hungarian Vizslas, Mia and Magnus, or on horseback with her mare Flossy.

Laura Ashmore RVN - Supreme Admin & Insurance Guru

Laura qualified as a nurse in 2006.  She has a particular interest in cats, feline behaviour and medicine.

Laura has a young daughter so took a couple of years out from nursing and have come back to Heronden to help on the admin side, in particular the insurance claims.

Out of work she spends time with her family, her cats and her horse.

Mollie Fiander

Mollie has always had a variety of pets & always knew she would be working with animals. 

Mollie started off as a kennel nurse in 2017 at a practice in Bromley and worked her way up & qulifying as an RVN in 2021 subsequently moving to Tenterden when she joined us at Heronden in 2023. 

In her spare time Mollie likes to visit National Trust properties with her rescue dog Captain & enjoys travelling to visit her family.

Aimee Rowe

When Aimee left school she  wanted to train to work in the veterinary industry but got a little distracted on her gap year by horse racing. 

She has spent the past 6 years working in racing alongside training and racing her own horse.

The opportunity arose to start training as a vet nurse at Heronden Vets which I am really enjoying especially learning  about Radiography. 

Lucy Saunders

Lucy joined the practice in May 2023 having previously worked in Tonbridge as and Animal Care Assistant. She has always had a passion for animals & her goal has always been to qualify as an RVN. 

Lucy has a 17 year old Jack Russell terrier called Rosie who she loves spending time with. 

She is enjoying training at Heronden as a student nurse and her special areas of interest are theatre work and in-patient care. 

Jessica West
Jessica joined the practice as our Student Veterinary Nurse in April 2023. 
 
After having her daughter she decided to persue her lifelong dream of becoming a Veterinary Nurse.
 
Jessica is finding every side of nursing interesting, especially all aspects of surgery and post operative care.
 
Outside work Jessica and her daughter enjoy exploring the Kent countyside and spending time with family, friends and her kittens.