Get to know the team
Dr Melinda
Dr Melinda Devenish has over 10 years of experience in small animal medicine and surgery. She started her professional career at the Panorama Veterinary Clinic and Specialist Centre in Cape Town – initially as a general practitioner and later as the sole vet during the emergency night shifts.
After getting married she relocated to Hermanus where she spent almost 3 years working at Hermanus Animal Welfare Society. She then decided to start her own small animal practice in 2018 and that was the beginning of the Village Vet Clinic Eastcliff.
Melinda has a special interest in soft tissue surgery and still particularly enjoys assisting the local animal welfares.
She also loves doing pottery, watercolour painting, baking and sailing with her husband Francois and her two children, Erik and Emma.
Dr Esther
Dr Esther studied veterinary medicine in Vienna, Austria with a special focus on small animal medicine as well as conservation medicine. After sitting the South African board exams in 2015, Esther received a Masters degree with distinction from the University of Pretoria and went on to work in small animal private practice. In the following years, she notably spent over 2 years working the emergency night shift at a large 24-hour practice in Cape Town. Her career then took a turn when Esther decided to take on part-time work in an exotics-only practice (bunnies, rodents, birds, reptiles, etc) while still maintaining work in the field of dogs and cats. Dr Esther is also the main on-call vet for the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary.
Esther enjoys working with a variety of domestic animals including cats, dogs, birds, bunnies, rats and wildlife. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband Rowan, her dogs and birds; meeting friends, baking, snorkeling, reading crime stories and enjoying the beautiful outdoors life of the Overberg.
Lorraine
Lorraine Janke has been our receptionist since we opened our doors in 2018 and is such an asset to the practice. She loves animals and is so empathetic – always striving to keep the hospital patients comfortable and at ease while away from their homes. She is also organised, reliable, friendly and has a knack of remembering what our regular clients need before they call to order it!
