Before the outbreak, Katjaa worked as a veterinarian and lived with her husband, Kenny, and her son, Duck, in Fort Lauderdale. Katjaa met Kenny when she moved to America from Belgium with her family when she was a teenager. She started working in a vet's office, and received her license a few years later. During the beginning of her training, she regularly practiced on farm animals. She started her veterinarian office and met Kenny when he brought in a sick octopus that needed help. She merrily told an anecdote once of how the Wildlife Rescue Center would regularly bring in injured alligators to be treated before their release back into the wild. She was traveling with her husband and son from Memphis, Tennessee after visiting her family when the apocalypse started.