Last Day of Clinics

Where oh where is everybody...

November 20, 2014  Thursday

Well, it certainly poured rain all night and this am.  No going out in the kayak today!  By the time we got to the clinic the rain had stopped.  We had to get the tents put back up, they had not blown away!  Unfortunately, the heavy rain and a cruise ship being in port were probably instrumental in keeping most people away.  It got busier in the afternoon as the weather continued to be very nice.  

One of the cases I saw was an older female dog for a spay.  I noticed she had an enlarge vulva and check for TVT (transmissible venereal tumor) which she did have.  She had just been acquired by an ex-pat that took her from some people that were not caring for her.

Harmony doing surgery with Dr Mike.  Note the box she needs to stand on to see well!

.  As I started the spay, the surgery site bled a lot.  I commented that she probably had erlichia, a common disease in Central and South American countries transmitted by ticks, so she was tested.  Turns out she was positive for erlichia, anaplasmosis (another tick born disease) and heartworms!  Poor old girl! 

The snap test shows the dog is positive for erlichia, anaplasmosis and heartworm.

She was treated with vincristine for the TVT and will get several more doses over the next couple of months and should be cured of that.  She was also put on doxycycline that will take care of the tickborn diseases and put on heartworm prevention to slow down the heartworm disease.  The dog is very lucky that she now has an owner that will care for her!

Whenever a patient showed up for a consult, the team would discuss the importance of spay/neuter and try to convince the owner to have the pet altered.  Occasionally they were successful.  Most often not, unfortunately.  There was an Rottweiler female with severe entropion (the eyelids roll inward and rub on the cornea).  The owner wanted to just have the eyes repaired (it can be done surgically) but we could only do it if the dog was spayed as well.  Nope, the owner wanted to breed her.  We explained that this was problem that would be passed on to her puppies.  The owner still declined.  Too sad.

A patient being carried in for a spay.
She looks so much like a little dog I used to have named Lucy.  This one is named Molly.

We were delighted, though, because although we did not get as many surgeries done as we had hoped, there were many cats and many male dogs brought in for surgery over the three days!  The numbers of total surgeries are tracked, but not the numbers of cats vs dogs or spays vs neuters.  It would have been interesting to know.

Dr Brad with local kids.

Mary Anne, Nikki and Dr Stacy with local kids and their pups.

Mary Anne with a very handsome pitt bull and his owner.

Dr Scott with the pitty.  Look at the size of that dog's head!

LOL!!!  Dr Stacy doing the "high wire act"!

Of course, it is on a wide board, not a high wire...

...and not far to fall, but it would be into the mud!

These are a few of the leases that dogs were brought in with.

We traded them for new collars and nice leashes.

Kimberly.  She is a rep at MWI in Florida. 

Winda is a dental assistant and veterinary assistant in San Francisco.

Nikki, vet student, Mary Anne, working on getting into vet school, and Dr Scott from Montana

Kateelyn, a tech from the Seattle area holding Molly.
Tonia, a tech from San Francisco.

Foxy, ex-pat from England.  She was a great help and very fun to visit with!  She is an artist, photographer and tattoo artist.

Finally, it was time to pack up, break down and clean up the site.  With the entire team working, it did not take long.

Back at the house most folks gathered and chatted about the week, made plans for the last day and plans for staying in contact in the future.  Lisa, the caterer, made another wonderful meal for us.  Devon had put together a slide show of the photos he had taken the day before.  It was wonderful!  What a nice way to end the evening!

Lisa made many wonderful meals for us.  She owns a catering business here in Roatan.

Kateelyn and Harmony with Nikki's new puppy.

Another young puppy was injured about 9 days ago: possible pelvis injury and neurologic problems.  Nikki adopted the puppy and is taking him back to the USA to try to get him back to health.  He is a darling little guy and would not have much of a chance if he stayed here in Roatan. 

Feeding a hungry puppy!

Off to bed, tomorrow some of us are going scuba diving and others will go horseback riding… then an afternoon on a boat and snorkeling… weather permitting! 

Hasta manana! 

PS  Thanks again to Sandy for all the great photos!!