7/29/05 They put me to work?!?

Well I guess they had to do it. I started seeing clients this week. Currently we are working full time out of the clinic as the mobile surgery van is STILL being repaired from damage done in hurricane Ivan. It is a very nice building but sorely lacking in items regularly found at every clinic back home. Things like 3mL syringes, diagnostic tests, most medications, and a floor scale for dogs to walk on. I only mention the floor scale because that means I have to lift every single dog onto a regular home scale and subtract my weight. No big deal for the average 30 lb. Pothound (I'l tell you about them later) but I've already had to deal with what I hope are the biggest friggin' dogs on the island: several 60 lb. Pitbulls (they're here too), a 70 lb. Rotti and a 125 lb. pregnant Rotti (she is why they invented the walk on floor scale).

I was told that once word was out that the GSPCA had a vet then the people would come in droves and they did! Mostly I saw dogs for vaccines and mange, both Sarcoptic and Demodex.

Mange seems to be a common theme with these guys and I'm sure that I'll go through Ivermectin like water! This is what one of Peggy's dogs looked like when she arrived at the GSPCA with a terrible case of mange. She now has a nice thick coat and is a cool dog!!


Parvo is also a major problem. For the non-vets reading this, Parvo is what one would call a BAD disease. The virus attacks the rapidly dividing cells of the intestines causing severe vomiting and bloody diarrhea (this has a somewhat unique smell and it is not at all like roses). These animals will almost invariably die due to dehydration and sepsis if they are not kept on IV fluids and antibiotics for several days while the body learns to fight the viral infection. And the worst part about all this is that there is a very reliable and cheap vaccine for this disease. We had two Parvo dogs on IV fluids during the week and causing quite the mess in their cages. Let us just say that I am very tired of cleaning up awful smelling puppies and trying to keep their IVs patent. I'll spare you the details about these two except to say that both were very happy to go home!!

So your average dog that is over 10 lbs. down here is what they call a Pothound. A few examples:

They're mostly very sweet natured dogs, very skinny, and running around all over this island! The reason that they're called Pothounds is due to what they were generally given to eat. People used to, and still do, eat rice and beans as a main staple of their diet. They would make a big pot of rice and beans to eat during the week and whatever was stuck to the bottom of the pot was fed to the dogs. Any dog that is less than 10 lbs. is called a Pompec. Why the hell they're called that I have yet to figure out!

Besides the Parvo puppies, there were some other memorable patients this week. One morning this week I wake up to find a box of mangy puppies at the front door. Lovely, just what I always wanted!

Well, they for sure were cute despite being loaded head-to-toe with mange. We bathed, dewormed, fed, and started treating the mange. Unfortunately, despite syringe feeding, subcutaneous fluids with a little dextrose, and our best efforts only the largest puppy survived. He is the second one in the above series of photos but he seems to be thriving!

Another sad case was a sweet but severely neglected Pitbull. The story goes that this guy's neighbor was just ignoring his dogs. This guy finally convinced his neighbor to let him bring the dog to see us. Unfortunately you can see the results of the neglect below.

We placed her on IV fluids with a little dextrose and she ate a small amount of turkey. A little while later the turkey was back on the floor and she refused to eat anymore. We could not run any bloodwork but I'm sure that we can all agree that it wouldn't have looked too good. The next two days on IV fluids she continued to get weaker and vomit so the good guy who brought her in decided that it was time to let her have some peace.

It certainly was not an easy week on multiple levels. With all the work to do and a limited amount of help I can see where it would be easy to get burned out quickly. Uh-oh, I told them I would stay a whole year?!? Idiot! And my lips hurt real bad! Apologies to all who have not seen Napolean Dynamite. Well, we'll have to figure this out.

This weekend I'll recharge. Tomorrow Peggy and I are heading up to one of Grenada's sister islands, Carriacou for the 40th annual Carriacou Workboat Regatta.