Advertisement
So my adventures in Africa have started!
I arrived on Sunsay 28th June at Cape Town and flew to East London, to be met by Alex, the Safari4u coordinator. I arrived at the house in Cinsta, the town where we are living, and was introduced to everyone at Dennis' house. Dennis is the owner of the company and the organiser of everything here. There are 2 houses with volunteers and staff in, and I am staying in Dennis's house with a bunk room. There are 2 obese cats which sleep on my bed every night and paw and climb on my face most of the night. There are 2 dogs too and also a piglet in the garden called Tofu who is an orphan from the pig farm that we work at.
Rick, my friend in my year from uni is the main vet here and has been here for a few months. It was so good to hear all of his stories and hear of the adventures we are likely to have over the next 6 weeks. There are 15 students at the moment, 10 3rd year vets from new zealand and 5 undergraduates (pre vets)
Examining the worst affected dogs
This dog has a mix of demodectic and sarcoptic mange, and was totally bald. It will take months for his hair to grow back and the mites may never totally resolve. Poor poochfrom the USA. Then there is Kim who is a vet nurse from the UK and also a programme coordinator.
Monday was dog day and we dipped dogs in the Cinsta township, dipping them in Amitraz for mange and ticks and fleas. We wormed the puppies too and treated any medical conditions. The dogs were in reasonable condition but the population is out of control as none of the dogs are neutered. Some of the puppies were so pale because of their parasite burden. We taught the students about basic diseases, from cryptorchid dogs, umbilical hernias, ear infections, mammary tumours and eye problems. All of the kids in the township demand being picked up all of the time which adds to the experience! In the afternoon we darted a waterbuck at a farm, with Louie, a local wildlife vets who we work with. His job is to drive around game reserves darting things, Amazing!
Tuesday was giraffe capture day! We awoke at 5am to travel to the reserve, and I was struggling with my miled car narcolepsy on the bumpy road! We arrived and practiced giraffe capture on one of the students, 2 people
running to cover the giraffes eyes and put cotton wool in its ears and place a haltar, 2 people wrapping a rope around its neck and forelimbs, and 4 people roping its bum. Chaos followed, classic South Africa style and we ended up in the wrong truck and had to traverse some of the park on foot, climbing up rocks and passing antelope carcasses and warthogs running away from us. The giraffe trailer got a tear in the tyre from a rock. Then Louie darted the giraffe and she ran down a ravine, and went down out of sight of everyone. Panic followed as you have 6 minutes after darting to reverse a giraffe, as they are very susceptible to the drugs. People say they are like giant rabbits in terms of anaesthesia. 35 minutes passed and we were running up and down this slope trying to find her. We eventually did and Louie was on the other side of the ravine. She was so lucky to be alive - louie said she had a 5%chance of being alive, and the only reason why she was, was because she was in sternal recumbency. Louie reversed her IV, and she stood
up, very confused as to why she had been shot at and then woken up with cotton wool in her ears. She looked pretty sorry for herself wobbling about and with cotton wool accidentally left in her ears, but at least she was alive.
In the afternoon we went to a farm to dip and inject sheep, and we taught the students how to do a clinical exam on a sheep, where I made one of the students pretend to be a sheep. Ticks are a huge problem in the area, and tick bourne disease such as babesia, ehrlichia, heartwater are major problems. The "pasture" these animals survive on is dry, tough and nothing like the green grass we see in England.
Wednesday we went rectalling cattle in the morning, and I taught the students how to do manual pregnancy diagnosis. Most were quite advancex pregnancies but the sun was shining and I was loving life. We also went to their intensive pig unit and took our little piglet Tofu back home again. We discussed pig diseases and the ethics of factory farming vs intensive farming on a deck in the sunshine, overlooking a watering hole.
In the afternoon we visited a snake park and discussed some basic reptile diseases and held some of the snakes. Ironically, when we got home Dennis said there was a dog that has been bitten by a puff adder (highly venomous snake) that needed seeing. This poor dog was in a total state, and the owners couldnt afford the vets fees. It had been bitten 2 months ago on its face, but it's jaw was tactically fused, had facial muscle wastage, KCS on the left eye. However his skin was the worst - gangrenous necrosis of both hind limbs, one which had been bandaged up, and the smell coming from the matted hair on its back was necrotic. I suspect if we clipped it back the whole of its back end would have sloughed off. It was either delayed cytotoxic effects of the adder bite or severe mange or dermatitis, but the dog needed hospitalising and intensive care, and they couldnt afford it. The dog was young and I was gutted but the only option was euthanasia. At least I could stop any further suffering.
Thursday we returned to the Fletchers farm for more sheep work, injecting
and dipping, and treating lots of eye problems. He has had an outbreak of sheep scab and is injecting 1400 sheep weekly. Whilst the students were busy doing this, Rick taught me how to fire a dart gun. I was terrified, mainly because a drop of etorphine, the drug we use for darting, can kill a person. Turns out im ok at firing the darts into a feed bag though. It was brilliant fun. I fired at 20,40 and 50 meters, and practised from a truck and whilst standing. Still much easier than a moving animal! In the evening we had a ride on the back of a pickup to the local shop to buy cider and then have a drink in the local bar, before having a BBQ at the Fletcheers house, with the best lamb steak in the world. Much singing, dancing and drinking occurred. There were some questionable dance moves from some of the students.
Friday we drove to a new township who had contacted us to help treat an outbreak of mange. You have never seen so many dogs in one place, people were bringing them out of nowhere! Before we knew it we had an audience of kids, locals and a queue of dogs, puppies and one terrified cat. Rick and I had our work cut out checking injuries and illnesses in the dogs at various dipping stations, and the students were exposed to a lot of conditions. I have never seen true mange before and some dogs were severely affected. We treated nearly 200 in total, and we had to leave some untreated as we ran out of medication. The worst cases had ivermectin injected as well as Amtraz dip. We saw a horrific vaginal prolapse and some severe flea and tick anaemias. Distemper is also a major problem. It makes you realise what can happen if populations aren't controlled and parasites are not treated. Some of these dogs had never seen a vet in their lives, and I felt like we really did some good. It is going to take months to get this outbreak under control.
The weekends we are free to explore and adeventure, except Dennis called me Saturday morning to see a sick cow. I faced driving the landrover with some students for the first time, and we treated it for heart water disease (ehrlichia). In the afternoon we chilled on the beach, I made a hippo in the sand and we played frisbee with the dogs. In the evening we had another bbq followed by a bonfire for 4th July and ate smores and played drinking games on the beach.
Sunday we had an amazing day at a local private game reserve, where we did elephant interaction and patted and fed some elephants, then had an incredible lunch, followed by a 2.5h game drive, where we saw zebra, antelope, ostrich, rhino and white lions. It is sad that most rhino in South Africa regularly have their horns cut off with a chain saw, to stop them from being poached. One of the lions has a massive laceration in its leg from a fight, and hopefully we will get to stitch it up this week! Then we had a cheetah interaction where we were able to pet tame cheetahs who had been hand reared after being orphaned as Cubs. The cheetahs literally act like giant cats and purr louder than a lawn mower! They were the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.
This week I have had the time of my life. I have been thrown in at the deep end but have loved teaching the students and getting involved as a vet and treating some seriously desperate patients. Sometimes I forget how amazing this job is.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0306s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Hazel
non-member comment
Wow!
Hi Nic, that was SO lovely reading about all your adventures and hearing about all the good work being done. Those poor dogs looked and sounded in such pain :-( So good to hear you are able to help them. Please keep the updates coming and enjoy the rest of your time there... :-)