I first went out to Animal Care Samos as part of a training trip in August. I was amazed at the hard work and commitment of the volunteers and was keen to return on another neutering trip.
And so I did…equipped with a few more drugs and my husband Richard (a science teacher) in the October half term.
After an overnight flight from Heathrow (my husband did not know we were flying through the night until the time), Joeri and Houdini (Joeri’s beloved dog) picked us up from the airport and after breakfast we were soon at work.
It was very different to my last trip as this time I was the only vet, but I was very spoilt for nurses as, not only did I have the amazingly capable Carolein as my nurse, my husband Richard soon got to grips with the duties of veterinary nurse. In next to no time he was holding the animals, clipping, scrubbing and cleaning the instruments. Not only did I have a surgical assistant when required but an extra set of hands doing the dirty work.
I had all types of neutering to do like on the training trip, both male and female dogs from the shelter, cats resident at the volunteers’ home as well as a variety of private cats and dogs both for neutering and treatment. The grapevine is fast and people soon know that a British vet is on the island and come looking for advice.
One dog came in who had had pododermatitis in its front feet for 6 years! To have been able to do a skin scrape would have been bliss, and normally I am only too happy to send samples to the lab.
I removed a kitten’s eye, which had abcessed, with a pair of dressing scissors, saw a coughing dog who had not eaten for 2 weeks, was as white as a sheet and responded within 2 days to vitamin K and doxycycline. Since both Ehrlichia and rat bait are rife I treated for both, I suspect it had both!
Not everything had a happy ending and one cat who I suspect had been poisoned presented with acute vomiting and respiratory signs and failed to respond to treatment. That’s when the harsh reality of charity work sets in, without modern equipment and diagnostic aids our abilities are limited.
However, despite this it is amazing what can be bought over the counter in a Greek pharmacy, and how cheap it is compared to the UK, making it possible to do some good in an environment of limited resources.
Spaying a bitch on a charity trip is a whole different ball game to the environment of the British vet clinic. There is no gaseous anaesthesia, everything being done with a combination of rompun, ketamine and some valium. In August, despite my 11 years in practice, this regime was very new to me, but this time round it was much less daunting. However, one of the downsides of this anaesthesia is the amount of vomit it produces despite the animals having been apparently starved. Richard’s affinity towards cats and dogs changed on a daily basis according to what was being sick the least! However it did seem to be a reflex reaction, he walked in and the patient was sick!
Ehrlichia is rife in Samos and as a result bleeding is much more profuse and there is a lot more ooze during the average bitch spay over there. This was reduced by using a drug to promote coagulation as we started the anaesthetic. I double ligated everthing and despite the suture material being rather out of date there were no problems with it. Many of the bitches are pregnant and others in season, adding to the risk of haemorrhage.
I did have a few hairy moments during a couple of my bitch spays. I will never forget the massively rounded Dalmation who was a private spay who looked to all intents and purposes pregnant. No puppies were found in her uterus, which could barely be reached, due to the stomach packed full of food. Had I had a bleed in this spay there is no way it could have been reached. It was a tense time and luckily Carolein was fast to scrub in and help hold! All went without problems but on recovery the poor dog must have vomited up a bucketful of food. Some things are lost in translation, perhaps the Greeks don’t have a word for “starve”.
One of the shelter dogs started off as a normal spay until I discovered part of her intestine attached to the horn of her uterus. She was a 12 year old hunting dog who had been used for breeding so whether she was born like this or it had occurred due to a complication of pregnancy I will never know. What amazed me was her massive resilience and the next day she acted like nothing had happened. I just hope that she can end her days either at the shelter or with someone who loves her.
What I found hard was that many of the shelter dogs had had homes but the owners decided they no longer wanted them as they were going on holiday or the dog was too old for hunting or breeding. One thing they all have in common whether they are born on the street or have been privately owned is how much love they have to give and how much they still trust a human. I think that much of this is due to the love given to them by the shelter.
The Greek dogs have an amazing constitution and their recovery from surgery is phenomenal. The next day it’s as if nothing ever happened and despite being outside in a shelter their wounds heal fine and life goes on… They are all amazingly happy playing and running together in their pens and runs. Every dog getting a walk every day, something unknown in a UK shelter. In groups of 20 or more they go off for a jaunt, following their beloved Joeri, not a lead in sight and all more than happy to return to their runs.
Animal Care Samos does an amazing job looking after the unwanted dogs of the island. They are each and individually loved and the shelter has a fantastic re-homing scheme operated through shelters in Germany to ensure they get a home and a life they deserve. Had we not been in the process of moving house when we were there we would have had three.
Many thanks to Joeri, Carolien and the other volunteers who made us so welcome. We hope to return again soon.
