A trip was arranged through Valerie Sinclair, for a team of vets, nurses and trappers to go to the island of Tenerife, to continue an ongoing neutering project.
Immediately upon our arrival (in fact within 45 minutes of landing!), we were presented with a room full of cats, with more on the way. These included a mixture of feral cats that had been trapped by the trappers, and groups of cats that had been brought in by local people who feed them, and had heard that we were coming.
We got to work straight away and cats were transferred into crush cages to facilitate handling. Initially the nurses were transferring which meant that the vets were injecting, clipping and preparing cats for surgery. Within a day or two it was decided that the operation would be smoother if the trappers were to transfer cats. This allowed the nurses to nurse and the vets to vet.
We used a combination of medetomidine, butorphanol and ketamine, to induce and maintain anaesthesia. Cats were transferred into crush cages to facilitate injecting them and the IM route was used. A luggage scale was used to estimate each cat’s weight, and although crude, this helped to minimise any risk of over or under dosage. Some cats did require additional increments of anaesthetic during the procedure. These cats were given a small amount of butorphanol and ketamine. Initially the IV route was used to attain this but in fact by the time the vein was prepared, the IM route was just as quick. The triceps muscle was used for “top ups”.
Both males and females were neutered by the vets themselves. All cats were spayed midline apart from those who were feeding kittens or were very tiny. This was because there had been a recent incident whereby cats with visible flank incisions were apparently being stoned to death and it was agreed by all that the midline approach allowed for more subtlety.
Non sterile surgical gloves were worn at all times. We changed gloves and scrubbed between patients, using various combinations of iodine, surgical spirit and hand gel. This largely depended on preference.
All cats received viscotears eye ointment prior to surgery, and injections of a long acting Amoxycillin,Meloxicam or Carprofen, Praziquantel, Noromectin and vitamins. They were then returned to their basket and logged on a record sheet. A total of 331 cats were seen. 117 were males and were castrated. 171 were female and were spayed. Two females were heavily pregnant. One male cat had an extremely large umbilical hernia and a retained testicle.
Cat gut was used for ligatures and vicryl to close the body wall, and skin. All cats were glued as well, as a further safety measure. Hydrogen peroxide was used to clean any blood off the animal, to reduce the risk of fly strike. Once neutered the cats were ear tipped unless we were specifically requested not to.
A further 32 cats were deemed unfit for anaesthesia / surgery. This was due to either being too small, in which case they were wormed and de fleaed and released; or because they were sick. Where possible they were treated. Unfortunately 19 of these cats were so ill and also so feral that euthanasia was elected. Sadly one cat died under anaesthesia.
There had also been news, prior to the trip, that a local dog charity was in desperate need of help. It was agreed that we would try to do as many dogs as possible, but that the cats would have to take priority. As soon as the cat numbers were under control, we started neutering dogs. The dogs were pre-medicated with a combination of medetomidine and butorphanol. An IV catheter was placed and anaesthesia was induced with ketamine. Anaesthesia was maintained with propofol. Intravenous diazepam would have been really helpful to counteract some of the effects of the ketamine and aid muscle relaxation, but the only available diazepam was rectal tubes – so we used these! Indeed they seemed to allow a pretty steady recovery. Each dog was clipped and scrubbed, and the vet also scrubbed, wore sterile surgical gloves and used sterile drapes for each dog. Each dog was injected with meloxicam and long acting amoxicillin. It was agreed that the rescuers could flea and worm them themselves, allowing us to reserve the injectable drugs for the cats.
With the dogs it was necessary for a nurse to monitor anaesthesia throughout the procedure. During the trip 26 dogs were neutered, of which 10 were female and 16 were male. One of the males had an inguinally retained testicle.
Initially the accommodation and the food supplies were pretty disappointing (in fact non existent!) but this was soon rectified. We ended up staying in a nice apartment quite nearby. The days were very long – the longest being from 07:30 to 23:30, with minimal break time. However, the work really wrapped itself up by the last day and we were able to have a few hours to ourselves just prior to leaving Tenerife.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to WVS and to Valerie Sinclair for organising this trip. Thanks also to the veterinary team, the trappers and all the local volunteers, without whom this trip would not have been possible.
Thank you also to Tracey Rose at Fort Dodge Animal Health for supplying us with some anaesthetic drugs.
Tanya Crawley MRCVS
December 2009
