No doubt about it – it was 53 steps. I counted them several times to be sure. I’d tried taking extra long ones to decrease the number but this seemed like cheating and anyway it was way too hard on the legs. Especially since the in-run was uphill all the way and I was making the trip with my hands in the air bent at the elbows in the traditional surgeon’s pose. I found I could shave a couple to paces off the distance by ducking under the bushes but this hurt my back so I settled for making the trip with as much aplomb and gravitas as I could muster – not that anyone was watching – whilst telling myself just how good for me exercise really is.
In October of 2009, having sold a practice and being in a position to ‘put something back’ I travelled through Athens and on into the Greek Islands with a view to neutering some of Greece’s large feral cat population. The trip was organised through The Worldwide Veterinary Service and The Greek Cat Welfare Society in the UK and Nine Lives in Athens.
Since traditionally in Greece there is no great love of the cat the old approach to population control amongst Greece’s burgeoning feral cat population, I was told, involved poisoning, shooting or even dynamite! The expatriate community prefers to organise mass neuterings as a more humane approach to population control, funding the expenses of visiting British, German and doubtless other national vets to achieve this. You fly in, are welcomed and provided with most of the necessary equipment and then leap onto a (or several) boat(s) or plane(s) to visit the islands where there is not the veterinary expertise to achieve safe volume neutering. You are welcomed, housed and cared for by your cat loving hosts and in return you neuter stray cats for release. You are assisted by various members of the local expat. community, in whatever space is available using injectable anaesthesia given to an irate cat in a crush cage, then ear tip them to ensure that they never have to go through the same process again.
Having read some of the previous WVS trip reports (as you have no doubt already done yourself) the one thing I was certain of before I set off was that I would not keep score of the number of cats I neutered during my trip. What mattered was that I made the trip and applied myself to the best of my abilities whilst there. I could not neuter every stray cat in Greece in two weeks so why count – surely it could only seem like a drop in a bucket? Then I learnt that I was required to keep score for accounting purposes and once I started…… well, here are some trip stats.
In the course of a 13 day trip I spent 7 and one half days operating during which time we neutered 126 cats (63% female). I worked with 16 different people in 4 different locations and met a further 20 of whom only 4 were not British. I slept in 5 different beds, made 6 plane flights and more than 30 passenger car journeys.
Most cats neutered in one day – 23.
Most females neutered in one day – 18.
Most memorable operating theatre – the part finished hotel outbuilding with neither windows nor doors.
Hottest operating theatre – Joy’s kitchen with 8 of us, the pressure cooker (for instrument sterilisation) and 23 cats in it.
Most memorable field challenge – the 53 steps (51 if you ducked under the rubber plant branch in your way) between scrub sink (ok, kitchen sink) and operating table in that hotel outbuilding.
Most stressful moment – finding (eventually) that the last spay of the series of 18 was the only one of all those spayed on this trip (in late November) that was pregnant assisted by my host shining a table lamp over my shoulder (it had grown dark) powered by a mains lead into the Greek mains. If you have not experienced the Greek approach to wiring this will mean less to you. For example, I particularly liked the bare wires (wired into a pull switch) in one shower cubicle that I came across. I squeamishly bent the wires back out of the way of the water jet – but I still showered after that!
Most enervating moment – any cat in the series of 18 past about number 5 that was found to be AGAIN female – the occasional male would have helped move us along!
Most satisfying piece of work – the isolated hotel where we were able to neuter nearly the entire colony thus ensuring that these largely wild individuals might expect a full and pleasant life in a supportive and safe environment – the owner had previously demanded that they be removed and threatened to poison them if they were not.
Most unnerving moment – spending the night alone (but for the manager at the other end of the complex) in that isolated and wholly empty hotel complex in the Cretan Hills. Try as I might I could not get Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ out of my mind!
Most interesting accommodation – the Athenian hotel where I met couples on their way out as I made my way to my room after midnight fresh from the late flight from the UK. The music in the corridors was loud enough to disturb you in your room (where there was no music) but it all began to make sense when I found out that one could book rooms by the hour!
Most irritating piece of kit – the wheels on the bag of crush cage, surgical kits, drapes, drugs, swabs, scrubs etc etc etc that travelled with me that appeared to be designed specifically to tip the thing over when pulled. (I got better at distributing the weight inside it, and developed my skills but to the last it would still bite my ankles when I least expected it.)
Most impressive piece of kit – David’s bespoke wooden kitchen worktop raiser (with wipe clean top and fitted suture spool holder) which he fashioned from a few pieces of wood on my arrival. My back is forever in his debt.
Most worrying bit of kit – the additional 4 breeze blocks that I needed under the legs of the dominos table/operating table to lift it even higher than the previous vet needed which gave the operating surface an unnerving shimmy if you were unwise enough to lean against it.
Best story – being met late at night off the plane at Athens Airport by an attractive blue-eyed blonde whom I had never met before, giving her cash (which I was carrying out on behalf of the UK parent organisation to avoid bank transfer fees) and receiving in return a bag of sharp instruments and drugs in the car park of an Athenian McDonalds. I felt like an international drug baron!
Best surgical moment (possibly) – spaying a cat as the hot sun streamed through the open French Window behind me whilst my host regaled me with tales of his life and times with the Kray Twins.
Most surreal moment – being transferred plus 2 bags (one containing drugs and sharp instruments) from one car driven by a man I had only known for 3 days to one driven by 2 women I had never met before in the hot sun on a Sunday afternoon in a Cretan LIDL car park whilst a Greek man drove round us on a scooter (not at all sure why – I guessed he was learning to ride the thing).
Most important skills to thrive on these trips – the ability to work effectively and enjoy spending time with people you have not met before and to enjoy your own company as well. It helps if you can spay cats quickly too and are comfortable with injectable anaesthesia.
Final Comment – Would I do this again? – for sure, other commitments allowing. This is no holiday but an interesting and worthwhile experience with much to enjoy and a wealth of tales to come home with.
David Wormald
