Catriona, a 2008 graduate and I arrived on the same flight into Corfu on the 27th October. As the flight got in late we had arranged a hotel for one night in Corfu before getting the car ferry to Paxos early the next morning. A casual relaxing four hour trip, with one short stop, got us to Paxos around midday, where we were met by our landlady Katrina. We spent the rest of the day settling in and getting the clinic set up to start the next day.
The next three days we worked in Gaois at the clinic where we were staying. A convenient set up and quite sufficient for the work. The property is situated at the southern edge of the town, in a large garden, which keeps things quite and peaceful.
We had the weekend free, except one dog spay on Sunday morning, giving us a chance to see a bit more of the island.
On Monday and Tuesday we set up in Lakka, a small settlement on the northern end of the island. Here we used a restaurant which sufficed us well. We had quite a few visitors as it was fairly central and this time the locals were much more accepting and interested in what we were doing. As we were going to be there for two days we could leave most of the equipment there to save time the next day.
We then returned to Gaios for two more days as a lot more cats had been booked in from that area.
Our last day was spent at a private home that had about 12 cats and the most incredible view I have yet seen on the island. The owner helped us set up a clinic in one of his bedsitters with ensuite. He managed to catch all the unsterilised cats and a couple came up from Lakka making it a 12 cat day. He and his wife were extremely hospitable giving us morning tea and then an amazing lunch. We needed a strong coffee to get us going again!
On the whole the weather was excellent with just one day of rain and a heavy storm that night. We had a small hire car, which enabled us to remain independent.
Over the 8 days that we worked, from around 9.15am until about 4pm, we did 59 cat spays, 37 cat castrations, 2 dog spays, 2 dog castrations, 2 eye ablations, 3 minor dental cleans ups, 3 P.T.S’s one prolapsed rectum, one large fish hook removal (cat) and 24 various consultations. This was an average of 12 sterilisations per working day.
Our main veterinary assistant, Christina, was a great help doing much of the veterinary nursing work and acting as our interpreter, so that not too much got lost in translation.
In all, this was another really pleasant trip, with thanks to all who assisted us, fed us, provided us with cats and helped make things go smoothly.
As there was doubt about the ferries leaving on the Sunday we needed to get back to Corfu, we had to take the seaplane, which is certainly a pleasant way to travel.
