*MASSIVELY* overdue update

Happy 2015!!

This blog popped into my head two nights ago after months of neglect...primarily because of two incidents this week:

1)  While eating an unremarkable salad, I realized how desperately I miss Dirty Girl Produce lettuce greens from Santa Cruz, California:

   

 I moved to London to pursue an MSc in One Health (Infectious Diseases) in September 2014, and after 5 months of eating produce here,  I LONG for those wonderful salad greens that I always claimed had the "energy of the sun" within them as I ate them!!  So fresh, crisp, tasty and ENERGETIC!!

The following might illustrate why I crave more solar energy:

Though, truth be told, I have been told by many Londoners that this winter has really been very mild and nowhere near as dreary as usual...possibly the sole positive aspect to climate change...

2)  I am possibly going to pursue a Masters project focused on the impetus for my becoming an "itinerant vet" in the first place:  rabies in poor (aka developing, resource-poor or low-income) countries.  (The language acrobatics that are sometimes used to essentially distinguish "rich" from "poor" regions hearkens back to George Carlin).  

Despite all the attention that Ebola has been getting over the past year, there are less "flashy" infectious diseases out there that kill far more people in a more insidious and neglected manner (e.g., pneumonia, diarrhea and HIV/AIDS).  There is a reasonable chance that I will head to Malawi in southern Africa to do anthropological-based research regarding rabies, dog health and welfare and public health.  

The ultimate goals include: to eliminate human cases of rabies (children under the age of 15 years are the majority of human rabies deaths...and the progression to death from rabies is horrific and should NOT be happening in this day and age when there are both 100% effective vaccines and 100% effective post-exposure treatments available), to prevent mass-culling (often times governmental policy-enforced mass-shooting) of dogs following a human rabies outbreak, and to help establish a long-term, locally sustainable rabies-control/elimination program.  

The following is a graphic, dated video of a human case of rabies, which to me further emphasizes why human rabies deaths (currently occurring at a likely under-reported rate of 1 death every 10 minutes globally) should not be neglected any further:

Rabies in a Human Patient 

I'll try to update this blog as I go along...

Chiang Mai and Care For Dogs (CFD)

From April-May 2014, I volunteered at Care for Dogs (http://www.carefordogs.org/), a non-profit organization in the outskirts of Chiang Mai, Thailand, that provides shelter and medical care for 200+ dogs (and assorted cats).  High-volume sterilization is a priority, as is medical treatment for many varied conditions of these dogs and cats, many of which are brought in by local people associated with the Buddhist temples.  I am just now realizing that I never took a photo of one of the most impressive Transmissible Venereal Tumors (TVTs) that I'd ever seen...I must have been a bit "photog'd out" by this point...sorry!

Arriving at my guesthouse in the suburb of Hang Dong, outside of Chiang Mai

This sad case involved a temple dog who had been grossly overfed and grossly under-exercised.  He could not move about on his own accord.  :-(

One of CFD's dedicated, permanent, and volunteer veterinary technicians prepping a dog for a cryptorchid (undescended testicle) neuter

A better view of the surgery room (which alone had fantastic air-conditioning!)

I miss this little guy so much!  I took him in after he was picked up and shaken brutally by a much bigger tomcat, resulting in severe cervical spinal cord trauma (see his abnormally angled right front paw?).  I was initially unsure how he would do, but when I saw him do this: 

I knew I couldn't give up on him!! 
He was initially unable to walk, could only do "spinal rolls," and needed help with propping up his right front paw in the right direction, but with nursing care both at the guesthouse and at CFD, look at what he was able to do over the following 2 weeks!

Herbie (my original name for him; he is now Furby and part of one of CFD's vet's family) LOVED playing with my running shoes...hopefully that means they smelled pleasant enough...

Herbie (now Furby) was my wonderful biking companion to CFD every day.  Toward the end of my time at CFD, I had to watch carefully that he didn't try crawling out of this basket!  I'm so happy he's in a wonderful home now.  :-)  Thanks, Pam!!!

Pam's amazing canine companion who was positively BORN to RIDE A SCOOTER!!!

 

A fellow passenger in a songthaew (shared taxi in the form of a pick-up truck)...I don't think she paid her fair share of our fare!  :-)

After my time at Care For Dogs, I was undecided about whether to visit Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam or spend more time in Thailand.  At the last minute, I called Wat Rom Poeng (a Buddhist monastery) to inquire about meditation retreats there, and it turned out that there was space for a retreat starting the very next day.  So, I spent my last seventeen days in Thailand meditating at this beautiful monastery in Chiang Mai: 
 

 

Monks and nuns receiving lunch alms (food donated for meals)

Practicing walking meditation in the peaceful, warm halls of the main temple

Some wonderful words to live by...displayed in the monk-student meeting area of the monastery:

 

 

Mission Rabies!

Rabies kills more people annually in India than in any other country (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/rabies-stalks-india-stray-dogs-who-animal-welfare-board-of-india/1/353187.html).  As of 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 20,000 cases of human rabies cases occur in India per year.  Isn't this crazy?  Rabies is 100% preventable!!!

Eradicating rabies is one mission of the International Training Centre in Ooty, India.  (Website: http://www.wvsitc.org/).  This task involves field excursions to remote villages where stray dogs and cats are caught, restrained, injected with rabies vaccine, and finally, marked with purple paint before being released.  Local people are also educated on the significance of preventive rabies vaccination and sterilization of domestic animals in the prevention of rabies transmission to people.  The whole endeavor takes a huge amount of manpower, time, resources, and patience.

Following are some pictures from a Mission Rabies field outing:

We rode in and occasionally clung on to the back of this truck to travel from area to area--that was great fun!!!  These guys in yellow have some speedy legs in order to catch stray dogs.

Taken whilst moving!

Administering rabies vaccine after successfully netting a stray dog

Wee puppies are MUCH easier to restrain and vaccinate.

Cats, EVERYWHERE, can be expected to "resist" restraint and vaccination more so than dogs, right?  ;-)  Otherwise, they wouldn't be cats! 

Adorable children + adorable puppy!

Some of the dogs we vaccinated were owned by local villagers.

A watchful duo (thought bubbles from the dog: especially post-vaccination)...

I came across this in a small shrine in-between villages...it gets my vote for the next global peace policy!

*Overdue* post from International Training Centre (Worldwide Veterinary Service) in Ooty, India

I'm finally back in the States and somewhat *transiently* settled (!).  

One never realizes how many photos one takes until that one has to sift through ZILLIONS of them weeks later!!  I definitely need to develop a self-edit-photo-taking function before any further travel (*SIGH*)...

For those particularly with Golden Retrievers (though any allergic canine will do):

A blurry shot captured as my bus was leaving the bus station in Mysore on the way to Ooty!

Ooty is a beautiful, quiet, and green hill station set in the Nilgiri Hills in the southwestern-central part of India.  The cooler climate (thanks to its higher altitude) was a VERY welcome change from the humid heat in Mysore!

The International Training Centre (ITC) is run by Worldwide Veterinary Service and its objectives include education of Indian veterinarians on proper surgical techniques by providing courses, supplies, and mentorship and eradication of rabies (Mission Rabies) via mass-vaccination and education of local populations on the significance of preventive care and sterilization in combating rabies.  Website:  http://www.wvsitc.org/

Below are some photos from the ITC:

The kennels that house the dogs (mostly pre- and post-surgical; some are hospitalized for other conditions including: vomiting, diarrhea, inappetance, fractures, other soft-tissue wounds that require daily medical management).

 Given the limited space, 4-6 dogs are commonly housed together per kennel pre- and post-operatively.  Amazingly, they get along well for the most part (of course, there are the occasional squabbles, but they ultimately "work it out" amongst themselves!).  You can see that one of this foursome is a bit more...excitable, shall we say?  This is the best of multiple attempted photos of him/her!  :-)

 Few things in this world are as expressive as a dog's eyes...

 A more rambunctious fellow despite his gray muzzle!  His hind feet were dangling way off the ground but he seemed quite calm given the better view afforded by his new height.  He eventually managed to wriggle his head back through the bars and return to earth without issue.  :-)

Most of the kennels had beautiful little windows that let in natural light.  Here's a scrappy old soul who's apparently been in his share of tiffs.

This is a very sick puppy who likely has viral enteritis (parvovirus suspected) and is receiving IV fluids in addition to antibiotics to help support her through this dreadful illness.

A male dog, post-sedation, receiving a local anesthetic prior to castration.  We taught students (who were both Indian veterinarians and UK veterinary students) anesthetic and analgesic management as part of this course.

 

One of the course leaders (Dr. Vijay in blue) instructing veterinary technicians/assistants (who traveled to Ooty from Pondicherry to take this course) on surgical preparation and monitoring of anesthesia immediately after induction.

One of our "Pondicherry Boys" monitoring anesthesia while the surgeon scrubs for surgery.  All patients were placed on intravenous fluids to help maintain blood pressure and to ensure a port for administering injectable drugs for anesthetic maintenance.

A couple of our UK veterinary students practicing aseptic scrubbing and proper "gloving up" for surgery at the Scrubbing Station!

One of our Indian veterinarians monitoring anesthesia for the surgeon, who happens to be her mother, who is also a veterinarian and taking this course!

Headlamps, like in Botswana, are very handy for times when the power goes out or when surgical lamps break down...repairing the latter take quite a bit of time and money.

Five tables were simultaneously in use during surgery time.  Things could become quite hectic in a hurry!

Snoozing off the anesthesia!  Hot-water bottles and burlap sacks are in place to help keep their body temperatures up, as their temperatures can fall quite dramatically intra-operatively secondary to surgical time and the anesthetic agents.  In addition, at the time, Ooty's ambient temperature was cool, and this was an added factor in causing hypothermia.

 One of the ITC vets exchanging a moment with a patient during morning rounds.  Most of these dogs were SO GOOD about being handled and examined post-operatively!

Assessing for pain, inflammation, and any other abnormalities at the surgical site post-operatively.  Daily rounds of all patients were done every morning and evening to check on their recovery.

AWWWWWWW--it's NOT only Doug who has to wear the Cone Of Shame...  ;-)