World Spay Day 2019

Today is the 25th anniversary of World Spay Day, held on the last Tuesday of February to raise awareness of the importance of neutering and the work that rescue centres and charities do.

Last year we held a Charity Bake Sale on campus to raise money and awareness, so did the same again this year. WVS ITC Ooty are trying to raise 30,000 rupees for an Oxygen Generator so I'm hoping the money we raise can go towards that!

Celine was an angel and greeted people to the sale with cuddles and even shared her special biscuits with visiting doggos.


Overall we raised €205 which is great going and will support WVS with the work they do.

Canine Blood Transfusion for Lino

Lino came into the ITC having been inappetent for several weeks, we found he had a severe chronic anemia with his Red Blood Cell count being a fifth of what it should be.

His owners had another dog, who was used as a whole blood donor alongside supportive therapy thanks to donated transfusion sets from the USA.

Dogs can be given a first time transfusion safely without being blood typed, but second transfusions must be matched for reactions

25,000 Dogs at WVS ITC

It was time for cake again at the WVS ITC Ooty yesterday as they achieved another massive milestone - their 25,000th neuter surgery!

Emergency Exploratory Laparotomy

After a quiet day we went down to dinner at 8:30 and as we were walking past we noticed there was a case in the clinic so stopped to see what was going on. A young Rottweiler presented collapsed with acute abdomen screaming in pain; the owners said it started today...

We placed an IV to put him on fluids and do a clinical exam while the vets took a history in Tamil language. He is regularly fed chicken bones, was straining to pass feces and had vomited so due to the acute nature we suspected he had a foreign body or GDV.

X-rays were taken which didn’t really show anything (but useful as it ruled out a GDV) and an abdominal ultrasound was also unremarkable except for a small spleen. After strong IV pain relief he was still screaming in pain so the decision was to take him to surgery for an exploratory laparotomy.

The team rushed to get everything ready including kits and warm fluids but the ex lap showed he pathology on liver and spleen; both were pale and discoloured.

Vinay scrubbed out to speak to the owners and advice of a poor prognosis, especially given the limitations of being a low resource charity. The owners elected to close the abdomen and try medication but saw how much pain he was in after recovering from surgery, despite strong pain relief, and sadly he was euthanised.

Midway Weekend

The first surgical group and my uni friends have finished their course and left the ITC today, most of them are going travelling around India (and Thailand) while a couple are heading back to the UK for their first vet jobs, which means I’m ‘on my own’ for two days until the next group arrive.

This morning I did kennel rounds with two of the vets so we checked all the inpatients which had surgery yesterday, gave them wound and pain scores, then pain relief (melox) and rabies vaccinations.

After rounds we had a few emergencies come into the clinic, one being a terrier who’d been attacked by a wild boar.

He had deep wounds and an open tibial fracture so we placed a catheter to give fluids in case of shock and pain relief. The leg was x-rayed and immobilised with a splint until possible surgery on Monday.

Cooking Course with Renu

Renu does an amazing job of catering for everyone at the ITC, course participants and staff, making sure everything is washed in bottled water and not too spicy for us! She gradually increases the heat throughout the course and there's always something new to try.

On the last Friday of the course we had a cooking class where she taught us to cook our favourite dishes we'd eaten during our time here.
My absolute favourite is Gobi Manchurian (dry) which is made out of cauliflower and basically tastes like chicken nuggets! We also made Dal Fry, Dal Makhani, loads of bhajis, paratha and chapati.

It all tasted amazing and I can't wait to cook some when I get home.

First ever cat spay

I've been lucky enough to do lots of surgery so far including lots of cat castrates and many neuter surgeries on dogs, but never done a cat spay so this seemed like a bit of a milestone.

Unfortunately an Indian politician died yesterday so the roads are closed and the boys were unable to go and catch or release dogs, so we were given owned cats to neuter.

As with all other surgeries, the cats are given a premedication, an intravenous catheter placed for induction of anaesthetic and perioperative fluids. Here she is after being clipped and just waiting for a surgery table so she can be scrubbed.
It gets pretty cold in Ooty so you can see the hot water bottle which has the iv line running under it to to keep her warm, and the hair drier which can be used in recovery to warm them up.

I took a midline approach and opened the abdomed, searched for a couple of minutes and couldn't find her uterine horns or ovaries. We checked, twice, to make sure she wasn't a male so the supervising vet stepped in to find the uterine horns, which he was unable to do.
Another vet scrubbed in to check, and another, who were all unable to find them! Eventually we found a cervical stump which would indicate she had been spayed before but as there was no midline incision scar and her eartip was not clipped, she must have been done flank and by someone else.

All very odd but I closed the abdomen which was good practice and will wait for another opportunity for my first proper cat spay!

Mission Rabies Vaccination Drive

Up bright and early on Saturday morning, we left the ITC at 6am headed for Kotagiri for a Rabies vaccination drive.

We split into three teams, each with vets, vaccines, educational leaflets (in English and Tamil) and most importantly a team of expert dog catchers and their nets.

We went through villages on foot vaccinating dogs, most of which are free roaming but some are owned so their owners showed us their dogs and were given vaccination cards.

It was quiet an operation as we had to find and catch the dogs, load vaccines and get them to wherever the dogs were caught, then those vaccinated had to be marked with a paint spot so they weren’t re-vaccinated and all vaccines were recorded in the Mission Rabies app which adds them to a map with the age, sex and neutered status of the dog.

Between us we vaccinated over 400 dogs throughout the day and our team vaccinated the most - not that it was a competition of course

Life is never boring at WVS India

I was sat watching my dog recover post bitch spay when a goat walked past the window coming in for a consult.

Life is never boring at WVS India!

WVS India; Take 2

Last summer I had the most awesome time at the WVS India ITC and after becoming more involved with the charity and becoming the first International Student Rep I signed up twelve students from my vet school to attend the surgical training course this summer.

Eight of us flew from Heathrow to Ooty while the other four headed to Goa. The transfer from Bangalore to Ooty takes about 6 hours but when we reached the hairpin bends back to Ooty the excitement hit me and I was so glad to be back!

It was prety quite when we got to the ITC as the vets have a day off so we found our rooms and chilled out ready to start the surgical training course tomorrow.

World Spay Day for Worldwide Veterinary Service

World Spay Day is held on the last Tuesday in February every year and this year I decided to hold a fundraiser to mark the occasion.

Last semester I became the first international WVS Student Rep and thought the day would be ideal for fundraising and raising awareness of the work the Worldwide Veterinary Service do and about their Surgical Training Courses for Vet Students and Graduates.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated and baked for the event...


...they all looked amazing!

We ended up raising €220 for WVS which is amazing and I'm sure will go a long way to supporting the work they do all over the world.

WVS Surgical Training Course

I've just completed the WVS Surgical Training Course at the ITC Ooty in India and can honestly say it's been one of the best experiences of my veterinary career so far.

The course was well structured, including everything I'd hoped to cover and more. By the end of the two weeks I'd done 8 dog castrates, 8 bitch spays and a scrotal ablation.

The ITC work under 'limited resources' in that they don't have access to a huge range of drugs and equipment we do in the UK. They have had anaesthesia available but only at one operative table so it's used for longer surgeries but neuters are done with Total Intra-Venous Anaesthesia. We have a protocol using 10 injectable drugs for anaesthesia and analgesia (pain relief).

At first it sounded daunting and we have to monitor patients much more closely under anaesthesia but the protocol was explained well and the lecture we had was great so I understand the drugs we use and why we used them. It also meant that we could use the protocol in individual animals should they need more pain relief or anaesthesia.

Even though they're under limited resources the staff they have are amazing, particularly Dr Vinay and "the boys". The boys are a bit like our nurses and technicians/VCA's in one. They catch the dogs for us to sedate then prep and scrub them for surgery as well as monitoring anaesthesia and prepping all our kits, surgery and much much more.

The care each and every dog receives is second to none, with constant monitoring throughout anaesthesia and recovery, we even had pulse oxymetry which some clinics I've been to back home don't have.

I've done a fair bit of work experience and assisting in surgery back in the UK but have always had a vet scrubbed in explaining the procedure, checking my ligatures and any bleeding.

At the start of the course we had vets scrubbed in to supervise but I'm now confidently doing dog castrates and bitch spays all by myself with no assistance, complete with intradermals.

Intradermal suturing is something I've never done before but as we are operating on free roaming dogs we want them recovered and returned back to where they came from as quickly as we can. Intradermals mean we don't need to take stitches out after a week.

During rounds the following morning we checked every dog giving them a wound score and pain score followed by pain relief and a rabies vaccination.

That also gave you the opportunity to check your tissue handling and intradermal technique and we could see how our wound scored improved over a few days.

During our first week the ITC neutered their 20,000th dog which is a huge achievement and shows the expertise and experience the staff have. We celebrated with a giant chocolate cake and dog 20,000 was given extra treats that evening.

Accommodation was in single sex dorms which were clean and better than I anticipated in that we had wifi and a flushing toilet! The food provided three times a day was amazing, all vegetarian and not too spicy as that could be added individually.

The cook definitely ramped up the spice slowly over the two weeks which we loved.

I would recommend the course to every vet student and new graduate wanting to gain confidence in soft tissue surgery.

I spent a further two weeks after the course travelling around India and found myself comparing everything to Ooty. While I fell in love with India, the cooler climate and calmer pace of life in Ooty suited me perfectly and I would love to return to the ITC in the future as a volunteer vet.

Vaccinating Free Roaming Dogs with Mission Rabies

Another early morning as we left the ITC at 6am and headed an hour down the hill, all 36 hairpin bends, for a day of vaccinations.

While we have been vaccinating the dogs post-surgery against Rabies, this was the same project but a 6-in-1 vaccination against the most common diseases found in dogs.

We stopped at a hotel for breakfast and were served the most amazing dosas. Everyone has been understandably weary of where we eat, avoiding meat and salads, but this hotel looked really clean and the food was decent. We each had a huge dosa stuffed with spicy veg and potato served with a savoury coconut sauce, not typical breakfast food but soo good.

Once again we split into two groups and headed out with our trucks, supplies and "the boys" who catch the dogs for us.

We drove along a rural lane stopping at each house to see if they have dogs and offered free 6-in-1 vaccinations. The owners were very willing to have their dogs vaccinated as WVS have such a reputation in the area and have worked hard to educate people as to the importance.

Those with owners were generally contained in a yard or on a chain but many needed to be caught by the boys for us to vaccinate them.

The free roaming dogs were more of a challenge as they tended to hide once they saw us coming so the boys went in armed with butterfly nets and were super efficient as catching them; if it was left to me we'd still be waiting to catch the first one!

Between us we vaccinated 100 dogs which are all recorded in an app based database including the sex of the dog and whether they have been neutered by WVS by checking their ears for notches.

There were a couple of dogs which needed first aid treatment including one which had picked a fight with a wild pig and others needing veterinary attention will be picked up and brought to the ITC on Monday.

It was really nice to walk around villages to meet people and see the real India, things you wouldn't normally see as a tourist and an insight into how people live.

Lots of the boys live in the villages we visited so they are familiar with the area and people around them.

Back to the same hotel for lunch and then a trip to IPAN, a shelter ran by Ilona and Nigel for all sorts of animals from all over India, be they ex-circus animals, ex-racehorses or those with injuries needing care. They had dozens of horses, donkeys and goats plus over 20 horses at their home.

We were invited in for tea and saw photos of some of the work they've done which were amazing. They really have dedicated their entire lives to helping animals, the ITC and IPAN.

Unfortunately a horse they rescued a month ago had been very sick and died this morning of an obstructive colic.

We were able to see the post mortem and found a linear foreign body in the small colon which after removing was obviously plastic. The horses are often seen eating rubbish at the roadside and from skips so it must have accumulated and caused an impaction.

Week One at WVS ITC Ooty Complete

The first week of our surgical training course is over and it's been an amazing experience. It's been a hectic week but everyone here is so nice, staff and participants, so it's been a pleasure.

There is an on-site chef who cooks us all three meals a day and the food is soo good!

A typical day starts with breakfast at 8am then rounds at 8:30 before we start a day of surgery.

There are 10 of us so we're split into pairs, A and B, so while A is operating, B will be maintaining and monitoring total intravenous anaesthesia. The drugs protocol is already devised for us with ten drugs as standard to include anaesthetic, analgesia (pain relief), antibiotic, anti-parasitic and finally a rabies vaccination. We are able to add to this if we feel the dogs need it during or after surgery.

Surgery tends to finish between 4:30-5 when we will have a break then a lecture 6-7 before evening rounds and dinner at 8:30.

On Monday we started with lectures and a tour of the campus, then we observed demo surgeries to go through procedures and what's expected of us.

Tuesday morning we each performed a surgery each followed by an afternoon of anaesthesia lectures. Then from Wednesday we've each done two surgeries every day.

So far I've done four dog castrates and three bitch spays which have all gone well. Of course I've made a few mistakes with suture patterns etc but I'm learning so much!

Intradermal suturing has always looked fairly easy but it's actually really tricky. I've learnt to take my time and finally got the hang of it today - the vet said he was impressed but there's always room for improvement.

Standing all day and operating has ruined my back. I'm not sure if it's because of the table height or because I'm leaning over too much but I guess it's something you have to get used to and muscles will strengthen with use and experience.

Tonight we went out for dinner in Ooty which was really nice to get out of the campus and have a drink to relax with everyone. We spent the night talking about non-vet stuff which was a welcome change!

Bangalore to Ooty

We planned to be up bright and early today but my body took that far too literally and I didn't sleep at all, not even five minutes. I spent most of the night watching Animal Planet and Nat Geo Wild as it was only those or BBC World which were in English; luckily for me!

At 5am when my alarm went off I had a Mynah bird sat outside my window mimicking noises so I made a coffee and sat at the window in my delusional state whistling as he mimicked me.

I requested an Uber which was outside in minutes, got to Fabians hotel to pick him up which was where all the fun started. The driver hadn't realised I booked a multi-stop trip to the airport and his taxi was screaming at us with thirst as it was completely empty. He called Uber requesting to cancel the trip as I sat in the back pretending to be oblivious and they said he had to complete the journey. The first petrol station we found was closed, the second had no fuel but third time lucky and we were on our way.

The journey should have cost 870 rupees but the app told him Total 60 rupees which was only to Fabians hotel! We have him 1000 and off we went.

We spotted a white girl sat alone who stood out with six suitcases and guessed she must be coming with us! Minutes later two of her friends joined us and then another two girls, including Lucy a new grad I know from Košice.

Along came a driver who collected five of us, strapped our cases onto the roof of his van and in we jumped - with no seatbelts.

The eight hour transfer went surprisingly fast with only one stop as we were kept entertained by crazy drivers around us, wildlife and the most amazing views as we climbed the hairpin bends into Ooty.

After arriving at the ITC Ooty we were shown our rooms; luckily for us boys we are in single sex rooms so we each pushed two beds together to made doubles and settled in.

The rooms are basic but clean and much better than I anticipated - we have a flushing toilet after having anticipated a squat toilet for months!

We were fed then I passed out and slept like a log the whole way through the night.