Being a vet in India

Today Brina and I went to her work, the Jeevasharam charity veterinary clinic in southern Delhi. As this is India, the vets there have to manage with a minimum of medications, surgical instruments and diagnostic equipment. A lot of the drugs we use in the western world of veterinary medicine, are just not possible to get hold of in India. And surgical sterility... is simply an issue of wishful thinking, not due to lack of effort, but because there are no reliable autoclaves to get hold of.

The clinic provides both basic and preventative care for all animals in the area, de-sexing the animals is a top priority due to the rapid spread of street dogs/cats/donkeys etc.

Unfortunately, the Indians don't believe in euthanasia, so instead of ending the suffering of a pet that has for example been hit by a car, has septiceamia or eaten something which gets stuck in their intestines (and later cause ruptured bowls), they let them die a slow and often very painful death. To western vets like Brina and myself, this is often very frustrating, because we don't like seeing animals suffering without being able to do anything about it.

I got to do a keyhole flank spay on a dog today, which was very interesting and rather messy, I don't like not seeing what I'm doing! A keyhole flank spay is something we never do in the west, because if something goes wrong, as in if you accidentally drop a blood vessel, you have very little chances of finding it again. It is an "oops" with a big "O". On the plus-side, the wound heals very quickly and the dogs can be released back onto the streets again after only 3 days, compared to 14 with a midline incision.

Next to the clinic was a pretty little hindu temple, with a big Kahuna statue of Shiva and of course - a cow. I just love cows.