I took a few days off from laying in the sun and flying to pacific atolls to work at Esther Honey Foundation. EHF is a charity helping animals in the South Pacific. As in a lot of developing countries dogs roam free even if they are owned. The major problem here is road traffic accident - it's a island full of 3 legged dogs!
My first morning this big boy came in having been run over - it initially looked very bad with very laboured breathing. The clinic had an x-ray machine and we snapped a pic of his chest. We then had to drive 2 km on a moped to the local hospital to have it digitally processed! Fortunately over the next few days he made a good improvement - these island dogs are tough!
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| What happens to the operating room when a dog wakes up badly from an anaesthetic! |
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| Lee and Bailey from Oz working on a dog |
I was presented with a a dog with a large mass in his mouth - probably an acanthomatous epulis - rostral mandibulectomy probably would have been the op of choice but in the islands as soon as dogs go home they are out roaming the streets, eating bones etc. I decided a mandibulectomy would be too great a risk for wound breakdown - so I did a wedge excision instead - a compromise - but that's the situation in developing countries - whether it be through lack of equipment, lack of drugs or qualified staff. But we do the best we can...
