Global Vets Guatemala 2013: Busy days with AWARE and Dr. Linares!

Why hello again,

AWARE clinic

Sorry we haven't blogged in a while, but we have had our hands full every day. We have been alternating days working at the shelter AWARE in Sumpango and Dr. Linares' small animal clinic in Antigua. Every morning, two of us head to work at the shelter while two of us head to the city to work with the vet in Antigua. The days have been long but the work is very rewarding. Here’s a short look into what we have been up to:

AWARE

Some clinic dogs and Sabrina hard at work

At the clinic we help every morning with changing the cages, feeding and walking the dogs. We then start all of the treatments for the dogs and cats in the clinic and the ones in outdoor enclosures. Right now we are treating some puppies that have upper respiratory infections. They are all getting cephalexin. One of the puppies (Dexter) had a respiratory infection that has progressed to pneumonia. He was really in rough shape. The vet gave him enrofloxacin which is a strong antibiotic. Unfortunately, this antibiotic also has a side effect which causes cartilage damage, so it really not good to give to puppies. However, there was no other choice at the time as Dexter could hardly even breathe. We put him on IV fluids and took him home with us to monitor him overnight. He was switched over to another antibiotic as of yesterday because you could tell that his joints were already stressed, and we are happy to say that he is doing much better.

The two major problems that we have seen at the clinic are diarrhea and skin conditions (for example, mange and flea allergy dermatitis). Since so many dogs have diarrhea, we decided to do giardia and fecal tests. We decided it was best to deworm and treat all the puppies/sick dogs since we think that they were not dewormed properly upon their arrival to the clinic. One of the big things that we are doing at AWARE is teaching the new employee Diana as much as we can before we leave. We taught her about the different intestinal parasites and what to do if you see them. We taught her how to put in an IV catheter and how to take vitals on the dogs. She is a very quick learner and we really hope we can help improve the clinic and treatments through leaving as much knowledge as we can with her. We have been teaching Diana about the 'vet bible'- Plumb's drug handbook- to teach her how to properly calculate doses and make sure that the dogs are getting the proper treatment

Other than diarrhea, skin problems are another huge problem at the shelter. Since many families in Guatemala have limited financial income, many of the dogs are not fed proper diets. In addition fleas are normal for almost every single dog here so we see a lot of flea allergy dermatitis. Here is a picture of Loki who has severe allergies. It's really sad to see so many dogs with skin issues.

We see a lot of Demodectic and Sarcoptic mange in Guatemala (which are caused by skin parasites). The dogs have massive hair loss and inflamed infected skin. We've learned that skin with Sarcoptic mange looks more pink, while demodex is more pigmented. We’ve put our skin scraping and microscope skills to the test numerous times during this trip. We are currently treating three dogs with bad mange at the shelter. This is Patriota who has Demodex. He was found tied to the fence at the entry of the shelter, emaciated and with barely any fur. He gets an Amitraz bath every 5 days, Ivermectin injection every week and Cephalexin (antibiotic) for the secondary staph infection. We have seen a huge improvement with this dog over the time that we have been here.

In addition to the huge amount of regular treatments at the shelter we also have many people from the community coming to the gate of the shelter with their animals who need to be looked at. Yesterday, morning we had a man bring a dog in a box to the front gate. In the box was a poor Chow Chow who lost his eye as a result of a sling shot to the face. Since the closest vet is 40 minutes away we were able to put the dog on fluids, give him pain medication and antibiotics for the infection. The next day, we took him to the clinic to be treated by the veterinarian. Unfortunately, the vet was unable to perform surgery on him because the infection was too severe. Therefore, he has been put on antibiotics and will be treated for the week at the AWARE clinic, and will return next week for his surgery. It is so sad that many of these dogs go through so much living on the streets. However, the dogs here are very tough. It was amazing to see this dog walking around and still eating and drinking even when he was in so much pain.

Dr. Linares

Surgery room

Exam/treatment room

Working with Dr. Linares has been amazing. Everyday we help him with his regular appointments and with his surgeries, all while putting our Spanish skills to the test as he speaks limited English.

Some of the things that we have seen with him is skin conditions again-Sarcoptes (we could actually see a living parasite on the microscope from a boxer). See the picutures below left-dog with sarcoptic mange and right-the actual parasite.

Its really hard to take pictures through a microscope, so we know it sort of looks like a blob... but beleive us, its sarcoptes!

Sarcoptic mange

We've also helped with the chemotherapy for a precious shelter dog 'Blanco Neuve'. She has a very common and contagious type of venereal cancer here in Guatemala nick names 'Sticker' or Transmissable Venereal Tumour (TVT). The treatment is with Vincristine IV after anesthesia. The treatment was fully donated from a generous sponsor of the shelter. The little pooch has finished her final treatment and is doing just great. Sabrina and I also got to help with a spay on a female boxer with pyometra, which is progesterone driven infection of the uterus that can happen in intact females. It was really cool to see the surgery. The uterus was filled with pus a great thing to see right before lunch.

Transmissble Veneral Tumour at the time of the fourth treatment. When they first come in it is much larger.

Overall we have been having a great time working at both places. The days have been long but the experience and the care that we have been able to provide for the animals is more than worth it. Stay tuned from more updates from Mike and Terri.