Dogs and a Little Drama in the Dominican

As I strolled across the Miami airport I was super excited. I would be boarding a plane to Santiago, to volunteer my time for the charity Dogs and Cats of the Dominican Republic. I chose them because they seemed well organized, had decent anesthesia drugs, and I had never been to the DR. The Canadian travel advisory to this Caribbean country was “Exercise a high degree of caution” due to a slew of recently dead tourists. I figured I was not going to the south, or a resort, or drinking from a minibar, so I’d likely be fine. As I was lost in thought in the airport, something let go inside my left foot. Ouch. I stood paralyzed for a moment. I had had so much fun running with friends over the past three weeks in Florida, had I just suffered a stress fracture? Slowly I dragged my foot to the gate and boarded a quick flight.  I knew there would be two nice ladies to help me at the other end.

My first full day on the north coast was Sunday, a day off. My host Debbie was kind enough to pick me up in Kite Beach and take me to the hospital. The doctor did not speak English and my Spanish is far from perfect, but after some xrays he decided that I had no obvious fracture and should be in a boot. Ah the dreaded boot. If you run you may know it well. I do. I was thankful they had one. Fitted in my new boot, off I went to the nearby town of Cabarete to explore.  Cabarete is the kite surfing capital of the world! The people are helpful and friendly, but knowing basic Spanish is a definite plus.

Cabarete

 

During my time in the Dominican I would do four clinic days with a day off in the middle. My sole job really would be to spay and neuter as many cats and dogs as I was able. This group has taken a used mini bus and reconfigured it into a surgery suite on wheels! This allows everything to be self contained, mobile, and moderately air conditioned. How awesome! Each day they have a number of volunteers who check in the animals, administer anesthesia via first an injection and then a breathing tube with gas, and then monitor the recovery. They keep instruments clean using a cold sterile method, which is ideal for being on the go. They are a well oiled machine. I just had to do surgery, eat bananas, and look sweaty!

The Set-Up

So on day one we headed out for a two hour drive to the town of Luperon, where the group has their animal shelter. They call their rescues “Coconut Hounds”. The bus was ready and waiting there, as were many dogs and a cat. They had asked me ahead how many surgeries I thought I could do in a 6 hr work day. I was unsure based on a new environment…maybe eight? They had decided fourteen was a good number lol.  The first dog was set in front of me, big lumpy mammary glands and huge blood vessels, her puppies waiting for her to return to her pen. And thus began a long day of higher risk spays and a few neuters mixed in. People think spaying a female dog must be a simple thing, but often it is not. Many had puppies recently, some were in heat, were pregnant, or had pyometra (uterus infection). I was nervous but soon I got into a rhythm. A simple lunch never tasted so good.

Day 1 Luperon

We slept a night in Luperon and stayed for day two. On this day I had a vet student from a local village, Lloyd, to observe me. He told me that most of his class and professors are men. I wanted to make sure he knew that female doctors could do just as good a job. He watched me do a challenging procedure and asked good questions. At the end he told me he was very impressed by how neat and bloodless I kept everything. Score. We also saw a case of screw worm that day, which is a larvae that hatches in a wound and basically eats the animal. Although common there this is a reportable disease in North America, as it has been eliminated. This was my first exposure.

Luperon Vet Student Day 2 

Screw Worm

That evening we drove back to my home base of Cabarete and I switched to a new hotel with a pool to cool off and pretty grounds. I had a day off to relax, shop, and watch the kite surfers.

Day three and four we moved the bus closer to home in Sosua. We had some different volunteers and set up behind a closed store. Now we were moving like a well oiled machine! As I closed one animal the next was already on the other table and ready.

Day 3 and 4 Sosua 

In the end it took a village. Although we were sore, dirty, and sweaty, we had managed to do 57 surgeries in 4 days. Every muscle in my neck knew it and it might have not been the best thing for my foot…but it felt great.

Dogs and Cats of the Dominican Republic has both expat and local volunteers. They were a pleasure to help out. I look forward to visiting again one day.

I’m getting some follow up medical care in Canada.