Hit the ground running!

So as I had been saying, it took a lot for me to get to Scooby ... I met Laura in the courtyard as soon as I walked in and they were in the middle of a full day of surgeries ....

I was here to help two vets. from the U.S., Laura and Crystal. Another vet. from Switzerland had also volunteered during our time frame so we were joined by Natasha. Natasha speaks very good English and she fits in very well with the other ladies.

Evidently, the ladies has not been able to get started as planned the day before because the oxygen tank for the anethesia was out! PLEASE FORGIVE MY SPELLING = LOTS OF MEDICAL WORDS! :) So they had to spend their first day doing odds and ends, but no surgeries.

When I arrived they were trying to make up for the lost time and so I needed to jump right in with them. They were all very nice about understanding my skill level and answering my questions. I would like to think that I was helpful on the first day, but with only 4 hours of sleep, I am not so sure.

The vets. had already performed spays and neuters on 4 cats and were pulling the last one off the surgery tables when I got to see the surgery room for the fist time.

We proceeded to spay or neuter 8 dogs still that day and left there after 10pm!

The training I had done with Dr. Rensberger and the Kryder staff really paid off! I was able to help them hold the animals so they could administer shots and put cathaters in ... Also, did some shaving of stomachs, and genitals .... JUST WHAT EVERYONE WANTED TO HEAR! :)

Laura taught me how to operate the Autoclave ... which is the machine that sterilizes the surgery packs. There are only so many surgical tools at Scooby so this is an all day job. The items must sit in the machine for 20 minutes being sterilized and then another 10 to dry them ... so it is just switching them out and keeping track so the doctors can keep performing their operations. It is all about keeping them going so we can make the most impact possible while they are here.

One of my other big jobs here is moving the dogs around. Scooby puts the dogs to be in surgery for the day in a quarantine area and I go and pull them out as there is a slot available for them in the surgery room. On the first day, most of the dogs were very nice. One very nice young galgo who I wanted to point out ... I am not sure of his name, but he was a white and tan with a very large borzoi looking nose. He was a wonderful boy and his future home will be lucky to have him.

Some of the other dogs were more frightened and harder to handle either because they would not move or because they were aggressive. One of the other galgo males had a collar on that said "HEATHER" ... we knew that could not be correct .. he just ended up with a hand me down collar ... so we called him Heath! Anyway, he was scared and showed that by acting very aggressive. He was a real challenge for me to catch! I do, at this point, have to give some thanks to the Dog Whisperer/Cesar Milan ... do not laugh! I am totally serious! I used all of my DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME tricks with this dog and it served me well! :)

We ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant at 10:40pm that night ... the host was less than thrilled since it closed at 11pm, but the food was very good and we were all very thankful for seat and the meal!

I have a lot more to write and I want to explain the set up at Scooby, but I must go for now .... it is 1:26am here and I have to be up at 7am ... it is only 7:30p at home .... I hope you will check back and I will write more tomorrow!