Last summer I spent 8 days working as a volunteer
veterinarian for the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. I joined
the Rural Area Veterinary Service (RAVS) for their annual trip to the Standing
Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
RAVS provides veterinary care to underserved communities within the
United States. Many of these communities are located on reservations in the
western half of the US. These MASH-type surgical and medical clinics are held
once a year at different community centers on the reservation. RAVS provides
spay and neuter surgeries, vaccinations, and parasite control.
The Standing
Rock Sioux Reservation occupies 1 million acres and straddles the North
Dakota/South Dakota state line. On this trip, 3 of the veterinarians and 1 LVT
(licensed veterinary technician) were Humane Society employees. The additional
personnel, all volunteers, consisted of:
4 veterinarians, 4 LVT’s, 35 veterinary students, and 2 clerical
staff. We gathered in Bismarck, ND for
introductions and orientation. From Bismarck, we drove in caravan fashion to
the Standing Rock Reservation.
The focus of this trip was to spay and neuter as many pets
as possible. Vaccinations and parasite treatment were secondary to the primary
mission of sterilization. All services
were free of charge to the clients. Veterinary students performed all of the
pre-surgery and pre-treatment physical exams. They administered vaccinations
and medications and talked to owners about exam findings, treatments, and
preventive care. They assisted in anesthesia and surgery and monitored recovery
of surgical patients. Most students were between the second and third years of
veterinary school. These clinics provide the students with valuable surgical
and clinical experience beyond what they get in veterinary school. The students were extremely hard working,
well prepared, flexible, and thorough. I was very impressed with their skills
and their commitment to the well-being of the pets and the owners.
We admitted puppies and kittens as young as 6-8 weeks of age
for surgery. Mature animal spays, which are rare here in urban practice, were
common. These patients were primarily post- partum females, many of which were
still nursing litters. Kittens and puppies as young as 2-3 weeks of age arrived
along with mom and needed to be kept warm and quiet until mom was awake enough
to be reunited with her babies. Every animal greater than 12 weeks of age received
a Rabies vaccine, and all pets were dosed with oral worming medication and
topical flea medication.
The RAVS veterans
stressed that this was likely to be the only opportunity many of these pets
would have to be spayed or neutered. Pets that could not be found, caught, or
transported to the site would miss the clinic and go on to produce additional
litters of unwanted animals. Neutered
pets fight less, roam less, and are more likely to demonstrate behaviors that
we find acceptable in household companions. Sterilized pets will lead more
comfortable lives and suffer less traumatic injury and illness than their
non-neutered counterparts. And they will not continue to contribute to the
burden of unwanted animals on the reservation.
Clients frequently spent 2-3 hours waiting to have a pet
assessed and admitted for surgery. Some waited 4 hours or more to have a pet or
pets seen. Waiting for veterinary care was often a family affair, with 1 to 3
adults and 1 to multiple children and/or grandchildren piled in the car along
with a variable number of animals. All pets in a family were treated as a
unit-they were examined, treated, and returned to the owner at the same
time. It was not unusual for clients to
arrive with 4-5 large dogs loose in the back of a truck, or 4-5 cats plus
kittens loose in the passenger compartment of a car.
Puppies and kittens seem to find homes fairly readily on the
reservation. It was not uncommon for an owner to say the pet had been in the
household less than a couple of weeks. Children are very involved with the
puppies but interest and interaction wane as the puppy becomes an adult. Many of the smaller dogs (a surprising number
of Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes) live inside the house with the owners. Most
medium sized and large dogs live outside of the house.
Yards may or may not be
fenced and are equipped with varying degrees of shelter. Many dogs wander
freely. Some days they are observed by the owner and some days they are not.
Feeding occurs if someone remembers to do it. Fighting is very common as are
hit by car injuries and other types of trauma. It was rare to encounter dogs or
cats over 6 years of age.
Pets come and go –household composition is very fluid – this
is a different dynamic than what we are used to here in the city. Geriatric
care is a major part of the services we provide to our clients. Most of the
animals on the reservation do not live into these later years. But people
clearly care about their pets. They would spend the entire day and into the
evening waiting for their pets to be attended to. They were very thankful for
the services we provided and for the interest we showed in their pets’
well-being.
Clients’ knowledge of current recommendations for vaccination,
nutrition, parasite control was minimal to non-existent. Their ability to
provide the level of care that we provide for our pets is lacking. But these
owners do want to do what they can within their means to improve the health and
longevity of their pets. It is hard to see this when one first enters a situation
so different from metropolitan Seattle but it is a large factor in the
participation of so many professional volunteers.
I fully
anticipate accompanying RAVS on another trip next summer.
SOURCE:
Ann Whereat, VMD
Primary Location: Northwest Veterinary Hospital
Dr. Whereat earned her degree from the
University of Pennsylvania. She also received a B.A. in Biology from Lawrence
University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
She has a veterinary interest in internal medicine and the
human-animal bond.
Outside the office, Dr. Whereat has one pet – a Great Swiss
Mountain dog – and likes to spend time with her husband and three daughters.
