No dog-sled teams scheduled for this morning, and since our clinics don't open until noon, we got to have a sleep-in day! Woohoo!
Apparently the new official colour of Team Baker Lake is pink - ever since our Team Leader was entrusted with one load of laundry. (Sorry especially to Carley and Michelle!)
Today we met Trixie, an 11 year old Golden Retriever who is lame in her front left leg. Her owner brought her in and said she's been lame since the winter. It appears that she must had compeletely luxated her carpus and it healed improperly. We sent her home with some Metacam to see if it will help her to be more comfortable.
It was another busy day in our surgery clinic - 6 dogs were spayed and 3 more neutered. One of the neuters was a dog who is pretty well known around town to the lady dogs, so his neighbours are pretty excited that his roaming days are over. Our vaccination clinic saw 18 dogs and 3 cats today.
The only other thing I have to say is CHEESECAKE! and BROWNIES! Yum yum yum!!
Monday, September 05, 2011
Baker Lake, Nunavut - Catch up
First announcement - We have internet!! Yea!!! So after letting all of the team members check in with their families and friends I've managed to beat them all away from the laptop to update the blog and let the rest of the world hear about our adventures so far!
Let me introduce Team Baker Lake 2011 - Veterinarian: Jen; Technicians: Angela, Carley, Jackie, Kristie, Laura, and Renee; and assistants: Michelle and Sue.
Travel Day: Most of our team members were meeting each other for the first time just 4 days ago.. either in airports from whatever side of the country we were starting from or in the hotel in Winnipeg. It is always an entertaining experience to walk into an airport waiting room and try to look for people who you have no idea what they look like.. Almost as entertaining as sharing a hotel room with three complete strangers! However we all found each other and started getting to know each other.
Day 1: The next day we met up with the last two members of our team and started the flights north. A huge "Thank you" to Calm Air and the people at the Buddy Fund for getting us up here!! For those of you that haven't done it - flying north is not an inexpensive venture, so we appreciate all the help we get to make it possible for our teams to get where they are needed! We arrived in Baker Lake pretty late in the evening and after a long day of travel we pretty much just dragged all of our stuff inside the house and went to bed.
Ok,ok.. maybe it wasn't quite THAT easy. First we got picked up from the airport, had to have another vehicle come because all of our stuff wouldn't fit in the truck that was there, then some of us got a wee bit lost on the way to the house, and when we did get there we found that someone else was already living in the house but wasn't home. So while we were all sitting there trying to decide how to word the note to leave on the door explaining that 9 women had moved in and gone to bed, please don't trip over us, and we'll chat in the morning, poor Eric came home. He was very nice and understanding - and moved right out leaving us the house. Sorry, Eric! I was worried that we scared him away, but he's been back to help us set up and even brought a pet in for a coworker, so we couldn't have been that bad!
Some of us got a glimpse of the Northern LIghts, which as always is an amazing experience. We all have our fingers crossed for more!
Day 2: We got up the next day and had to set up our surgery area as well as our vaccination area. Some folding tables, some tarps and rearranging of some lights and we were ready to go! Our first patient had been waiting for us. "King" is a puppy who had a rope collar put on when he was smaller and had outgrown it. It was deeply imbedded into the skin on his neck, causing wounds and infection. Dr. Jen and her team spent two and a half hours removing the collar and repairing the wound. We had to fashion him a body harness out of some of our leashes since he won't be able to wear a collar for a while, we have our fingers crossed he won't figure out how to escape it! He recovered well from his anesthesia and we will be able to check on him reguarly during our stay in Baker.
After that was taken care of the surgery team did a full day of surgeries - five dog neuters and one dog spay.
It was a pretty busy day after the vaccine clinic got up and running - we saw 19 more dogs for vaccinations and deworming.
Day 3: I've gotta say that the most exciting thing for me about this day is that my suitcase, that has been MIA since leaving Toronto, magically appeared! I've never been happier to see clean underwear or hiking boots in all of my life! Thank you to Carley and Michelle for dressing me up until this point of the trip. For any of you thinking about coming up here - capris and sandals are NOT Baker Lake attire!
We started off this moring by heading out to vaccinate and deworm two of the sled teams in town - one had 9 dogs, the other had 13. We were picked up by ATVs, so went out clinging on for dear life, but had a great time. Strugging with frozen fingers to change syringes and needles, and occasionally having to get our bag of garbage from one particularly playful sled dog, we got them all done. It's obvious to all of us that the team owners really love their dogs and want to provide the best for them. Both of these teams were seem by last year's team, and were happy to see CAAT back again!
Today we saw Blackie, a 14 year old cat who's been loosing weight. We soon discovered that a tooth was infected and painful. We were able to pull it out and send him home with some antibiotics and painkillers. Hopefully he's on the mend and eating happily soon.
Our total numbers for today - 4 dog neuters, 7 dog spays, 1 cat neuter, 11 other dogs and 4 other cats vaccinated and dewormed.
No more Northern Lights. At least not yet.
Let me introduce Team Baker Lake 2011 - Veterinarian: Jen; Technicians: Angela, Carley, Jackie, Kristie, Laura, and Renee; and assistants: Michelle and Sue.
Travel Day: Most of our team members were meeting each other for the first time just 4 days ago.. either in airports from whatever side of the country we were starting from or in the hotel in Winnipeg. It is always an entertaining experience to walk into an airport waiting room and try to look for people who you have no idea what they look like.. Almost as entertaining as sharing a hotel room with three complete strangers! However we all found each other and started getting to know each other.
Day 1: The next day we met up with the last two members of our team and started the flights north. A huge "Thank you" to Calm Air and the people at the Buddy Fund for getting us up here!! For those of you that haven't done it - flying north is not an inexpensive venture, so we appreciate all the help we get to make it possible for our teams to get where they are needed! We arrived in Baker Lake pretty late in the evening and after a long day of travel we pretty much just dragged all of our stuff inside the house and went to bed.
Ok,ok.. maybe it wasn't quite THAT easy. First we got picked up from the airport, had to have another vehicle come because all of our stuff wouldn't fit in the truck that was there, then some of us got a wee bit lost on the way to the house, and when we did get there we found that someone else was already living in the house but wasn't home. So while we were all sitting there trying to decide how to word the note to leave on the door explaining that 9 women had moved in and gone to bed, please don't trip over us, and we'll chat in the morning, poor Eric came home. He was very nice and understanding - and moved right out leaving us the house. Sorry, Eric! I was worried that we scared him away, but he's been back to help us set up and even brought a pet in for a coworker, so we couldn't have been that bad!
Some of us got a glimpse of the Northern LIghts, which as always is an amazing experience. We all have our fingers crossed for more!
Day 2: We got up the next day and had to set up our surgery area as well as our vaccination area. Some folding tables, some tarps and rearranging of some lights and we were ready to go! Our first patient had been waiting for us. "King" is a puppy who had a rope collar put on when he was smaller and had outgrown it. It was deeply imbedded into the skin on his neck, causing wounds and infection. Dr. Jen and her team spent two and a half hours removing the collar and repairing the wound. We had to fashion him a body harness out of some of our leashes since he won't be able to wear a collar for a while, we have our fingers crossed he won't figure out how to escape it! He recovered well from his anesthesia and we will be able to check on him reguarly during our stay in Baker.
After that was taken care of the surgery team did a full day of surgeries - five dog neuters and one dog spay.
It was a pretty busy day after the vaccine clinic got up and running - we saw 19 more dogs for vaccinations and deworming.
Day 3: I've gotta say that the most exciting thing for me about this day is that my suitcase, that has been MIA since leaving Toronto, magically appeared! I've never been happier to see clean underwear or hiking boots in all of my life! Thank you to Carley and Michelle for dressing me up until this point of the trip. For any of you thinking about coming up here - capris and sandals are NOT Baker Lake attire!
We started off this moring by heading out to vaccinate and deworm two of the sled teams in town - one had 9 dogs, the other had 13. We were picked up by ATVs, so went out clinging on for dear life, but had a great time. Strugging with frozen fingers to change syringes and needles, and occasionally having to get our bag of garbage from one particularly playful sled dog, we got them all done. It's obvious to all of us that the team owners really love their dogs and want to provide the best for them. Both of these teams were seem by last year's team, and were happy to see CAAT back again!
Today we saw Blackie, a 14 year old cat who's been loosing weight. We soon discovered that a tooth was infected and painful. We were able to pull it out and send him home with some antibiotics and painkillers. Hopefully he's on the mend and eating happily soon.
Our total numbers for today - 4 dog neuters, 7 dog spays, 1 cat neuter, 11 other dogs and 4 other cats vaccinated and dewormed.
No more Northern Lights. At least not yet.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Carmacks Yukon
Well, the trip is over. It was a great success with the amazing team we had. Final numbers were 174 vaccines and 75 surgeries. Originally we expected 53 surgeries, so we did extremely well with the time we had for this project. Carmacks is a wonderful place with beautiful scenery, beautiful people and a definite need for our services. It was a great trip!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Carmacks Yukon
Day two of our Carmacks Project was exciting for all team members. We were able to complete 22 surgeries (32 in total so far!) along with examinations and vaccines for many pets. Members of the community stopped by the recreation centre we are working at to ask us questions about their pets and what we do! The Village of Carmacks has been welcoming and very enthusiastic about what we are doing. Last evening they hosted a welcome BBQ which was a great opportunity to meet some of the community. CBC interviewed us today and filmed surgeries and activity at the project site. There are over 100 dogs and cats requiring surgery so the remainder of our trip should be very busy! We currently have a puppy in our possession that was dropped off for a spay and not picked up. We are trying to find her owner and battling with not bringing her to our own homes. Puppies are plentiful in Carmacks! (The most common breed being the apparently non-existent BEAR DOG!) We have recruited a tech-assistant from the community named Sarah. She hopes to be a veterinarian when she grows up! We hope she opens a spay/neuter clinic in Carmacks! We finished off our productive day by hiking to The Five Finger Rapids on The Yukon River. It was beautiful!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Carmacks, Yukon
Today was our first real day of surgery. Everyone worked getting organized and Isabelle was her usual awesome self and had everyone functioning in no time. Admissions was pretty crazy at times but manageable. Marnie did a fantastic job of recovering pets and assisting everyone that needed her. The techs, Jenn, Cathy, Lindsay and Nicole did a fantastic job even though it was their first time. Rob had his "A" game as always and Liz is amazing! Ten surgeries today. Tonight we hiked up a hill to see some native spirit houses despite warnings that a grizzly had been spotted in the community. We didn't see him. All in all a very good day. It is raining quite heavily currently but we love it here. The Yukon is beautiful. Stay tuned...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Team Carmacks!
Our team arrived today without a hitch. Full day of travel for most of us. Just settling in for the night and will start our work tomorrow. SAW A BEAR TODAY!!!! Very exciting. Further updates to come!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Team Carmacks!
A team of 9 veterinary professionals will be heading to Carmacks, Yukon on Sunday July 17th. Our animal wellness clinic will have us in this small community of approximately 456 residents for 5 days. We will return on Friday July 22nd. Keep your eyes on our BLOG for trip updates and fingers crossed we see some bears!
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