All of us at Hope Dog Rescue love animals. We could go through fire and water to relieve their pain and suffering. Just seeing the smiles on their faces is worth all that we have to go through. Even if it means crawling through mud, jumping into drains and getting through with no food and sleep during our rescue operations. We might be drenched in dirt, and weak from exhaustion by the time we walk through the clinic doors with the injured animal. But, we are always filled with hope, and a feeling of relief when the medical team receives us at the clinic.
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| Volunteer Kenneth helping out on one of our late night rescues |
We admit, oftentimes, we find ourselves ill-equipped to help the strays. How do we know if a limp or wound is serious, how should we carry an injured animal, when are urgent interventions needed, etc. It fills us with dread when we are confronted with an injured or sick animal. Some of us are not seasoned rescuers, but the stray dogs and cats we encounter are usually emergency cases from broken bones to badly infected bloody wounds.
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| Volunteer Daryl helping to shave Blackie for a procedure |
So when our kind team of veterinarians and veterinary technicians asked if our volunteers would be interested in a sharing session, we were absolutely thrilled and jumped at the opportunity. For some of us, being a vet is a dream career but sadly we are not destined for it in this lifetime. Getting our kind vet to teach us is the next best thing.
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| ARVC staff, Dr Randy, showing our volunteers how to do a subcut |
The sharing has been truly fruitful and enjoyable. We touched on several topics ranging from the different routes of parenteral medication administration, platelet factors, judging the severity of a limp, mange treatments, cat flu to feeling a full bladder, etc. We learnt, there are needle insertion angles for various types of parenteral administration of medication: intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous, and intradermal injection. Did you know? We had plenty to ask and thousands of questions.
The knowledge provided us with greater insights into the care of an animal and invaluable knowledge for our rescue work. Of course, we had to try out what we learnt. Poor Chloe was the guinea pig during our learning session on administering fluids via the subcutaneous route. We are pleased to say we did a pretty good job with her.
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| Volunteers Jean & Fadzil doing a subcut on Chloe |
Everyone had a pawsome time despite the fact that we were tired after a long day at work.
We are very grateful to the team at ARVC for their time, effort and kind initiative. It is not every day that we get the opportunity to learn from veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Thank you very much to the lovely team at ARVC for supporting our work and helping us to further our cause of helping animals in need. We hope that we will be able to help more animals with our newly gained knowledge and skills.
