At my fourth day at the veterinary clinic in Amakom, (Monday the 5th of July), we saw some interesting cases. A rabbit with mange was brought in, as well as a dog with a fungal infection on its foot. The fungal infection as treated with copper sulphate, which lowers the pH and cauterizes the wound, and it was given a penicillin injection.
A dog with a wound caused by a cancer treating drug -vincristine - was the next in. It had a tropical disease known as TVT or Granuloma. It also had skin necrosis, which was treated with the vincristine. As the vincristine had gotten out of the blood vessel, it had caused the surrounding tissue to rot, which as the injury that the dog was coming in for treatment for. The sex organ of the dog was also oozing blood previously but it wasn't today. It was clear that the dog was not in a good way, but at least its owners were prepared to do something about it rather than just leaving the dog untreated as I had seen so many of the other owners do.
The goat and her kid was brought back in today for its course of medicine. There was definitely an improvement in the health of the animal. All of the farm animals that get brought to the vets are not allowed into the vet clinic, but instead are treated on a table that it outside, in front of the vet clinic.
A small puppy was the next to see the vet. It had dribbled everywhere as it was so nervous. It was only coming in for its vaccinations and a deworming tablet. Another dog was in soon after as it hadn't been standing properly on its hind leg and it was wobbly when it walked. the vet wanted to assess/palpate the area as the dog had been spayed recently. However, they couldn't muzzle the dog so it had to be taken home. The owners brought a muzzle for five cedes so they could try and muzzle the dog as home where it would be a bit more relaxed. I didn't see the dog back again so either they came back when we were not working or the owners never brought the dog back. The next dog that was brought in was sent to the other branch of the Amakom vets in Catena as it turned out the owners lived closer to the other clinic.
A Chinese man brought in his mastiff next, however, he only spoke Chinese - not one word of English or Twi. From signals and hand gestures we managed to work out that the dog was not eating and it had been vomiting, and after taking its temperature, we found out it had worms - probably hookworms as there was blood on the thermometer. As the dog didn't look too dehydrated, it was not put on a drip/infusion. It was given the standard injections and given a deworming tablet. The vet was not sure how well the man understood him so the dog had to come in for the next two days.
A cute puppy with ears too big for its head was brought in as it was not eating. As it was one month late for its vaccinations, it was more likely to be predisposed to diseases such as parvovirus. It is important that you stick to the vaccination times, unfortunately many of the owners in Ghana didn't seem to understand this.
A dog with an extremely badly swollen paw was next through thee door. It had been in over a month ago with a similar wound and after treatment, the swelling and infection had gone down, but not completely at it had come back even worse. They had only brought the dog in today but it was clear that the infection was not new. The dog was not putting any pressure on its leg as the paw was swollen to double the size. Once squeezed some pus came out. I can't understand why you would leave the dog to suffer for this long! To make matters worse, they didn't have enough money on them so they took the dog back home. They said they would return with more money so that the dog could get treatment, but I not sure I can believe that they say. I asked the vet what he would have done if he had been able to treat the dog and he said he would have put the dog on a course of antibiotics, as well as some anti-inflammatory. He had hoped that this would soften the skin so they could open the wound and remove the infection and pus inside.
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