Ghana - Kumasi Children's Home

In clinic today ,two dogs came in that had been fighting. They were both male intact dogs that lived together. There were several bite wounds on the first dog as well as eczema on the underside of the neck. Some of the lacerations were sutured with stitches that had to be removed and lidocaine to numb the pain. The man had no leash or collar for the dogs so they started to fight again after they left. The owner had left his small boy in charge of watching over them.

A puppy came in with worms and gas. Sometimes dead worms get vomited -this is when there are a lot of worms. The puppy needs to be dewormed every 2 weeks. Toxocara Canis can be passed from the mother to the pup through the milk.

Another dog came in with a bloody nose, probably caused by intoxication from antivitamin K - a rodenticide. It was given vitamin K for coagulation. Antivitamin K could make the dog limp due to blood in the joints, make the dog pale, foam at the mouth, have a lower temperature and have blood in the faeces. Other causes of a bloody nose are foreign bodies, a tumour, trauma or fungus aspergillum.

A dog with an enlarged testicle came in next. The owner said that he had noticed it 3 days ago, but the vet said that it was longer than that. Orchitis/inflammation of the testicle is the probably cause, but it could also be a torsion. It was cleaned as there was a puncture mark/wound on it. The dog was then given peroxide, furosemide (a diuretic) and antibiotics and anti-inflammatory. The vet reckons that it will be fine in three days so hopefully I will still be around to see it fully healed.

We were on outreach today at Kumasi children's home. We were tasked with vaccinating the sheep and goats that were kept there. They were all dewormed and given antibiotics and vitamins. Those that were showing symptoms of mange were also given ivomectine. It was funny watching the children run around trying to catch the animals as they had not been rounded up. at one point the dog was joining in on the chase, although it was not a good idea as it had bitten the leg of one of the smaller goats. After this was complete, we moved on to deworming the turkeys, who were a lot tamer and easier to catch. The outreach vet had tried to deworm the dog, but it had run off with the needle stuck in its hind leg. We also castrated the two puppies. My castration went perfect. The dog's testicles were tiny compared to the pigs, which meant that they were a lot harder to hold. There was a very little blood and the procedure was over quickly. The dog seemed to be happy as it ran around. I was a little worried that it would catch and infection as it sat down in the mud.