Poor planning for this adventure...
Once our placement at Soi Dog was finished, we had every intention of spending a little while on the road again. We travelled north, to a small island called Koh Phayam, where we would formulate an onward plan. Unusually, however, we found ourselves at a little bit of a loss and struggled to relax. This was in part because we hadn't anticipated the lack of an ATM machine on the island in hindsight we should have known better. We resultantly found ourselves living on a very strict budget, and weren't able to afford scooter hire or any other potential distractions. There was also no snorkelling of note within easy reach, which had become our staple cheap activity for the past few months. We had also heard that the island could throw up a bit of surf at the right time of year, which of course, it wasn't during our time there. So we had to settle in for a few days of lounging around in the sun. A tragedy.
During this period we started to wonder about what the next few weeks would look like. For months we had been trying to finalise a further placement on Pulau Langkawi in Malaysia, which seemed destined not to come off. At this point we casually decided to get in touch with Lanta animal Welfare (LAW) in southern Thailand as a number of our friends had visited, and Anna knew the vet from the rowing team at university. We weren't expecting much having given them minimal notice our visa would be expiring in three weeks.
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It was a surprise then that, en route to Koh Phi Phi, we received an email from the practice manager saying they could use our help as soon as possible. Following a quick look at dates, we diverted our trip straight to Koh Lanta so that we could meet the team. It turned out that both the vet, Vicky, and the practice manager, Matt, where due to leave for the UK imminently. This meant that for the next ten days the clinic would have no medical staff on hand during their absence. They we're happy to have us for whatever time we could spare and they even threw in free accommodation and a cooking class at the owners Thai cooking school! We we're sold.
Lanta Animal Welfare is a charitable organisation set up by a Norwegian ex-pat with a passion for the animals of Koh Lanta. The clinic was setup in 2010, utilising the profits from the owners Thai cooking school as a financial foundation. The centre relies heavily on donations from visiting individuals, as well as a substantial volunteer effort to keep the clinic running. When we arrived, there we're six full time staff employed at the centre this group was then supplemented by around eight kennel staff, all of whom we're volunteers, responsible for the care of the resident animals. The centre is far smaller than Soi Dog, with around 80 animals living on site and room for approximately 50 inpatients in addition.
The whole clinic is usually managed by a single full time vet when there are no vet volunteers available. The centre is the only clinical facility on the island and is very basic. There is no gaseous anaesthesia, no nursing staff and minimal access to diagnostics, with a microscope the only tool on offer. Additionally, given the charity's limited budget, blood tests and radiographs must be funded by owners where possible, which are performed at a clinic on the mainland.
For our first two days we we're fortunate enough to have Vicky around to show us the ropes. She helped point out where everything was, demonstrated protocols and outlined our administrative responsibilities. She also talked us through the 'flow' of the hospital, illustrating how animals transitioned though the various sections of the clinic. The centre has to deal with a huge number of animals with infectious disease. The management of animals with contagious pathogens such as Canine Distemper Virus and Feline Panleukopenia Virus we're both routine and essential in order to prevent outbreaks. We we're really glad to have had some time with Vicky before we started, and we we're also grateful for our prior experience at Soi Dog. We we're at least familiar with the treatments and drugs available for use.
When we we're left to run the clinic on our own, we ended up working some pretty long shifts! Even with the two of us we weren't as efficient as Vicky, who was familiar with all the animals, many of the people on the island, and had an impressive grasp of veterinary vernacular in Thai!
Our typical day would begin with inpatient checks; examining and treating all the hospitalised animals. We would start by checking all the younger animals and as many of the resident cats as we could. These guys are all allowed to roam free around the centre premises during the daytime, so checking every individual daily would be a near impossible task. After the general health checks, it was time to manage the "regular" inpatients, that is to say, cases with non-infectious conditions. To provide a small snapshot of our case load here, it included a blocked male cat with crystalluria, cases of renal failure, severe otitis externa, atopic dermatitis, lots of wound management and even more blood parasite treatment.
Any cases with infectious diseases we're kept separately in an isolation unit. The most common condition encountered here was cat flu. However, we arrived during an outbreak of feline panleukopenia. This is a disease we rarely encountered in the UK thanks to widespread vaccination of the cat population. The outbreak at LAW resulted in more than a few late nights, as we tried to diagnose, treat and segregate any potential cases. We also encountered one case of canine distemper and a case of feline infectious peritonitis.
Once morning treatments we're finished, it was time to start operating. Operating generally consisted of only neutering surgeries, although during our two weeks there we did have to perform the occasional procedure, such as an enucleation, wiring a jaw and a few wound treatments. A few surgeries would have been booked in advance, however the majority would just turn up, ideally before midday. We did have to get used to the odd person arriving at around four pm though!
Late afternoon was spent checking up on and medicating the inpatients again. We also had to be prepared for consultations throughout the day. There are no set consulting hours, so predicting the days workload was difficult and we would just have to take things as and when they came. Fortunately, everyone has adopted an "island-life attitude" and we found that clients we're generally happy to wait for a while if we we're stuck with a case or in the middle of surgery.
Given that LAW is the only veterinary facility on the island, we had to treat a number of emergencies. The majority we're road traffic accidents, although we we're also confronted with a dog that had suffered a King Cobra bite. Not something we are ever likely to experience in the UK. As young vets, we found this element of LAW invaluable and hugely rewarding, allowing us to take a step away from reliance on colleagues and first world facilities.
Despite the hard work, we we're able to find time to enjoy the island. Looking back we probably appreciated it more than we would have if we weren't volunteering. We had time and advice to explore great sights and amazing restaurants. Vicky also ensured we could find the bar with the best, and latest-running happy hour for the nights when things we're under control. This was another great aspect of working at Lanta Animal Welfare. We we're extremely fortunate to have some great people helping us during our time there, namely a British vet nurse volunteer (Lindsay!), as well as all the other kennel volunteers, who all did their best to fill us in on the running of the centre. There wasn't much time for socialising during the day, but once the shifts we're over, everyone would meet for a drink or a big dinner together. The community atmosphere here was great and we really enjoyed the company of other young travellers and volunteers.
We are extremely grateful for the time we had at LAW. Professionally, we we're able to gain unique case experience in an environment that encouraged us to think both laterally and pragmatically. We learnt to adapt quickly to our clinical situation, and we we're able use unusual techniques, such as total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA), that we rarely perform at home. Similarly, the opportunity to perform emergency salvage operations was hugely rewarding and exciting. We gained an incredible insight into the progression of patient recovery too, by being able to see the daily progress of so many cases under our care. Personally, we could not have asked for a nicer community to work with. The volunteers, staff and local people we're quick to take us under their wing and embrace our contributions. It seemed fitting that we we're able to finish on such a high, attending 'Songkran', or Thai new year, essentially a giant water fight, on our final day.
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Posted in Traveling Post Date 02/27/2022