Read part I here: PPVH vet in Thailand Week 1

Our week at the Elephant Nature Park came to a close and we headed back to the city of Chiang Mai. Here, we worked at the Animal Rescue Kingdom: a shelter and hospital to over 100 homeless dogs. Like many countries in South East Asia, Thailand suffers from a dog overpopulation problem. The Animal Rescue Kingdom (ARK) offers shelter and treatment to animals rescued from the street and those abandoned by their owners. The shelter runs a sterilization program to help combat the overpopulation problem. 

Loop Abroad has a mutually beneficial relationship with ARK. The program brings in vets like me to teach the students but also offer treatment, medications and surgeries to animals in need. 

Click here to visit ARK's Facebook page and learn more about the shelter.

The 11 students were given a workbook outlining material for the week. I began each day with a lecture about a given topic and in the afternoon the students got hands on with the animals performing physical exams, skin scrapes to look for mites, blood draws to test for blood parasites and ear smears to look for infections just to name a few. 

The first half of the week is geared towards preparing the students for Thursday and Friday -- the surgery (castration) days! Thursday morning I split the group into two: one responsible for monitoring anesthesia with another Loop Abroad vet and the other helping me in surgery.  I gave everyone a safety lecture and emphasized that totday the priority is the dog on the table and we have to take this very seriously. I distributed tasks to each student for the surgery and we all scrubbed in and got to it! The students were great; attentive and excellent at following my instruction. Once complete and the animal recovered from anesthesia, we rotated groups and did it all again three more times. 

Friday was my favorite day of all -- cat neuter day! We followed the same procedure as the previous day but a cat neuter, being easier and quicker than a dog castration, is performed almost entirely by the students (with me supervising very closely).

Friday afternoon the students were ecstatic! They had completed surgeries and saved lives. Over the course of the week they had learned so much information about veterinary medicine, and had fun at the same time! What could be better than that?

We finished off the day with some swimming at a local pool and a visit to the Buddhist temple atop Doi Suthep. 

As I sit on the plane back to Sydney, I already miss my students, the elephants at ENP, the dogs at ARK, my colleagues at Loop Abroad and all the amazing Thai people I met or re-connected with on this trip. I feel so lucky to have had this experience and I've enjoyed sharing it with all of you.  I look forward to returning to my clients, patients and coworkers at PPVH and snuggling with my dearly-missed cats.