Last week, on March the 6th we finally organised a sterilisation camp for dogs. We placed the sterilisation at the army camp and spent the whole day there. We arrived at 8:00 and stayed there until 16:00. Our role was to help the veterans by taking care of the dogs after surgery. When we arrived two dogs were already done and so we were waiting for them to wake up and calm them as they are in shock and pain when they are awake.

We brought blankets, bowls, tick sprays, yoghurt and milk for the dogs.

A lot of work had to be done and everyone was active and productive throughout the day. We would take turns and help each other with different occupations. There were 2 groups of dogs, the ones that were being sedated and prepped for surgery and those who were already done (sterilised). Each group required special care.

The dogs that were waiting were extremely stressed and needed our help to calm them. Some of the members stayed with them trying to relax them. (One of the dogs seemed to have separation anxiety, so someone had to constantly stay close to him)

The dogs that were done with the surgery required more care and there was more to do. Some of the things we had to do were: watching the dogs’ wounds (we needed to check if there was any bleeding), checking the dogs’ breathing pattern and record if there were any changes, remove ticks and apply the tick spray onto the dogs, and inject them with the hydration drip.

I was curious to see what the surgery looked like and tried watching it, however after some time I felt sick and couldn’t watch anymore. But by the end of the day I was finally able to watch the surgery without any consequences.

After a couple of surgeries, I got an idea of what the procedure looks like. However, when another dog was brought to the operation table, I noticed that something looked different. The surgery looked different. I kept watching to see what happens, only to find out that the dog was pregnant and the veterans were performing a C-section. After a couple of minutes, we all stopped to watch one of the veterans bring out one puppy after another. There were 3 puppies in total. They were so small and looked like rats, not dogs (don’t get me wrong, they were adorable). All 3 pups were born healthy, without any abnormalities.

Obviously now that there were newborns to be taken care of, we had to pay attention to them as well as provide special care for them, such as keep them warm and distance them from the other dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The veterans taught us how to inject the dogs for IVs, hydration, and vaccinations. The veteran even drew on one of the dogs to show us where each injection goes 😂.

By the end of the day 38 dogs were sterilised. All successful surgeries, plus the 3 newborns.

Also one of the dogs found a home thanks to one of our members. She adopted a young dog who was missing an eye, however that didn’t stop him from getting adopted.

Although it wasn’t easy, this was an incredible experience that I will never forget.