Wednesday 10th June. Flurry of farewells and finishing.

 Our second day at TUC. This time the truck went out and came back with 17 pigs and one dog! Not what we had hoped for but apparently desexing male pigs means they grow faster and taste better, so this was a much requested service! So at one stage we had them lined up and 3 surgery tables running with dogs and pigs, and Rui was master of the pig castrations.

Me retrieving piggies. 17 small ones were in this cage (3-30kg).

t

Rui finishing off a pregnant bitch spey with very
little assistance.

Brian asks - would you like your surgery next?

Sweet meats for the day. You can see the heat was getting to
us! Steve on the right was doing data recording and was
aptly called the "fan fairy" as he had a portable fan he directed
at us when the sweat was getting a bit much.

So our final day was busy enough and finished with farewells with Rui and Temwa. That has been a very encouraging part of our trip to see what their abilities are, and they have an excellent attitude to learning and their work which I must say is a little unusual compared with our observations of many locals in 2012. They have a very difficult task as they are meant to desex all animals on Tarawa as that is their job (without full veterinary training!). We will try and continue to assist them over the internet but at the moment they lack most equipment and medications. One bottle of penicillin I left with Rui will not go far!

Our final tally is 231 desexing surgeries - 113 male dogs, 55 female dogs, 11 male cats, 11 female cats, and 41 male pigs. We would always like more but were happy with our achievement!

Temwa and Rui with their thankyou gifts to us.

Late afternoon we had a meeting with the TUC mayor, clerk and treasurer over drinks to discuss what their plans were and if we could plan future possible trips. They are so keen for assistance but as always have pretty well no resources to support us. As similar to the BTC council, we concluded that education of local people regarding the health issues between dogs and people, benefits of desexing,  reasons for euthanasia, and how to care properly for dogs/animals was much needed. We floated the idea of council bylaws being changed so that desexed animals could be registered at a discount (currently only desexed animals can be registered!!!), that numbers of dogs be limited per house to 2 dogs, that future visits be preceded by more education and advertising, and that the councils be the location where people could purchase collars and worming medication for their dogs (currently no wormers available at all, and very limited collars). Perhaps there could be incentives with some free worming tablets initially?? Many things for us to explore and to gather information for them.

We were pleased that the mayor again expressed his thanks and hope for ongoing partnership with us and he clearly acknowledged that we had used our own personal resources and unpaid leave to be able to visit Tarawa, i.e. he knew we weren't highly paid for the job!

We finished the evening with a meal with our US Pacific Partnerships team. They very thoughtfully gave us each a commemorative coin from the US Millinocket which was a lovely gesture. We have really enjoyed getting to know them all and to working with them.

Well, we have many mixed emotions about leaving. Overwhelmed, sad, relieved, reflective...all different things as we finish this very busy time. We have so many people to thank for their interest, prayers, support, kindness, both on Tarawa: in particular Gillian and Jason, Tony and Andrea, Brooke and Joel, George and Denise; and back home, particularly Jude Mulholland and Mardi Chi Foundation, without their financial support Leesa and I would not have been able to travel to Kiribati.

Brian's extra long bus trip (30 minutes past his stop because he didn't know how to say "stop" on a local bus in I-Kiribati), fighting a huge marauding wasp that refused to die in our hotel room, and many other stories that have coloured our adventures will have to remain untold.

We hope there will be future trips to come. And thankyou readers for your interest and hope you can somehow find a way to support dog management work either in Australia (look up AMRRIC) or with us in Kiribati (look up Mardi Chi Dingo Foundation or call Farriervet in Kyabram) !

Slightly cleaner on our final morning and heading home to Oz.

Tuesday 9th June. Leesa's blonde day.

It was great to have Leesa back on board after her enforced bed rest due to illness. She had a dilemma, did she come back to help us or see what the medical officers were like on board the US Millinocket ship if she was still feeling ill?! But as she was still recovering she was allowing herself a blonde day (only once!).

So we started in a new location today at the Teinainano Urban Council (TUC) in Teaoraereke village (basically instead of turning left from the hotel, today we turned right!). On our previous visit this location had seen our most successful surgery numbers due to the enthusiastic dog wardens, trucks to pick up dogs and very positive council mayor.

Helen with her injection pole which was very useful again.

Set up under the garage area.

This time we were setting up outside under a new car repair shed area instead of inside a tiny office. Better place for onlookers to view things, but easier place for animals to run away. We have got into a good rhythm with set up so it was pretty straight forward to be ready by 8am. We had a cage of a few dogs waiting for us and a pig, which was added to during the day by several more cages of dogs. Again, the injection pole to administer sedatives was extremely useful. All the loads of dogs were taken home uneventfully by the dog wardens in successive cage loads. We had Rui and Temwa doing more surgery and catheter placements and it was great to see their ongoing dedication and committment to learning and to practicing their skills. It was also great to be able to meet one of the really good dog wardens again who had a real empathy for dogs. I later heard him speaking to waiting owners and asked him what he was saying and he was telling them (without instruction from us) to keep their dogs quiet, in the shade, and give a little soft food and water as they recover. Wonderful!!

We provided a great source of interest to school kids
 before (and during!) school.

Paige worked her magic with "piggy magic" (a zoletil mix) and we called her queen of pigs, but she was also the master at the injection pole (I am a complete wimp!). It was also Gabriel's last day with us as he was needed on another project, so it was our last day as a full team. Getting sad...

We also took opportunity to talk with the Australian volunteer who is helping review council bylaws at the TUC about humane euthanasia methods of unwanted dogs, care of impounded dogs and ongoing education of locals regarding desexing and health care of their dogs.

Pododermatitis (in all 4 feet) in one dog.

A few interesting things we saw was our first positive snap blood test which turned out to be Heartworm infection in a relatively young dog (which belonged to a friend of mine!). A cryptorchid male, more diarrhoea, body condition scores generally around 1-2 out of 5, and one dog presented with very large foot pads which were red and maybe swollen. I wondered if this dog was in the water alot and had a moisture dermatitis. Some dogs are good at fishing for food so this could be possible.

Helen in her element.

The mayor had a brief chat with all of us at the end of the day and expressed his gratitude to us for all our work which was really nice. I then took opportunity at the end of the day to visit old neighbours nearby and had a few good chats. Later in the evening we had internet success and skyped home to Australia, not using my laptop of course!

A lovely smile from Ryan with sleeping patient.

Gabriel had fun doing all sorts of new things
 including grabbing pigs out of the cage.

Vet tech team extraordinaire Ryan, Logan, Leesa and Gabriel.

Paige posing with part of a patient?

My dog warden friend Bunaua from last visit,
with recovering surgery patient. He really did
have a lovely empathy with the dogs.

Final team photo! but missing Temwa in the picture.

Local piggy with her litter near my old house.

Staminade and gatorade commercial. We would
never have got through without at least 1 litre
per day each.

Monday 8th June. Kiribati weight loss programme.

Drinking moi motos.

Leesa has been laid low today feeling a bit ordinary with a tummy bug (hence the title) so had to stay in bed and look after herself (but she looked 95% better in the afternoon!), Helen has been powering on like a duracell bunny and has been very calm with amazing stamina and endurance, and I have been flagging a little today, trying not to get sick. It was our second and last day at BTC and a few of the US Pacific Parterships crew were feeling a bit sick too, so we were all happy for a quieter day. Paige, Brian, Logan, Ryan, and Gabriel enjoyed the moi motos that we brought back from our walk yesterday!

The rubbish truck actually went out today and brought back two loads of dogs  (12 dogs in total) in a big metal cage. Helen brought an injection pole all the way from Australia which came into it’s own today. It saved a huge amount of stress both for dogs and people when we were administering the premedication injection through the sides of the cage rather than trying to restrain very scared and stressed dogs. One guy brought his dog on a motorbike.

Today's patients.

Helen's injection pole in use. Very nifty and great for dogs and people.

Next patient arriving in style.

 

We did some more training with Rui and Temwa trying to get them used to the drug mixes we were using and aseptic technique for surgery. I was also teaching Rui how to take blood samples from dogs which he will need in the future. Difficult without fur clippers and dogs unused to being handled much!

Paige and Temwa working together.

Our cutest patient for the day!

One interesting part of the day was meeting with the BTC mayor and clerk about what their dog management plans were for the future. We concluded that we would prepare a trifold pamphlet about the benefits of dog desexing to people (and dogs!) that would be translated and given out household to household together with information on garbage collection and tuberculosis awareness. I must say at this point in time we are feeling overwhelmed about the scale of the issues here and the disorganisation of so many things, some within their control, some not.  Education about the value and benefits of desexing their animals would certainly be helpful as part of the way forward. Time will tell. Off to a new council tomorrow.

Mite infestation on the ear pinnae of a cat. this will respond
well to ivermectin.

Sunday 7th June. Postcard pictures from North Tarawa.

We had a day off today but had to set off early to try and avoid the heat of the day. We were grateful for a lift from Ambo village by an Australian couple who I had never met but had interacted with over the internet, prior to their placement on Tarawa. So it was nice to meet up and even nicer to avoid the local buses and LONG walk at the other end before we could reach the channel, catch a canoe over then walk partway up North Tarawa.

It was a 2 hour walk through rain and hot sun along much more traditionally settled areas. No cars, just bicycles and a few motorbikes. At the end of the walk we reached "Broken Bridge" which was even more broken than I remember it. But we had a lovely swim in the channel underneath the bridge, as the water is not heavily contaminated this far up the atoll due to the sparser population.

Moi motos (drinking coconuts) on the walk back given to us from a friendly acquaintance from living here in 2012 (Amon Tiiman and his family), and a visit to our puppy Bethany from 2012 (still huge, happy and getting fatter) to give her worming tablets, and then we were able to walk the Buota channel back to the car as the tide was still out on the way back.

So please enjoy some of the pictures of the day. Oh and we think there was some sort of unexploded torpedo bomb thing we saw at one place. Any ammunitions experts please comment! [...no I am wrong, I later learned it was a type of buoy used to mark sea passages for ships coming into or leaving Betio port. So not explosive at all!!]

Work sheet stuck on the wall in a small primary school at
Abatao. It would be good to add a few extras like "Be kind to
your dog"!

This is the first time I have seen raised gardens in coconut palm trunks!

Is this some sort of torpedo thing from WW II??? No, thankfully, I emailed Amon later

 (pictured below)  and he said it is an old metal buoy used as a marker in the sea passage

 in Betio. Relieved!

Amon and his (desexed) dog at Tabiteuea village.

Happy piggy eating coconut mush.

Yes it is quite pretty up here at Tabuki by the bridge. Tropical paradise?

Creatures in the water - a brittle star.

Plenty of kids along the track want to shake your hand and to practice their "Hello" s.

Once the tide was out it exposes alot of sand in the lagoon.

Having a moi moto (drinking coconut) toast!

Leesa was feeling a bit weary. Working on relaxing. At Tabon te Keke.

Bethany our tiny puppy now huge, at the maneaba!

Saturday 6th June. Bigger team, new location.

We had a slower day today with less animals seen as we were in a new location ( we used last visit also) at the Betio Town Council. There is less surrounding housing and it was a Saturday, but we still had patients show up. I finally broke the barrier of a pig castration today using Paige's nifty "Piggy Magic" sedation/anaesthetic mix (xylazine, butorphanol, ketamine and local infiltration at the surgical site with lignocaine). We are seeing a great demand for pig castrations and most people are bringing in small pigs (5-8kg) but they are very noisy all the same! We were joined by a few other people from the ship including a nurse, 2 dentists and a medic who enjoyed observing us wrangling our patients (like they are not allowed to do but wish they could do!). So it was fairly busy with people watching in a small space.

Small room at the BTC in which we were able to set up our clinic.

We would love to see a dog registration programme implemented
so were quite excited to see a dog with a tag!! There have
been "plans" to get it going, so maybe it has started.

Dog & pig recovery outside was also supervised.

Severe fly bites on the dorsum of the ear pinnae.

Tick infestation on the ear pinnae and  in patches
all over the body

 We have seen various ailments I mentioned previously. We saw 2 spectacular cases today of tick infestation in one 18 month old dog (which incidentally was Lyme disease, Ehrlichia canis, Dirofilaria immitis and Anaplasma negative on SNAP test), and one dog with severe fly bitten ears.

Lisa's favourite patient of the day.

We finished early enough to go home, shower and head back down to Betio to the monthly fishing competition weigh in. A big event in mostly "I-matang" (foreigner) circles. George's boat (the Australian High Commissioner) got lots of small yellow-fin tuna (14-16 pounds). We saw a few massive trevally and barracuda (40+ pounds), and a huge sailfish which for it's species was considered small.

Weigh in!

George and his boat's catch.

I forget who won...but it was a good place to chat to other people and to hear about what work they were doing on Tarawa!

Friday 5th June. Amazing team effort!

Our final day at the Sports Complex, Betio has been very successful. The tally today: 34 male dogs, 17 female dogs, 3 male cats, 3 female cats, 5 male pigs, 1 eye enucleation. What a team effort between 4 vets and 4 nurses/vet techs.  That is a lot of procedures!!

We were never shy to ask for assistance!

Paige working with Temwa on a pig castration.

Yes this is product placement, but Bayer did kindly donate
some dog worming chews. These owners had their dog desexed last
time and came back  this time for medicine to keep their dog healthy
as you cannot buy any worming medicine in the shops.

Leesa had a fan club of many children. This child
gave her a parting gift for desexing their dog!

Yesterdays patient, todays audience come to check
 out the action wearing her AMRRIC collar which
were kindly donated by AMRRIC (and were VERY
popular!)

We did desex some small male puppies and a few
small females although their survival is questionable at
this age.

Recovery mat was a mobile mass of bodies all day.

Lots of laughs with the kids. They enjoyed the spectacle too!

Needless to say we were fairly pooped but finished the day singing with the children, enjoying their enthusiasm and laughter.

Some of the US Navy team have been taking a few dog blood samples while we are here which is really interesting information to have. They have a snap test which tests for Ehrlichia canis, Lyme disease, Anaplasma, and Heartworm. Of approximately 20 samples all were negative. And blood films will be examined later for parasites. Other diseases or health issues we have seen include ticks, fleas, lice, cat flu, broken teeth, undernutrition, excessive bleeding during surgery possibly due anemia and hypoproteinemia (severe parasitism?),  we presume intestinal worms (potbellies), fly bitten ears, diarrhoea…we are learning as we go. No obvious leatherbacks but fur on dogs has been patchy, some with presumably old burn wounds. Pigs have had diarrhoea and they generally let you know they are arriving from a long way off by their squealing.....One arrived today in an empty rice bag!

Still in our dirty clothes from the day (and smelling quite delightful!), we were taken to dinner by George and Denise who work for the Australian government here on Tarawa. It was interesting to hear first hand the issues (plenty!) on Tarawa as well as just time to chat about the fishing competition tomorrow night - weigh in is at 5pm sharp, and boats can leave at 12am...that is 17 hours on the water, many in the searing sun going fishing??? Let's see what they catch, but work is still on tomorrow first.