Vetnuus | Desember 2023 26 « BACK TO CONTENTS Every year during the October School holidays, the NG Kerk Elarduspark has an outreach to the Khomani tribe in Andriesvale and surrounding areas in the Kalahari. Dr Ina Visser from Doringkloof CVC and a small team joined the church group from 2-5 October. This was the first time a veterinarian went with the outreach group. Andriesvale is a thousand kilometres from my clinic in Centurion. We spent 2 days driving and 2 days working. I saw this opportunity as a fact finding mission for possible follow up outreaches and to sterilise cats and dogs. Working donkeys is one of my passions - so I tried to get hold of as many small bits and pieces of tack to take with. The closest vet to Andriesvale is 200km away in Upington. Since we returned I made contact with Julie Grant, from Upington Animal Welfare. Every now and again she fetches animals from Andriesvale and takes them to a vet in Upington to get sterilised - a 400 km round trip. The past few years one of the church ladies, Christa Janse van Rensburg, made it her mission to take food and external parasite treatments for the cats and dogs in Andriesvale . She educated the owners on proper care of their small animals. Her work made such a difference. I expected to see underfed manage ridden animals. But the dogs and cats were all in excellent condition. The owners take good care of them with their limited resources. Yes I saw a lot of ticks, less fleas, but with treatment options so far away one can understand the problem. The only shops in Andriesvale are a bottle store and a Tavern. We started working on Tuesday morning. We spayed the lodge’s female cat. Then we moved to a farm where we sterilised another 4 cats and a male dog. Being in the Kalahari desert was awesome but extremely hot. It was the first time in my career that I had to wrap the exposed uterus in soaked swabs to prevent it from drying out. I was also amazed by how little anaesthetic agent these animals used. Maybe sitting patiently under a tree with your owner waiting your turn is a better option for the animals. Being used to all my creature comforts and isoflurane machine, I was very nervous to operate without it. While waiting for the animals to wake up, we turned our attention to the horses and donkeys. During our stay we vaccinated 14 horses and 6 donkeys against Rabies and Tetanus. These poor working animals definitely need our help and their owners our continued education. It was clear that these owners do not know how to look after their main form of transport. The horses were underweight and their hooves were in a terrible condition. All the horses had different degrees of slipper formation. Most of the horses had horrible chronic saddle sores. We changed bits and replaced bridles and gave a proper numnah to every horse and donkey that we came across. The donkeys were in better condition. We removed wire bits from the donkey's mouths and gave them brand new ones. We checked their bridles and harnesses and educated the owners on proper bridle and harness fitment. It was clear that the owners did not really know how to fit a bridle or a harness. Tuesday afternoon we moved our operation to the Andriesvale town hall. There we sterilised another 5 dogs. People were sitting around us with their pets patiently waiting their turn to get helped. Small little children peeped through the windows to watch the operation inside. Wednesday morning we started at 7 and the temperature outside was already 30 degrees. We were set up at the town hall again. People constantly came with their dogs and ran back home with our cat baskets to fetch cats to get sterilised. An old man walked about 5 kms to the hall with his ginger female cat inside a bird cage to get her fixed. We sterilised 20 dogs and 11 cats in total. Every animal we sterilised received a 5-1 or 3-1 vaccine as well as a Rabies vaccine and external and internal parasite treatments. Unfortunately we ran out of time, but in total we did 150 Rabies vaccinations. This was an awesome humbling experience. Coming from a city Clinic we everything is always rushed with demanding clients, this was a hot heaven on earth. I would like to return to the Khomani tribe in Andriesvale next year. I hope to take a larger team, more vets and make a bigger impact. My other aim is to educate two of the young men from the area in Equine welfare matters - a course currently offered by Cart Horse Protection Association in Cape Town. And my dream - to take a farrier with - even better get a young man or woman trained as a farrier. I would like to thank Alley Cat Rescue Inc for sponsoring all the cat Sterilisations I did. If you are interested in helping - please make contact with me.: donharrera@gmail.com v An initiative of the SOUTH AFRICAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION Non-profit Company: 1998/016654/08 Non-profit Organisation: 000-234 NPO Public Benefit Organisation: 130001321 CVC News I CVC Nuus Andriesvale Outreach Dr Ina Visser, Lakeside Animal Clinic
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