Monday, November 29, 2004

 

RAVS Weekend

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I took a trip out to a little county in Ohio for a Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) clinic. The clinics provide free veterinary services (exams, vaccinations, spaying, neutering) to low-income areas that have or are at risk of having pet overpopulation problems. (I guess it's like a Planned Parenthood for animals.)

Basically, the RAVS truck shows up with all kinds of surgical and medical equipment and a surgical suite is set up in a school gym, or in this case, a fairgrounds garage. Vet student volunteers from all over come to perform the exams and surgeries under the supervision of a few veterinarian volunteers.




The portable surgical suite is set up in under an hour. (We had about five surgery tables.) It's kinda like M*A*S*H, only with vets instead of doctors, and no Korean war.





Susan and Mey give a dehydrated kitty some fluids prior to surgery





All the animals need close monitoring while they recover from anesthesia





After the last patient is sent home, the surgical suite goes back to being a garage, the volunteers go home, and the RAVS equipment is sent on its way to the next town.

In all, we performed about 50 surgeries on Saturday and 30 on Sunday.

The head vet for this clinic was Dr. Leo Egar, who was great to work with--organized, laidback, tough when he needed to be. Check out his site for more photos!

---