Thursday, July 23, 2015

Sri Lanka; Government Veterinary Hospital

We arrived in Kandy last night on day 8 of our tour of Sri Lanka.
My parents and brother went to the Botanical Gardens but I spotted the Government Veterinary Hospital while we were driving, so walked back to have a look.
 As I was walking up I asked a man if I could take photos, he asked where I was from so I explained I was a vet student from the UK. He introduced me to the Chief Vet Surgeon who gave me a guided tour of the clinic, surgery rooms, pharmacy, dispensary and kennels!
They have four surgery tables which were all in closed rooms behind glass, I couldn't see any gas anaesthetic machines but it all looked very clean and well organised. Surgery instruments looked like they were kept in glass cabinets and autoclaved as needed.
 Consult tables were on the patio around the outside of the building under cover, I guess it's cooler and less stressful for the animals to keep them outside.
There was a price list above the door; Farm animals are free, Small Animal consult 20-30 rupees (10-15 pence) and a Rabies vaccination costs 50 rupees (24p).
The clinician said they see a lot of skin conditions and parasites through the clinic which they manage quite well and mange, which I've seen a lot of when travelling the island.
 I stayed to see a few consults which were Parvo, Distemper and Rabies vaccinations in young puppies, foreign body removal from a puppies ear and some really bad mange.
A big German Shepherd type dog came in on the back of a Tuk Tuk collapsed which they had to immediately put on IV fluids, I didn't get chance to ask what was going on in the rush but it looked like heat stroke which I'm sure they just see a fair few patients for.

They had kennels out the back for monitoring post-op animals, dealing with skin conditions and separate area for Rabies monitoring.
Love their cones of shame which looked like a small plastic laundry basket.

I got some videos on my GoPro so will compile and upload those when I can!