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Oregon State University veterinary students Brian Dugovich and Craig Seyler perform a physical exam on a dog during last year's Nicaragua trip.

Veterinary care for Nicaraguan pets

Vets provide free veterinary care to pets for ten days annually

By: Gail Cole

Posted: 10/24/08

Students in OSU's International Veterinary Students Association (IVSA) will go to Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua this December to provide veterinary care and public education.

"As far as we know, just from speaking to the local residents, there's really no consistent vet care there," said Austin Bell, a third year veterinary student who traveled to Central America last year with the IVSA group and will return this year.

"It's all free," said Jessika Lais, a second year veterinary student who will go to Nicaragua this December. "Get in line with your animal and we'll work as quickly as we can."

The students will perform several procedures for local pets, such as de-worming, basic vaccinations, wound treatment, physicals, neutering and spaying.

The opportunity for free veterinary care a necessary help for Nicaragua's pets, as they may otherwise receive no treatment and become extremely ill or die. In addition, people in Nicaragua still heavily depend on their pets as livestock and forms of transportation.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Nicaragua's GDP per capita - the sum of the goods and services a country divided by its population - is $2,800, compared to $45,800 in the United States.

"In a country as poor as Nicaragua, a lot of the people are still relying on their livestock," Bell said. "People are still riding their horses around and using cows to till the fields."

Eight OSU veterinary students traveled to Nicaragua and Costa Rica last December. The experience helped the decision to return to Nicaragua this year.

"From what we saw down there, people were actually very concerned about their animals," Bell said.

The 10-day trip will cost each student approximately $2,000, though any unused money from the students' fund raising can be split to help with student's cost.

In addition to cash donations, the students are also accepting donations of towels, blankets, exam gloves and other supplies that will be used during medical procedures.

Supply donations are necessary, given that the working conditions are often very basic.

Bell said the facility used last year in Merida, Nicaragua was like an open barn.

"It was a very large storage area with two sides and a tin roof," he said. "We didn't have water, but we were lucky because we did have electricity."

While these conditions may seem horrendous and primitive to many in the United States, many locals were extremely grateful for their animals to receive help.

"At times last year, it became actually quite chaotic based on the amount of people who showed up," Bell said. "They just stood there with their animals and waited for us."

Language is a barrier for the group since the locals of Nicaragua speak Spanish. Though several students are able to speak conversational Spanish, they will rely on their local organizer and translators to communicate with the community. (For example, there will be a translator in the recovery area to instruct owners on how to care for pets after surgery.)

"We rely as much on the local community as much as they rely on us," Bell said.

Though students get immeasurable cultural experience while abroad, they also encounter illnesses that are often not found in American animals. Examples of these are blood-born parasites and bacterial parasites, as well as transmissible venereal cell tumors (a disease that acts as a sexually transmitted disease in dogs).

"Your average vet can go their entire career and not see [this disease] in the U.S.," Bell said.

Beyond the Nicaragua trip, the group helps students think internationally by bringing in guest speakers who have done veterinary work in other countries. They also to help fund individual veterinary trips abroad.

"We try to encourage people to take trips on their own," Lais said. "We try to save up money in our club to disperse in small scholarships to people who are self-motivated to do trips on their own."

Lais sees the IVSA and the experience it provides as a way to let veterinary students see the opportunities available to them.

"I think it's a motivator and eye-opener to let people realize that there is a whole world out there other than just your town," she said.

Bell agrees with Lais, and hopes to see the international experience gained with IVSA expand to an international program that is a part of the veterinary medicine college.

"You have a really narrow vision sometimes in vet school," he said. "[International work] really gives the student an enormous amount of perspective."

To send donations of supplies or money to the trip, contact the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Gail Cole, senior reporter

news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231