Day 5
Sunday, day 5 working alongside Hai - I did my first pangolin anaesthetic!
We anaesthetised the individual with the infected wound, to enable surgical debriding. He was induced in a chamber with 5% isoflurane and then maintained on Isoflurane via a facemask. I monitored the anaesthetic throughout, whilst Hai treated the tail. As part of the donated materials I had some medical Manuka honey (known for its natural antimicrobial and debridement effects) which we decided to trial. The honey dressing was applied, followed by an absorbent layer, a cohesive layer and then a final adhesive layer. I learnt the hard way that you can, and have to put a dressing on much tighter than you would any other mammal. The tail tip dressings have to withstand being dragged along the floor, used to cling on to branches when climbing and even dipped in water or food bowls. The advantage however is that their scales provide much protection so it is very difficult/ almost impossible to put a dressing on too tight!!
We then took a blood sample and ran the bloods in house (without the added pressure of the photographers it was no problem, and actually much easier than a most ventral tail vein blood samples as their tail is so big!).
I met up with Hannah and the other volunteers for lunch, most of whom were enjoying a day of rest.
In the afternoon I tidied and cleaned the vet room, lab area and store room and prepared the dressing materials/ equipment for the 4th light therapy session and bandage changes due tomorrow.
Hai was due to go to a conference in Thailand with several others from SVW, to educate a group of Thai government officers and park rangers on pangolin care and rehabilitation. He had a two hour presentation which he presented to me and a few other volunteers to practice. It was a great opportunity for me to see and hear about some of the immediate post rescue veterinary care and intervention required.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with paper work and report writing.
We anaesthetised the individual with the infected wound, to enable surgical debriding. He was induced in a chamber with 5% isoflurane and then maintained on Isoflurane via a facemask. I monitored the anaesthetic throughout, whilst Hai treated the tail. As part of the donated materials I had some medical Manuka honey (known for its natural antimicrobial and debridement effects) which we decided to trial. The honey dressing was applied, followed by an absorbent layer, a cohesive layer and then a final adhesive layer. I learnt the hard way that you can, and have to put a dressing on much tighter than you would any other mammal. The tail tip dressings have to withstand being dragged along the floor, used to cling on to branches when climbing and even dipped in water or food bowls. The advantage however is that their scales provide much protection so it is very difficult/ almost impossible to put a dressing on too tight!!
We then took a blood sample and ran the bloods in house (without the added pressure of the photographers it was no problem, and actually much easier than a most ventral tail vein blood samples as their tail is so big!).
I met up with Hannah and the other volunteers for lunch, most of whom were enjoying a day of rest.
In the afternoon I tidied and cleaned the vet room, lab area and store room and prepared the dressing materials/ equipment for the 4th light therapy session and bandage changes due tomorrow.
Hai was due to go to a conference in Thailand with several others from SVW, to educate a group of Thai government officers and park rangers on pangolin care and rehabilitation. He had a two hour presentation which he presented to me and a few other volunteers to practice. It was a great opportunity for me to see and hear about some of the immediate post rescue veterinary care and intervention required.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with paper work and report writing.
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