The Esther Honey Foundation Blog

Helping Hand!

We were very fortunate this week to have Dr Craig Stewart from Australia come and help out EHF this Thursday!  It was great to have him fill in for the day and his experience was a huge boost to the clinic!   Dr Craig was here with his family holidaying in Rarotonga for a week and visited our stall at the markets on Saturday!  He was so impressed with what he saw that he offered to come in for a day to help and we were very happy to have him on board for the day! 

  Dr Stewart has been a vet since 1993 and was able to offer our volunteer vet and vet students some very useful advice regarding several of our current cases!   Dr Craig performed a lengthy leg amputation on a dog who had been hit by a car and whose fractures were too serious to be pinned.  He also performed a leg amputation on a cat who had a pin placed in surgery three weeks ago.  Unfortunately the leg had developed an infection and the leg needed to be removed to save the lovely young cats life.

Among other tasks Dr Stewart also placed drains and stitched up a dog who had been attacked by another dog and castrated another dog for the clinic!  He worked from 9 – 5 with only a very short break!  To say we appreciated his help would be an understatement!  He did a marvellous job and we are so very thankful for his generous donation of his time on while on holiday! 

Dr Stewart has his own practice in Warner, a northern suburb of Brisbane, Australia.  We’d love to have him back anytime and look forward to hopefully seeing him again one day! 

Christina’s Blog

Turtles Everywhere

I’ve been warned many times here that swimming in the passage is one of the most dangerous things to do. Which makes sense, the horror stories of people being sucked out to sea would normally turn me off on the idea. But how could I pass up the opportunity when it’s right in my face? Phil, who is doing sea turtle research here in the Cook Islands, goes out almost everyday into the passage conducting his research, and when he offered to take us out, how could we refuse? Phil took me and 3 other vets out into the passage and it was one of the most breath taking experiences yet! You go from shallow reef to sudden drop and the sudden view of fish and turtles all over! So lucky and glad to have done it! Granted, I probably would have never done that on my own, nor will I be going back on my own anytime soon, but boy, it was seriously awesome! Plus, how many people can say they swam with sea turtles?

Sailing the lagoon.

Although EHF has been around for so long, people still ask how much they owe when they bring their animals into the clinic. Well, we run on donations, and many people will donate money, which is great! Then there are others who donate items like pet food, supplies, and even food for us volunteers (which we love and appreciate!!). One of the coolest “donations” we received was an invitation to sail around the Muri lagoon.

Ken brought in two of his dogs in because of some kind of poisoning. One of his dogs went home after a good night or two in the clinic, healthy as ever, however, his Dalmatian Lucy was not doing as well. We never really knew what caused the poisoning to her, but although the poor girl put up a great fight, she sadly passed after almost a week of struggle.

Ken was appreciative towards our hard efforts and was really a nice man. He then came and offered everyone here a ride on his sale boat! He was so great, taught us all about sailing and even gave us a go at steering!! (Lucky for me I did not run over any coral!). Who knew a sail boat could go so fast either? We were flying between Muri and Fruits of Rarotonga and it was a blast! Definitely one of the most fun donations received, thanks again Ken for a great ride!

Halloween in the Cooks?

Because Halloween is an American holiday, I would never have guessed that it would be such a big event here! I absolutely got a thrill walking through the CITC and seeing all the Halloween decorations and costumes for sale.

With that said, the EHF crew and I decided to do a themed costume for Halloween, and after days of intense debate and web searching, Su came up with the brilliant idea of playing cards. We set out on a mission to find shirts and t-shirt paint to create our costumes and boy, did we look fab! One late night and day of laborious work (while doing consults and surgeries at the same time!) we got our costumes made!

Little did we know, everyone dressed up and went out the weekend before Halloween, but who cares, as soon as “Poker Face” was played by the DJ, we knew it was going to be an awesome night, and it was definitely one of the best nights here in Raro so far!

First Rugby experience!

After almost  2 months on the island, I’m still learning a lot about the culture. At home, I love sports, playing and watching. For instance, I am incredibly bummed I missed the baseball playoffs since my home team actually made it for the first time in years! And I’m currently bummed that I’m missing out on hockey season (though because of a labor dispute there isn’t actually a season happening now so I guess it’s not a big deal).

Anyway, lucky for me I got to witness the Rugby Sevens! Never, having seen rugby before, I figured seeing a tournament, fast moving game would be easier for me to learn and understand the game. Well, it wasn’t. Half the time I had no idea what was going on! I just screamed whenever anyone else screamed! It was great fun though, and luckily some of the gang knew the rules to rugby so they were explaining as it went on.

Of course, in the middle of the tournament when we all went as a group, there would be an emergency back at the clinic, but oh well. It was great fun, and I can finally say I’ve seen a rugby game!

Scrubbing up!

Probably the best thing that has ever happened to me (at the clinic anyway), was when an intact male cat arrived for desexing. AND, the veterinarian, Louise, gave me the golden opportunity of participating in the surgery! Granted, I was terrified, I never did an operation before, and even though it’s a very simple procedure, I feared that I would somehow mess it up.

So I enter surgery, eager, nervous, a little hungry because it was near lunch time, but I was ready! First things first, I got to scrub up. Never having scrubbed up before I learned that it was kind of a tedious process of cleaning underneath the nails and each finger and blah blah. I think the scrubbing took longer than the castrate itself!

Anyway, Louise did the first testicle, she showed me exactly what to do, how to do it, and was proving to me how simple it really is. Even with her showing me slowly how to do everything, she still got that one testicle done in a flash! Then it was my turn, oh boy. So, I already began and I popped that little nut out just fine! Had a few issues with the tying, I apparently was working with a male that had very small testicles and  it was taking a bit of time to get it done, but in the end I got it!!

Easy procedure didn’t even need gloves or a kit! Just a little scalpel blade and I was good to go! Thanks Louise for teaching me and having me do my first cat castrate! I’m ready for more!! The men out there better watch out! I know what I’m doing!!

Shake that boo-tay!

I’ve really been getting into learning more about the culture here, it’s really fascinating learning about the local life style. One day after work, Gregg took a few of us to an island dancing class! I was beyond excited!  I didn’t have a sarong or skirt to wear so I felt a bit awkward wearing shorts while all the other girls wore sarongs . Oh well, I knew I was going to be a lost cause as soon as we were being taught by little girls. So learned that day a few things. One, I think it is physically impossible for me to shake my hips that fast. I must be  lacking  the fast, hip-shaking gene. Secondly, I am uncoordinated, can’t shake and move my hands at the same time, it just doesn’t work.

But I had fun anyway, definitely felt it late that night and the next day. I would love to go again, maybe it wont be as embarrassing the second time around. But man, it was really cool seeing a lesson. First of all, the girls are amazing dancers, at such a young age! Same thing goes for the boys! My favorite part was watching the toddlers dance; even they shake their hips faster than me! My next goal is to get Gregg on stage to see his professional dancing!

The EHF Salon.

Getting into the summer months have been dreadful. It’s been so incredibly hot that I think that I may actually melt, physically. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a dog or cat in this heat with all that fur. One day, someone brought in the fluffiest cat ever, poor thing was panting he was so hot!

Our job, shave him completely. Now, Josie and I were in surgery so it was our job to shave him down. We gave him some sedatives to make him a bit sleepy during the process and then it was shaving time. I have concluded that if I don’t get into vet school, I will most definitely not get into hair dressing or even animal grooming, unless people actually want to look terrible! Josie had to save me a bit and even out the fur patches, but it was the most entertaining thing I’ve done so far! How many people can say they shaved a cat and lived to tell the tale? Though, Dougie-boo (the cat) was not impressed. The owner loved it though (thankfully!!). But I’m sure Dougie was much happier having that heavy coat off!

Lights, Camera, Action!

It’s official now, I am going to be famous!! Well, maybe not, but I’m probably going to be on New Zealand TV! For a week a TV crew from NZ came to film EHF and interview us for a documentary type show on different type of vet clinics.

First day they were here, I was laying in bed recovering from food poisoning, ugh. Not exactly the best way to start the week. The rest of the week was fine though. It was really weird. They would follow you around and film, and it was so awkward. Sometimes I would feel like I was in the way, making too much noise with the feeding or cleaning, whatever it was, it was just so awkward and weird. I have no idea how reality TV stars deal with this everyday all the time.

The worse of it was the interview. I hate doing any kind of interview, especially in front of a camera! But it all worked out fine, I just don’t plan on watching myself anytime soon haha.

But overall it was great. Renee, Siobhan and Andy were a lot of fun to hang out with and can’t thank them enough for taking us out on their last night to Highland Paradise. It was definitely a stressful week though! Josie was the only vet on, and then it was just me and Suse, crazy week! But we pulled through, had some laughs, and are now going to be famous!

Cruising in the Jet blast zone.

It takes a lot to live at a clinic, we have to deal with all the barking dogs. And in Raro, we also have all the roosters who think it’s perfectly alright to crow at 2 in the morning. And we also live right by the road, which is wonderfully noisy with all the traffic driving by. To top it all off however, we live right by the airport, and who knew that airplanes could be so loud! The clinic even shakes once in a while when the big L.A. flight comes in and out.

So what more fun is it to go sit in the jet blast area of the airport? We were ready. It was the night before Suse’s birthday and we were there ready to celebrate with wine. The first plane was on it’s way, and we noticed that it’s not doing it’s normal pattern. Ready to go, Gregg, me, Josie, Suse and Kim sprint back to the clinic, hop in the car and zoom to the other side of the airport, just to make it right after the plane already landed. Bummer! But never fear, another plane was going to land later. So we went back out there and hung out and waited. Finally the plane was coming in. All you see is this little white dot coming towards you over the ocean, and it gets bigger and bigger until…WOAH! Loud, shaking, huge plane right over our heads land onto the airport. It’s a serious adrenaline rush!

All that wait for 5 seconds of excitement, it’s so worth it. Sadly it was a smaller plane. Need to definitely plan it again, next time for the L.A. flight!

Happy Not Thanksgiving

The weirdest thing about being here is losing track of time. Also, not experiencing fall or winter. So, without the cold weather, it just doesn’t feel like the holidays are coming up at all.

Then there’s Thanksgiving, an American holiday which no one here knows about, so I didn’t even realize it was Thanksgiving day until my mom emailed me asking to skype! The day itself was just a typical work day as well, and at home we normally would have Thanksgiving off as well as black Friday (for all those crazy shoppers).

The worse part of it is going all day without a worry and then skyping with my whole family for the first time since I’ve been here. Ugh, homesickness swept over me and for the first time I really wished I was home. Also didn’t help that I was alone for my own Thanksgiving dinner (which was just simple pasta, turkeys at $120 was a bit steep for me :P). But it ended up being fine, people at the clinic came back from whatever they were doing and it ended up being a nice evening. Can’t wait to get home though, my family plans on having a second Thanksgiving just for me, and I shall stuff my face silly!

Vaka Eiva.

I was so excited for the Vaka Eiva after hearing everything about it. All the excitement it brings to the island really gets me going! Granted, I was at the clinic the entire week so I was pretty bummed for missing it.

But the coolest thing was when a team brought EHF the $22,000 donation!!!!! Truckloads of pet food, medical supplies, collars, leads, toys, and so much more! Seeing them unload everything in front of the clinic was also a head turner for “passerbyers”. I’m sure they’ve never seen that many supplies in one place before! (Besides a pet store maybe). The people were so friendly and generous and it was just so great seeing how much people want to help the clinic, even from abroad.

The next day though, my day off and last day of the tournament, went to Muri just because I haven’t been there for a while, and what do you know, the races were happening! It was so busy and I got to watch up close in the water! So awesome. I absolutely love all the different types of sports here in Raro, it’s nice seeing something different. Absolutely loved it, and got a souvenir shirt to go with it J

Reunited!

The hardest thing about being away is being away from family and friends. What has been especially hard for me though is being away from my boyfriend. We’ve been together now 4 years and this is the longest we’ve ever been separated and not really talking. Also, since almost everyone who has come to the clinic on their own are all single, so it’s been hard to really talk about it with anyone.

Best birthday and Christmas gift though would be my boyfriend visiting me here in Raro!! He came for one week and it was definitely one of the best weeks I’ve had here. We did so much and he even loved coming and hanging out at the clinic. It was definitely a good half way marker for my stay here as well J

Starting to feel festive.

It’s the holidays here in Raro and again, still doesn’t feel like it. All this hot, tropical summer weather is really throwing me off, it still feels like I’m on summer break at home or something. But the town says otherwise. There are Christmas decorations up, lights, and even Christmas trees. People also have been donating very generously here at the clinic which we really appreciate! The best thing is seeing all the people coming in and adopting all the animals.

We got a really generous donation from Raromart. They donated heaps of Christmas decorations! We got a Christmas tree, ornaments, tinsel, and much more. We decked out the clinic and finally began to feel like Christmas. We also decided to do Secret Santas with each other this year, so I even get to do some Christmas shopping! Should be fun, just need to think of what kind of gift to get!

Merry Christmas!

First Christmas in Rarotonga and what a Christmas it was! Christmas eve we all went out for dinner as a little family. Then we watched a Christmas movie and made ginger bread houses!

The next morning we all got up a little earlier and went for a morning swim in the ocean. Opened up our secret Santa gifts (thanks Fiona for the beautiful earrings!) and then got to work! Feed and clean was quick and easy thanks for the few patients we have currently. Then we were lucky enough to have Christmas lunch at the high commissioners home. It was so nice. But we had to cut it short to head back to do our afternoon feeding and cleaning which again, didn’t take long.

Went back to the high commissioners and then that was cut short. Emergency RTA!! Had to drive back to save little puppy. Luckily he only got some bruises, nothing pain killers can’t fix. So he even got to go home later that evening.

So, it was definitely a first for me, being away from home for Christmas, and having a Christmas in the summer! So strange, but it was definitely a Christmas I wont forget, and I couldn’t ask for a better substitute family to celebrate with J

Puppy Love (Amanda)

Today a new born puppy was found and brought into the clinic! She is the size of a potato, eyes closed.. brand new to the world! I instantly fell in love! I volunteered to feed this little nugget, not knowing how much work it would take. Feeding is required every three hours (all night and day)and is done so with warmed mild formula through a bottle. Quite a lot of work! When I was not busy feeding and taking care of the puppy, I was helping in and out of surgeries and consulting with new clients who came to the clinic. Staying super busy all day….but learning so much!

Unsung Hero

Every now and then at the Esther Honey Foundation we get juvenile birds brought into the clinic which have fallen out of their nests. With all the other animals at the clinic it can be quite a stressful environment for a baby bird, and it can be hard to find the food they need on a regular basis. However, we are lucky to have individuals around the island that will look after various species when the time comes. One such person is Sabine at the Dive Centre who has found the joy in raising juvenile fairy terns.

Just a few days ago we had another juvenile fairy tern dropped off at the clinic which was otherwise looking bright and happy. He had just lost his nest. So, with a quick call down to Sabine at the Dive Centre, his fate was set. Sabine came down that evening and picked him up, along with a chunk of fish. He has since been traveling to and from work with Sabine in a cardboard box with a make shift perch. He happily sits on his perch watching the comings and goings of the various patrons waiting to hear his new mom call out that she’s coming with food. At this point he stares intently at the food coming his way before it is lowered down to his mouth where he gobbles it up.

This is the seventh fairy tern that Sabine, and her partner Sacha, has looked after. Naming this one “Santa” due to the festive season they have named previous fairy terns “Peep”, “Peep II”, “Peepette”, “Fridoline”, “Houdini”, and “Peep III”. Many of these have flown away now although two of them didn’t make it. Fairy terns usually eat fresh fish, so getting the right diet for a juvenile can be time consuming. Much of this effort has been done by Sascha, Sabine’s partner, going out to the reef with a bucket and net for up to two hours at a time catching baby fish. I’ve been told that he also likes the extra company. It is no small effort looking after these animals and we are truly grateful for their diligence, as I’m sure the birds are too.

But it hasn’t been all work. Sabine tells us that they become like part of the family. Even the dog, Patch, got along with the birds. So it’s sad when one is lost. Walking into their shop and looking at “Santa” in his box will bring a smile to anyone’s face. The fluffy mass with his black beady eyes and pointy beak pops his head over the side of the box and watches with amusement. But don’t touch. These baby birds have a very fragile immune system and Sabine does not want to lose another one.

So a big Meitaki Ma’ata goes out to Sabine and Sacha for helping these fairy terns get their wings. It’s a hard job that can be better done when someone is focused on their needs. We truly appreciate your hard work!

Volunteer Blog: Amanda

First day at EHF, 7:55am- scrub tops on ready to go! We start off the day with clean and feed. All the staff at the clinic spend the majority of the morning cleaning, feeding and medicating all the animals. We start by emptying all the kennels, litter boxes and food bowls around the clinic. We than rinse everything, disinfect it all with bleach, rinse again, dry it all off and replace it back to where it all belongs. After everything is clean, we feed everyone and include in the food all of the proper medications each animal needs each day to get better! There is a huge white board with what seems like a million medications written on it to give out to the patients that stay at EHF. If you are not helping with feed, you are busy assigning crate tags, doing dishes, hanging laundry, picking up poop, or taking care of any other miscellaneous tasks that need to be done to keep the clinic running smoothly. Gregg (the clinic director) told me I was going to learn everything I will need to know all in the first day… talk about information OVERLOAD!

After we finished feed and clean, I was assigned to surgery! In surgery, my job was to assist the vet in whatever he or she needs and of course make sure the animal stays alive and breathing. I learned how to operate the anesthesia machine as well as the O2 respirator machine. This is something ive never done before, so it was pretty exciting! Once the animal was under, I was in charge shaving the incision area and cleaning and prepping the skin with iodine. Once the skin was cut, I had to keep a constant check on heart rate, breaths per minute, eye pupil position, gum color and jaw tone- all factors that tell the vet if the anesthesia is too high or low. I found it all extremely fascinating! The first animal we worked on was a female dog and we were doing a spay. Surgeries are pretty much all new to me so it was quite the experience seeing this animal split open and watching a vet ‘fish’ for the correct organ to fiddle with. After the overies where taken out, the vet sews her back up, I clean up the room and tools and we proceed to the next surgery! My first day we did about 4 de-sexing and one x-ray for a dog that got hit by a car…very busy!

Around 3:30/4 we start the end of the day feed and clean where we do everything we did in the beginning of the day.. again. By this point I was absolutely exhausted.. but stoked to be here!