The veterinary clinic at Prospect is now in a better position to do more for animals on Nevis thanks to recent donations of surgical equipment from the Nevis Humane Society. Surgical tools donated are a new state of the art stainless steel surgical table; a high powered spotlight; a clinical refractor which is useful in providing information about blood and urine samples and aids in diagnosis of disease; a cautery unit, which is a handy tool in operations; and a small, portable animal weight scale to provide accurate weight of small patients such as puppies, cats, and kittens to ensure proper dosing of medications and monitoring of weight gain or loss. The total sum of the donation amounted to $13, 000. Speaking to the Observer, Dr. Ambrose James, veterinarian at the clinic, explained that different tools are needed to assist in operations, which take place every Tuesday. “Sometimes during an operation, we need the surgical table tilted in a certain angle to operate. The hydraulic table we had could not do that, so now we are in a better position to operate.” He also said that the average number of animals operated on ranges between 5 and 6 but can now be increased to twice that amount. Dr. James further revealed that approximately 100 animals are treated or attended to each day. “At the clinic, we see about 20-30 small animals, which are dogs and cats. If you multiply that by 5, you’ll get a rough idea of the number of animals seen each day because we have field doctors who deal with sheep, cattle and goats.” ARK, the Nevis Humane Society, will continue to assist the veterinary services in Nevis as it will be “purchasing more equipment once the building of the new Clinic extension and the restoration of the existing building are underway,”ARK said in a press release.
