Owl Aboard for October

G’day Chuffed Crew! October was a good month both on and off Chuffed with a bunch of surfing, socializing, boat jobs and of course veterinary work.

SURFS UP! And yes that is me

As you all know I have been spending some time in Pavones learning to surf, and I think I am at a stage where I can now say I can surf rather than I am learning to surf! Although my technique and style could certainly use some improvements.

The crowd watching Coco’s tooth removal!

While in Pavones I made some really good girl friends, who also happened to be really good Vet Nurses! A little dog from on of the hostels and a large lump on his face, which I thought was a tooth root abscess. On further investigation I realized it was more likely to be a cancerous growth, but he fortunately doing very well and we are monitoring him closely for any signs of pain. We went ahead with the tooth removal as it was very lose and had secondary infection to his facial tumour, but he recovered quickly and was chasing sticks with in 2 days!

On the boat it has been all about tackling those little jobs, fixing leaks, cleaning, wiring and soldering! All of which has kept me busy enough, even the small maintenance style jobs of a boat can add up!

I suppose cleaning the walls should be next on my list….

The biggest job I tackled was cleaning the diesel tanks… YUCK! It was kind of fun though… pumping all the diesel out, polishing it and filtering it back in… and of course while the tank was empty I have it a very thorough wipe, removing all the sediment. Sediment in the engine can be dangerous if it lodges itself in the fuel lines, clogging it up and preventing fuel from reach the engine. Not so fun when under power near big rocks… which is the last time that happened!

Cue “Aaaaawwwww’s”

In other animal news I treated the CUTEST little owl patient with a broken leg. I am very pleased to report he was released back into the wild at the end of October and has since been spotted flying around the trees and catching bugs to eat! It is so nice seeing wild animal return to their homes.

We also hosted a spay and neuter campaign here in Golfito, where Dr Ricardo and I spayed and castrated over 50 animals in total!!! It was quite funny because Golfito happened to be hosting a cycling event that same day, so on our way to the school hosting us we were stopped in traffic and had to carry all of the equipment up the road, up a hill and into the school. By the time we were set up we already had 30 patients waiting! but we got there in the end and everyone was really Chuffed to have desexed pets!

Bat dog and Pirate Girl!

Halloween was a fun celebration, I of course dressed as a pirate and had a little ‘wingman’ in Riley the bat dog. You might remember Riley was diagnosed with heartworm earlier this year but has been doing very well with her monthly treatments and you’d never know! We celebrated at the infamous Latitude 8, a local expat bar run by Sally and frequented by all kinds of characters… one day I will have to write a book of the stories I have heard in Golfito! The characters range from ex-cons to biologists to viet-vets and everything in between!

I hope you all had a very Chuffed October… and November is going to be a lot fun because my paperwork has arrived so Chuffed will be out sailing… and also I am turning 30… but keep that one to yourselves ;)

Stay Chuffed Everybody!

xx Dr Sheddy