Poor Oreo came into the clinic feeling apathetic. He hadn’t wanted to eat or drink anything for a number of days but he had developed a large, swollen belly. Oreo was not looking well, and to make matters worse, the Doctors knew that some of Oreo’s brothers and sisters had already faced some difficulties with various diseases.
The team decided to keep Oreo in the clinic for a few days to be able to progress through a number of treatments if needed. The team begun with a deworming treatment, suspecting that worms were linked to the cause of his bloated belly. Quite quickly, Oreo passed a huge number of worms… The team kept Oreo in the clinic for a few more days, ensuring that he received the proper nutrients he needed to get stronger after his illness. A few days later, Oreo was energetic and strong again, ready to go home. The Doctors returned Oreo to his family with a full belly – but this time full from food!
It isn’t nice to see… but it helps to understand why deworming is so important! You can see why Oreo wasn’t feeling so well…
With a belly now full of food, Oreo is ready to go home!
Help our team continue to be there to help animals in need, just like little Oreo. Donate today.
As the team opened the gates to start the afternoon shift, they were unpleasantly greeted by a terrible site; A truck pulled up with a bleeding dog in the back. The dog, called Mimi, had been hit by a bus.
Amazed that Mimi was still alive, the Doctors rushed to action to help her. Mimi was in so much pain and so scared that she had become very aggressive – trying to protect herself. The team had no choice but to sedate Mimi somewhat to be able to clinically examine her. The team establish quickly that Mimi was clinically stable – but she had sustained extensive injuries. The poor pup was covered in burn wounds from being dragged over asphalt by the bus, as well as a number of open wounds, and further skin loss and damage. The worst was a huge gaping wound on her left front leg near her elbow – a very difficult region to suture the skin due to the large amount of movement. Mimi was in terrible condition.
The Doctors began their surgery quickly, ready to clean and treat the multiple wounds covering her entire body. The most problematic was the gaping wound on her elbow – it needed to be closed, but there was not enough skin to stitch together and with the added problem of its location, the Doctors needed to find another solution.
“The decision was made to perform a skin graft surgery. From a donor site at the dorsal back region, a piece of skin was harvested and placed and sutured in the elbow wound.” reported the team. The team performed the surgery with meticulous care and went to great lengths ensure that Mimi would have the best chance at healing.
Mimi woke well from the surgery and was able to go home with a nice big bandage. She was to return daily for treatment, including special care for the graft region.
The next day, Mimi was already able to walk by herself and came into the clinic a much friendly and happier pup. Her road to recovery is still long, but the Doctors will be there to continue to support Mimi in this process.
While Mini’s story has a happy ending, treating such avoidable cases is not a great experience for the Doctors. After this case, the team would like to take a moment to ask everyone to remember to keep your dog on a leash and help avoid such horrible accidents.
We are there for animals when they are in pain, sick or injured. Help us continue to be there to stop suffering. Donate today.
The Darwin Animal Doctors’ team recently attended the Denver Comic Con to spread the word about their Humane Education focused comic, “A Piggy’s Tale”. “A Piggy’s Tale” was originally created to bring the humane education and activism message to a not typically activist crowd, and has been showing up in Comic Cons around the U.S. ever since.
The comics where, once again, a great success with young and old, and the team sold out of boxes of novels and plush toys. With all money raised going to support the Humane Education and Veterinary support efforts of Darwin Animal Doctors, this support will make a difference to communities all around the world. One of the most heart-warming moments to see was when our team had children returning to the table after purchasing a comic at another Comic Con (some even from earlier that day!) who wanted to donate to Darwin Animal Doctors and help save the lives of animals, just like Piggy.
Another wonderful experience of the day, and an amazing chance for sharing and education, was when the team participated in two very lively humane education panels with amazing and inspirational panelists.
The first panel, “Tools of Adversity: Helping Students Find Themselves in the Comics Medium,” went beyond the classroom, as students spoke about how the current generation faces a lot of adversity and feels that their is not a fair representation of all people in pop-culture. One of the panelists, Mairghread Scott (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3309878/), writes comics with the understanding that people can find themselves in comics – associating with different characters and their life events. Mairghread wrote Transformers Windblade, where she created the robot character, Starscream, as someone suffering abuse at the hands of a superior. Starscream developed a huge female following, helping those who have faced domestic violence process what they have faced. The panel discussed further how various others, especially children, can use comics to help them process adversities which they face. Interestingly, it was also discussed how comics do not always need to offer a tidy, happy ending to be of support – especially for those who have not yet found their happy ending. To be represented and to be able to associate with the characters was of most importance.
In the second panel, “Bullying: Using Comics to Help Cope,” it was not just personal classroom bullying that was discussed, but also institutional bullying (that can be found anywhere from the workplace to online) and more extreme forms of aggression and violence. One of the panelists was Tony Medina, who wrote “I Am Alfonso Jones” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34099859-i-am-alfonso-jones). It is a graphic novel taught in schools in Ferguson to help children there process the police shooting problem plaguing their community.
The panel then ran an empathy demonstration and listened to different stories people told about their experiences getting bullied. One audience member spoke about her experience being bullied as a Puerto Rican adult woman, and how deeply it still affects her. One of our panelists, Dr. Katie Monnin, who is now the Director of Education at Denver Comic Con’s parent company (Pop Culture Classroom), told how she left her most recent job when her bosses outright told her they would not promote her because of her sexual orientation (hence her new role with Pop Culture Classroom).
The team also had the wonderful experience of meeting Anne Wheaton (wife of Star Trek’s Wil Wheaton) who wrote the children’s book “Piggy and Pug”. As director of the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA for four years, Anne’s heart lies very much in the care and respect for animals. She gifted the team with a free signed copy of her book to auction off to raise funds for Darwin Animal Doctors’ work.
The team left the Denver Comic Con feeling informed, moved and proud. Participating in the panels meant that our team could bring the importance of Humane Education to the forefront and to ensure that the topic of bullying against animals was also raised and considered. Further, the team raised money through the sales of the comics, graphic novels and plush toys and through donations that will help Darwin Animal Doctors continue spreading Humane Education around the world.
Help our team continue to spread Humane Education around the world, helping build a compassionate and caring society. Donate today.
