CEO in-training: A morning at The WHS clinic

Dr. Erika Anseeuw, our Director of Animal Health at The WHS had a brilliant idea: As the new CEO, and coming from a non-shelter environment, it would be good to have a “CEO Academy” so I could spend time in each area of the organization learning more about the ins and outs of what we do. So I gladly accepted the offer and suitably enough, my first morning was spent at the WHS Veterinary Clinic.

When you think about the Winnipeg Humane Society you don’t necessarily think about the state-of-the-art clinic that we have, together with amazing veterinarians, technicians and support staff. It is really a full service veterinary clinic for WHS animals, as well as, doing spay and neuter surgeries for stray pets through SNAP, our low-cost program for individuals and families that can’t afford to fix their pets.

My first job was to prepare the vaccines and the sedatives that we use to tranquilize the animals for surgery. The way the surgery works, it starts very early in the morning and the staff give the pets for a mild sedative in their kennels. They are then moved to a preparation table where our veterinary technicians place them under full anesthetic for their surgery, and shave their private parts so the incision area can be cleaned. Our veterinarians can fix a female cat in under 6 minutes; a male or female dog in about 15 – 20 minutes; or a male cat in probably 3. They are simply amazingly effective at what they do. And the technique employed at The WHS is one of the most advanced in veterinarian medicine. Kudos to Dr. Anseeuw for bringing innovation to Manitoba!

The veterinary technicians are also superb: they make sure the information is entered in the system, they prepare the pets for surgery (shaving the surgery area, intubating, and placing the pet on oxygen), and after the surgery doing the tattoo that identifies the pet, clipping nails and then ensuring all dogs and cats recover properly. One little kitten was slow to wake up and she was cuddled and monitored after for at least 30 minutes until she was awake. There is a huge amount of team work: if there is a backlog of animals being readied for tattooing, our vets will also jump in and help.

Side note: if you put 15 kittens in the recovery room and then watch how they slowly come out of anesthesia you get the cutest show you would probably ever see. I wanted to shoot a video and post it on YouTube!

Sometimes during the spay procedures there are surprises. One dog had some yellow/yucky (not the real medical term) discharge in the uterus, so Dr. Anseeuw quickly ordered a test to determine if it was an infection. As a precaution Dr. Anseeuw expanded the surgery to remove the entire uterus instead of just the ovaries. Here is a picture of me helping Dr. Anseeuw swab the tissue so it could be tested:

And while we are at it, our team also performs dental work and/or any other medical procedure (including vaccinations) for animals under our care as we get them ready for adoption. We even test them for potential hip dysplasia!

I knew the WHS has a clinic, but we really have a state-of-the-art one with the most professional staff you could possibly hope for. And all this amazing work is supported by your donations. On this Monday morning alone our team performed over 30 surgeries, and we are currently almost at capacity in our shelter!

So I encourage you to help us today by donating to the Winnipeg Humane Society. I have seen first-hand the incredible work that our team is doing and the huge need to support animals that otherwise won’t be able to have a second chance at finding their forever home.

Until next time. Remember I love to hear from you, feel free to leave a comment or email me. I will do my best to respond.