Some of our recent cases ...

Rectal Prolapse
A young male donkey arrived with a rectal prolapse. This occurs when by straining the donkey manages to push some of the rectal lining out through the anus. Once outside, it becomes traumatised, dry and inflamed and very sore.

After we cleaned him up, we give him an epidural to stop him straining, and then we replaced the prolapsed rectum back inside. To prevent him from pushing it out again once the epidural wore off, a 'purse string' suture was placed around the anus and tied in a bow. Obviously he could not pass faeces through this, so every 4 hours the bow was undone and the donkey was allowed to do so. No fibrous food was given, only fresh green food called 'hashish', to encourage soft faeces to be produced. This donkey was very sore and reluctant to push so we had to give him several enemas and pull his droppings out for him. The second day he produced some enormous worms about 4 inches long, so we gave him a dose of wormer as well.

Over a few days he gradually became less sore and started to push his droppings out for himself, and eventually we could leave his bottom untied without worrying that he would prolapse again. After we had re-introduced his normal diet, and he was passing droppings normally again, so he was allowed to go home.


Penile Injury
A poor male donkey arrived with a rather embarrassing problem. He had tried to cover a female donkey but had unfortunately got his rope between his privates and the female, causing severe trauma to his penis.

When he arrived here his penis and scrotum were hugely swollen and sore, with bleeding under the surface of the penis. After 2 days of ice packing (which he found a little mortifying but very soothing), and anti-inflammatory medication, it was not getting any smaller, so we made some small drainage holes, and squeezed a huge amount of blood out from inside. The penis was then bandaged and placed in an open-ended, padded plastic bottle to keep it clean and prevent further damage, but allow him to urinate.

After several days of antibiotics the drain holes healed and the penis remained a much more normal size. He has gone home, hopefully having learned the important lesson of practicing safe sex!


SOME SAD STORIES ...
A puppy tale ...
A small boy brought a puppy to us whom he had rescued from some other boys, as he had seen them cut its tail off. The poor puppy was very frightened and sore, and all we could do was to clean it up, bandage it and give him some pain relief until it had healed over.
We have no idea why the boys cut off this poor puppies tail, but at least our education programme is reaching some, as the boy who witnessed it knew exactly where to bring it to get it some help. The education programme is working, but there is still many more people to reach.


Too many road accidents ...
A foal was brought to us having been hit by a car, sustaining a horrible fracture to the cannon bone. This is really tragic and the owner was devastated but brought the foal straight to us to be put to sleep humanely.


Dog Leg Amputation
A charity working with mobile units from the West Bank of Luxor brought a dog in to us with a fracture to his right foreleg after a car accident, and brought him to us at ACE for a leg amputation. Dr Assma performed this challenging procedure and the charity funded the drugs used.

The surgery went well, and we wish her a speedy recuperation and a happy 3 legged life, like Sol has, who is one of our resident dogs, pictured here, who has adapted to 3 legged life without any trouble.
Unfortunately we continue to see a tragic number of fractures caused by road traffic accidents in donkeys, horses, and dogs. Most cases are not so lucky.

We look forward to seeing you here at the clinic in the near future, and are always grateful for supplies - we are very imaginative and can put most things to good use!

Thank You's and Welcome Back!

We are so happy to welcome Kim back to ACE, feeling a lot better than she did before. Ayman now has the difficult job of stopping her from working too hard too soon!

We are very grateful to Jan who has been doing a fantastic job running the centre in Kim's absence and during her recuperation. We are really missing Dr Vic who went home to Australia in November. We really appreciate all that he and his wife Coralee did here during their time at ACE. We now have a new equine vet from England, Jane Harry, who has come to work here for 6 months.

Some other thanks ....

To Melissa (pictured here with an abandoned puppy) and Stacey, who volunteered at ACE from September to December and helped raise awareness of ACE in Luxor.

To Satoka and Frank who were here for 2 weeks in December, Frank performing some skilled DIY, including lowering the operating table and mending the dog kennels (and a lot more), and Satoka for helping with the cats and dogs.

To Anita who came to help for a few weeks over Christmas and New Year.

To Sheila and Joy for their continued help.

To Kenneth and Janice for kindly donating two fly zappers for the stable blocks, pictured here up and zapping!

To all of you who take the time to come and visit us at ACE and make room in your luggage for dressings, bandages, and medical equipment; and for all who make such generous donations. We are so grateful and could not do our work without your support.

Finally, to Becky Parkes, a final year vet student from the Royal Veterinary College, who came and worked for 3 weeks in December and was an enormous help on the veterinary side. Prior to coming she had planned to run 100k to raise money for ACE, but with two races to go she injured her foot. So after running 80k (in 7 races including a half marathon), she has raised £270, but is hoping to reach her target of £500 by running a further two races; the Hotelympia 10k on 28th February, and the Clapham Common 10k on 7 March. Thank you so much to Becky and good luck with your upcoming finals.

If you would like to support Becky in her target to raise £500 for us, please go to www.justgiving.com/beckys10ks

Donkey with Theileria

One morning a very sad, sick little donkey was brought into ACE by its owner. It had an extremely high temperature and heart rate, and could barely walk. We set to work to try and establish what was wrong. We did all the lab tests that we could with the basic equipment that we have available, as well as a blood smear, but could not diagnose a specific disease.

With the guidance of our supervising Vet, Dr Vic Epstein, we took some Paired Serum samples with the intent of sending these to a local laboratory for serological testing. The cost of which is a huge amount out of our daily budget, but this was so important. Not only to try and save this Donkey's life, but also help us better understand the many diseases and conditions that are affecting the working animals of Luxor.

At this time we were very lucky to have volunteering with us at ACE, Dr Jenny Fogg. She managed to get in contact with the VLA (Veterinary Laboratories Agency) who agreed to test the samples for us at no charge, so Jenny took the samples back to the UK with her the following day, when her time volunteering with us was due to end anyhow.

While we were waiting on the results, we did all that we could by administering supportive treatments, to keep this poor little Donkey, stable and relatively comfortable.

The results couldn't have come through fast enough for us watching and trying to help this poor donkey, but finally they came through, and the result was positive for Theileria Equi. This is a tick transmitted disease which is characterised by a fever, anemia (decreased red blood cell count), jaundice, respiratory signs, reddish urine and weight loss. If gone untreated this disease can be fatal.

However, as soon as we had the vital diagnosis we were able to treat this immediately with a drug called Imidocarb. This drug is (one of many) which is almost impossible to obtain in Egypt, so this little Donkey was very lucky that we had some in stock, brought over to us from the UK.

We are pleased to report that this once very sick donkey, is now fully recovered, and is back home in very good health. If only he knew the efforts gone to! Not only by all our Vets, but also by our supporters - who help finance the hospital which gave him the best chance of recovery. If he did realise, we are sure he would be very gratetful!

We, the ACE Vets, would like to take this opportunity to give a BIG THANK YOU to:
Dr Vic Epstein - For all his hard work, support and tutoring over the past months.
Dr Jenny Fogg - For giving up her time to help us here at ACE.
Plus of course all our supporters who make it possible for this essential work to continue.

We are also very pleased to have Kim back with us here in Luxor, looking in much better health and trying to catch up on all that needs doing from her time off in the UK for the operation and recuperation. WELCOME BACK KIM!

Kim is progressing well.

Yes those ears have heard correctly! Kim is recovering well!

HEY ... Rita ... did you hear that ....?

Huh? What's that?.. I was asleep on the best settee ...

Much to her husband and Rita's delight (to name a few!) all is going really well with Kim's recovery. Most of the complications with the medications have been sorted out, and she is beginning to feel like a new woman! So hopefully, she will soon have clearance from her Doctors to continue her recuperation in Luxor.

Despite Kim's illness she has constantly been liaising with people in Luxor, and has been keeping up with all her emails here in the UK, there is just no stopping her!

Kim would also like to pass on her huge thanks to everyone for all their get well wishes, cards and help from ACE supporters to those who have been helping keeping things going at the Luxor centre during her absence.

We can't wait for her to return, but NOT until she is fully recovered! Everyone is missing her heaps but I am sure no one as much as her ever supportive husband Ayman, and Rita her loving and loyal dog!

Success of Shop in Rustington

Kim would like to say a huge thank you to all the amazing volunteers who gave up their valuable time to help at the ACE shop, with a special big thank-you going to Dave and Carol (pictured above) who not only had the excellent idea of a temporary ACE shop but also worked tirelessly most days in the shop to help ensure its success.

The money raised in these 2 weeks will be going directly to the animals of Luxor. This money will nearly cover a whole months running costs, that’s hundreds of animals!

So thank you again to all our supporters, it is times like these that we realise how lucky we are to have such a wonderful group of volunteers helping us in our work. Without you we just couldn't do what we do out in Egypt. THANK YOU.

Also a brief update on Kim, she has had a few complications, which has meant even more appointments with various specialists, to ensure they get her medication right, but on the whole she is recovering remarkably quickly. She hopes to return to Luxor as soon as the Doctors will allow!

Kim wants to say a HUGE THANK YOU to her wonderful husband Ayman, and we all join her in this. A thank you, not only for taking care of ACE in her absence (alongside his normal work), but for staying in Egypt to do this while she was so ill in the UK especially when he so desperately wanted to be with her!!!