Bay Glen Animal Hospital Blog

     Robin was born and raised in beautiful Napa Valley, California.  She relocated to Texas in 1998 and now resides in Pearland, TX.  Robin has been a groomer for quite a while, and loves her job.  She joined the team at Bay Glen Animal Hospital in early 2012.  Robin says she finds great joy in caring for the pets she grooms, and caring for their appearance.  She says it is very rewarding to see the transformation in some pets once their grooming is completed.  They look good, and maintaining their hair coat, skin, etc. makes them feel better too!

Robin has her own four legged child, a fox terrier named “Tucker” who she adopted from a rescue group.  When she is not at work, they are inseparable.  She also relishes spending time with her daughter shopping and sharing the special bond between a mother and daughter.  In her time away from the office, she enjoys hiking with her fiancé and of course with “Tucker”.  Robin likes crafts and creative projects as well.

Robin would love the opportunity to meet you and your four legged family member, and the opportunity to make that furry friend look and feel great!

Day 6: Today was the last day of clinics in Nicaragua and boy, did things end with a bang!  Today was definitely the busiest day of the week, filled with triumph and heartbreak. We woke up, enjoyed the fallen mangos that had fallen in the garden during the night (which woke me up 3 or 4 times during the night), then proceed to walk to the clinic, where the fun was about to begin. We saw tons if consultations today and did many surgeries, including a dog that had been in attacked and had a very bad fractured front limb. The dog had been in a serious car accident and unfortunately had an open fracture with a portion of his bone exposed. He was in a lot of pain and because of the lack of orthopedic instruments and follow up, myself and 2 Nicaraguan vets amputated his front limb so he could live out his life without dealing with the pain from the fracture. We were able to complete the surgery with no complications and he will go home in the morning with his owner. The owner was very grateful to have his buddy out of pain. The next cases for me hit the highs and lows; we had a litter of four puppies that were extremely sick with viral gastroenteritis, a fatal parvovirus we have been seeing the last few days. Unfortunately, three of the four were too sick and the most humane thing to do was to ease their suffering, so we stayed with the owner while the three pups were euthanized. However, one of the four appeared to have a fighting chance, so we treated the GIFT signs, hooked him up on IV fluids, gave meds, and sent him home that night looking perky and trying to chew his catheter out he felt so good. Although we lost the others, this little guy will live on and hopefully live a fun, spoiled life here in Granada, Nicaragua. Everyone that came through the doors this week was so appreciative of our efforts and dedication to helping these animals out. Even though there were a few heartbreaks today, seeing an owner care for their pet even in a far off place, makes me so happy to do what I do. Till next time…..adios.

Day 5: Today was an early morning again at the clinic, more animals to see and more surgeries to do. Once we arrived, there were already consults and surgeries waiting for us. Doing spays and neuters are by far most of our surgeries, but today we had an unexpected emergency that took three doctors to do. A seven year old dog came in with a large tumor on her underbelly that had gotten so large it had split open and had become horribly infected. After speaking with the owner, it was decided we were going to go to surgery but if the tumor was too invasive or appeared highly aggressive, we were going to euthanize her to prevent further pain and suffering. We were this dog’s only and last chance.  So I, a fellow world vets doctor, and a Nicaraguan vet who had been helping and learning from us scrubbed up and waited for the dog to be induced, prepped and brought to our table. After an hour and a half of surgery, we were able to remove the mass and close all the tissue so the wound would heal! It was such an awesome feeling because tomorrow the dog is going to go home at the end of the day and the owner was incredibly happy with what we had done. The rest of the day I helped teach a vet student we brought on the trip as well as the Nicaraguan vets surgeries. The blonde parvovirus dog we placed on iv fluids and antibiotics yesterday was so lively and ready to go, it was awesome seeing him jump around and play. Tonight I am going to stuff my tummy with plantains and greasy pork. Awwwww yeah. Until manana, adios.

Day 4: Today was the first full day of intense open clinics here in Granada. Clinics opened at 8am and went on until 6pm, when the sun started to go down. Today was full of spays/neuters, consultations, sick puppies, and much happiness of people going home with hope for their animals. Yesterday I saw a puppy that was very dehydrated, had vomiting and diarrhea, and hypoglycemic from a suspect parvovirus and intestinal parasites. We saw the puppy at the end of the day yesterday and they returned first thing in the morning. An IV catheter was placed to do fluids all day and we started antibiotics. By discharge that evening the pup was lively and eating great. The owner went home with oral antibiotics and the pup was great. Roughly 35 dogs were spayed and neutered today and one little dog had an infected eye from being in a scuffle from a pig a few months back. After she was spayed, I performed an enucleation and removed the eye so it wouldn’t be in pain from the eye infection. Other doctors did surgeries and we consulted on 40 or more cases that came in for something other than surgery, usually vomiting, diarrhea, skin issues, and parasites. Lastly, the crazy case of the day involved another little puppy that had such a severe hookworm infestation that he was deathly anemic. We had no other option but to try a blood transfusion. So we took some blood from an owner’s dog and gave it to this poor little puppy via an IV catheter. We did our best to minimize the risks but without the blood, he surely wouldn’t survive. 2 hours later, the puppy was active, eating, and ready to be dewormed! The feeling was amazing. Intestinal parasites and GI viruses are prominent down here because there are so many strays, routine parasite exams/reworking is very uncommon, and pets are not vaccinated, thus stressing the importance of why we do what we do back at home. So tonight we will be enjoying food at a local business woman’s house, great food for hard day. And you know me; I’m down to eat anything and everything. Adios

Day 3: woke up bright and early this morning after sleeping in a hammock all night (must have woken up 4 times to the sounds of cars and dropping mangoes). Walked down the busy street to grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast at a local cafe. Nearly got run over by cars and bikes about 20 times just trying to cross the street! Finally, just committed and ran…..fast. And yes….the coffee was worth it. Then we walked down to the clinic and set up for our first clinic day. For today, I was heading the medical consultations where people would bring in their pets for a medical condition they wanted to have looked. Most of the cases were severe skin parasites, fleas, ticks, or skin infections. There was a little puppy that had bad vomiting and diarrhea we treated with fluids antibiotics, and supportive care that we will see tomorrow for further treatment. Finally, there was a poor puppy that had a very painful/severe eye infection that we will see tomorrow to remove that eye so that he won’t have anymore pain from that eye. Tomorrow’s clinic will be much more intense in numbers, looking forward to it!

Day 2: woke up this morning to kids playing in the street, cars honking, and about 4 salamanders watching me from the wall. I will say that I didn’t need any coffee because the lack of hot water makes for a speedy wake up….a technique I’m thinking of using in Houston! I will say the coffee here is awesome….Dr. Lisk, the clinic coffee drinker, would be very jealous. After breakfast, we loaded up took our medical supplies to the world vets clinic to set up and organize the clinic for tomorrow. On Monday the clinic will open up, the locals have been broadcasting the free veterinary care/ spay and neuter clinic all week. We set up and anesthesia machines, organized supplies, got all medications in order, and assembled our surgery packs. Once the clinic was set up, we did a few tourism things like enjoying local cuisines, a horse drawn carriage ride, and a beautiful boat tour on Lake Nicaragua. Resting up for a busy four days of clinics. The pictures show aspects of Granada, the lake, and an intro to our clinic. Till next time!

Day 1: got to the airport 2 hours before the flight and it was pandemonium! Made to the gate with 20 minutes to spare. Flight arrived in manageable around 1 and we assembled the team and took a taxi to our house in Granada, Nicaragua. We all went to dinner at a local Nicaragua cafe and finished up by stocking up on groceries for half the week. I was designated resident chef because it was leaked that if I hadn’t gone to veterinary school, I would have gone to culinary school!!! Tomorrow is a day we will set up the veterinary clinic for surgery, examinations, and local animal education. Granada is such a beautiful city and the people have been so friendly. Till next time, adios!

Newspaper article about Dr. Trevino’s upcoming trip!

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/bay_area/news/clear-lake-vet-dedicates-free-time-to-help-third-world/article_13994bc5-dfda-5699-8b40-052e1ceeda67.html

Dr. Trevino will be traveling March 10-18 to Nicaragua to perform veterinary services for this less fortunate part of the world.  Please stay updated about his travels here and at www.facebook.com/BayGlenAnimalHospital.  And while you’re there, stop by Chuck’s page at www.facebook.com/TheOneandOnlyChuck.