Dr Mahesh Chand - India
December 2006
In December 2006, we welcomed Dr Mahesh Chand from Animal Aid Society in Udaipur, India. Dr Chand came to The Mayhew specifically to learn about the physical and psychological needs of animals living in shelter environments and to refine his sterilisation and handling techniques, all with special emphasis on cats as Animal Aid Society’s cat cases have more than doubled in 2006.
Dr Chand spent his first two days at The Mayhew working with our cattery staff. This part of the training course covered the basics of cat care from the needs of kittens and mothers in our maternity ward and the psychological needs of young cats living in a shelter environment to the special needs of our older cats who require special diets and specific health checks. He also learned about our strict hygiene routine and the prevention and consequences of prevalent infectious diseases such as cat flu and FIV.
After his training in our cattery, Dr Chand worked with our vet team in theatre on all animals (including our dogs and rabbits) but still concentrating on cat cases, in particular the feral cats going through our Trap-Neuter-Release programme. He was able to hone his surgical skills while learning to use gas anaesthesia and quickly picked up the cat-specific nuances in surgery. He was also most interested to learn about procedures that he has never seen in India, such as our routine dental. At the end of the Training Programme Dr Chand reported that he benefited from the surgical training but even more so from seeing how the clinic and shelter was managed and organised.