Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:19:45 GMT

at least 3 months could be longer, think they've just switched to storing it this way, as it was oxidising to fast.

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:45:55 GMT

yeah same, think i did manual processing once or twice when i started out as they used to do it for the large animals.

they store it till it no longer works, not sure what the length of time is but will try and find out.

we have running water so we rinse with this but am sure you can just pour water on if you dont have the facilities.

i would stick with the plastic tubs for now untill you've got the vets on yourside!

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:29:29 GMT

Great. Thanks for that, all very useful. Good to know the chemicals dont need heating. Im totally new to manual processing. Luckily have managed to avoid any practice without a processor for the last 8.5 years. Still learned all the theory way back so at least that seems to be slowly coming back.

I can buy a proper xray tank for about $400 but am sticking with plastic tubs for now, dont think we will take enough xrays to merit buying the unit. Hopefully once the vets get used to the idea of diagnositics we will use it more, then Ill buy the unit...have even toyed with getting an automatic, but at $4000 Id need to prove its needed.

Out of interest: how long does the developer tend to last when you put it in a bottle? And how do you rinse them after fixing? Do you have running water or just pour water over them?

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:49:58 GMT

hey, glad to hear your poorly girl is on the mend, shame about the loris but they are notoriously difficult. we ended up getting nearly 40 new ones in! mostly in good condition except am nursing about 5 in the clinic at the moment, hopefully they'll pull through.

sounds like you have it tough at your centre, know we moan about the vets back home but makes you appricated them more after working with them out here, making me appricated my current vets even more after hearing about yours!!

yes we do take x-rays here and manually process them. we dont heat the developer here either and the room they'r stored in is also cold in comparison to everywhere else and it still works fine. do all developers need to be heated, i cant remember?

they have thoes x-ray tanks that holds the developer, fixer and water but they take alot of chemicals so they are starting to process them in plastic tubs! as you can put a small layer on the bottom instead off filling the whole container up. them they put the left over fluid in a bottle to use next time. they make up the chemicals here, unlike what i've used at home, you know mix 'X amt of part A with Part B and X amt Part C' and hey presto you have developer! they store and use this mixture until it no longer develops. so if its been made up for a while they will hold the film in it longer than say if it was freshly made up.

hope this makes sense? you can always try it out on a few test x-rays and see if it works to a good enough standard. they dont take a large amt of xrays here, so the settings arent always right, so at first i was unsure if it was the chemicals or settings that was causing the poor contrast however they do plently of oral x-rays and these all turned out lovely so am thinking the chemicals are fine without heating.

let me know if you need anything claryfing! i do waffle!

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:12:03 GMT

Hi SnowB

The bears are fab thanks, my really sick girl is on the mend so Im delighted!

We struggle with the politics when it comes to introducing protocols here. As we are based inside a government run rescue centre, these vets dont appreciate being told what to do, so although we fund and manage the entire bear sanctuary, they are often unwilling to follow our input and will often do the oposite, just to prove who has the power..a lot of this is Cambodian culture, 'saving face' is far more important that accepting help..to them 'assistance is the same as help, so a nurses role is very difficult'. But basically I provide them with as much literature and learning opportunty as I can, make a lot of suggestions (much to their disgust) and hope that some of the ideas stick...Plant a seed and it will grow! They are slowly becoming more accepting,now theyve realised Im not going anywhere, anytime soon!

Saying all that, we are making some big changes this year and planning on introducing a lot more protocols and see how its accepted.

As far as medical records are concerned: one of my jobs is to create medical records for all 107 bears!Phew! At the moment I have a kind of 'medical assessment' form that they are supposed to fill out when they come to look at a bear (they dont do it) but Im going to introduce boxes of cards instead and the history can be updated each time, then Ill take it home and type up on excel files...its gonna take a while, but ill get there! FYI-our vets all have what I call 'selective english' where i know all of them can hold down a conversation but very often pretend they dont understand or just ignore me completely...i think this may be a cover-up for their lack of technical knowledge/terminology too though.

We are also going to work on our quarantine procedures this year.

Great news about your Loris', how are they getting on, did your other group go out yet? Our Loris didnt make it Im afraid :(, not sure what happened, I took a few days off and went to the beach, so missed it.

Anyway, I wanted to ask..do you have xray facilties there? We are very lucky to have an xray machine that kind of works..(ialthough ts been here 3 years and the vets havent turned it on- 'its hard') so Im setting up manual processing (Thanks Deemus) Im wondering if i can get away with not heating the developer? Obviously its already hot here so to be honest the chemical will prob not be far off 20degrees...and I cannot for the life of me find an immersion heater...If you guys have xray, how do you process films and do you heat chemicals??? (my boss is going to Oz for a meeting in a few weeks so if necessary, Ill get the heater then)

Help appreciated!

Hope all well there

Den

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:11:42 GMT

Hi Denise, how are the bears?

was wandering if i could pick ur brain? have you implimented any standard operating procedures for medical filling/ quarentine/socialising? or were these in place we you arrived. and how do you your medical filling, do you make reports or does the vets? and is it in english? as our vets dont all speak english it makes it a bit difficult!

sorry for the 20 questions but least it bumps up ur thread!

just heard we have 10 new confiscated lorisis on their way to us, but in holding at the police station atm! never stops! glad to here ur loris is doing well x

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:25:58 GMT

Yeah looks like a sweet job..not to mention the beach 1km away...Since Ive agreed to stay here there have been several amazing jobs advertised, none for years then loads at once! Wish I didnt love these damn bears so much or Id be going for that one near the beach for sure.(with ranga's too)Grr.

Ive been out here 6 months, but its an ongoing position so I willbe here for the long haul. I am very busy, but mostly admin/computer stuff, trying to organise things a bit bitter on paper and in practice, manage stock, donations and veterinary correspondance, writing reports ect as well as helping out the vets when there is something going on, have got real sickie at the moment so she is taking up most of my time (while breaking my heart)..it is busy busy.

The infrastructure is in place here to get the clinic up to a good standard so that is also one of my tasks: get clinic up and running..no small task!

The loris lost his leg unfortunately but is doing fine as far as I know- I dont get to see them much. I think the teeth bashing is definately a problem but more so at the vietnamese centre. We do have plenty of bears with teeth missing though :(

Good luck with the job ;)

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:02:05 GMT

wow just saw the job...Hmmmm may look into it!

No... their amazingly plenty of us out there... and you do have to be crazy!!!

Not been to long in this post, thankfully at the moment its quite as we havent had any new ones in for a while so the only veterinary problems are stiching them up when they get into fights, cant wait till this nxt groups released and they have plenty of room not to hurt each other!

and they've got quite a good set up so their not in to much need of me (which is a good thing!) doesnt sound like you get a moments rest, how long have you been there?

what did you do with the loris with the fracture? do yours all come in with their teeth missing?

now back to that job......................... x

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:39:50 GMT

haha thanks snowb, good to know im not the only one stupid enough to put myself in these situations! we should keep in touch-share experiences, maybe i can send my vets over there and you can loose them in the jungle?

How long have you been out there?

We have a fair few slow loris, had one with a nasty fracture last month.one of our partners in Vietnam has just confiscated lots of pygmy's very cute! (and a gazzilion macaques)

Have you seen the job in Sulawesi? Why do good jobs only come up when you dont want one!!

Grr anyway good luck with it all x

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:03:18 GMT

hello denise, yes i'm working at IAR indonesia, doing the same but saving macaque and slow lorisis, smaller then bears but still manage to get into lots of trouble! yes the internet is a godsend (when it wants to work!) last place i worked was in the middle of the jungle, lucky if we got phone signal! we have very limited equipment too and same with your vet situation, they dont like to think you know more them them on some subjects! very hard to "teach" them anything! luckily the principle vet is spanish and is great!

hope you find a cheap solution to your problem, i know there is so much equipent lurking in the back of cupboards unused!

good luck x

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:41:30 GMT

Thanks folks, this keeps going off Recent Topics in record time! Paula- Im really sorry, the chart never did arrive,Im really annoyed as I havent had anything go walkies from the post office for 6 months...Im really sorry, I feel terrible after you going to the effort of organising it. I will try to check again soon but the post office is an hour from where I live and only open mid-week so I need to take a day off and go into town, grrr, silly post office :(

Freckle-thanks, I had tried that website a few months back and its a bit weird- never got anything useful off it. I do have a serial number for the lingual attachment so could buy one if Im pushed but we need sooo much here, Im gonna try to scrounge one from somewhere first before I spend any cash on getting one ;)

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Freckle — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:20:11 GMT

i'm all for the bumping

tried a quick google and got the manufacturers website - have you tried contacting them??

http://www.heska.com/index.asp

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Saskia Quinn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:44:11 GMT

just bumpin up for Denise

Sorry I am not able to help you though.

Did you ever get that Merial poster? I came across the postage receipt the other day so I can maybe try and chase it up if you didnt get it?

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:15:36 GMT

thanks gypsy- all bumping appreciated! Really wanna get this machine up and running- have a very sick bear at the moment, would have loved any sort of equipment yesterday when we had to sedate her and drive an hour on the back of a truck to the nearest xray machine! has made me even more determine to get this stuff working ASAP!

keep bumping folks ;)

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Sara Benton — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:05:46 GMT

I would help if I could, but I can assist with the bumping at least. You have an amazing job, and do something truly worth while. Keep it up!!

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

denise laughlin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:39:37 GMT

Thanks so much Snow B- the bump up is appreciated, things go off the Recent Topics thing so quickly, shame when I really need people to see the thread!

Are you working with IAR? Where are you? Thank god for internet eh?!

Re: More from BearVille- Heska Vet Ox 4404

Snowb — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:56:11 GMT

hi there, sorry i cant help, havent used one like that before but thought i'd bump up ur thread!

Know what it's like to be in the middle of nowhere with limited equipment and i've always managed to find my answers on here, hope one turns up soon that you can keep on saving ur bears x