STYLE INTERVIEW

private practices. During those thirty years,

we built a sought-after clinic and established a firm foundation. I also worked

as the chairman of the Moravian-Silesian

Association for the Protection of Animals,

where I dealt with the issue of animal

cruelty.

Can you compare where the veterinary

profession stood at the start of your

career to now?

In those days, it was completely different

than now; there has been a massive rebirth.

We started with glass syringes and needles

that were boiled; today, everything is disposable. Our first X-ray was just a developer

and fixer in vats; today, thanks to digitization, we have a high-quality image available

in a few seconds. We used to know some

operations only from foreign literature

which today are common practice in our

country. We do things that are commonly

done in human medicine and are always a

few steps behind. These days, we have two

surgical rooms: one for orthopedic-, neurosurgical- and laparoscopic operations with

full equipment, including inhalation anesthesia with a vital signs monitor, including

air conditioning and a black-and-white system; and another for soft tissue and small

rodent operations. We have cardiology

specialization here, including USG examination, dermatology specialization, dental

specialization, X-ray with direct digitization,

a laboratory for biochemical, hematological examination of blood, including determination of hormone and blood clotting,

and more. I think that veterinary medicine

in the Czech Republic has progressed significantly and is comparable to the world.

What is being done in America or elsewhere in Europe is also being done here. We

don‘t have to be ashamed of anything.

Even in orthopedics, we perform the most

modern operations that are performed

everywhere else in the world.

What range of services do you offer your

customers?

With a little exaggeration, everything but

transplants. When a patient arrives, we

do all the internal examinations. Recently,

a lady with a cat came for a thyroid examination. We did an on-site examination

and found that the problem was not in the

thyroid gland but in the kidneys. Based on

that, we started treatment. We offer comprehensive care which includes modern

diagnostics; a whole panel of internal

examinations; top ultrasound and X-rays;

various endoscopic examinations; operations on both soft and hard tissues. We have

been accepting a lot of severe cancer patients lately. We specialize in orthopedics

and neurosurgery, which is my specialization, which I like to do. We provide dental

specialization, including tooth fillings for

dogs. I must also mention the cardiology

specialization—a person who has his dog

or cat examined for cardiology with us receives the entire cardiology protocol from

us, including the proposed treatment.

Do you also offer above-standard

services, which is why patients come

to you from all over the country?

We are a referred workplace; people come

to us for orthopedic, neurosurgical or laparoscopic operations, special dermatology.

Years ago, we were the first to have a neurosurgical operation in which we operated

on a cyst in the spine (syringomyelia). It was

in collaboration with one human medicine

department because magnetic resonance

imaging was needed. We took advantage

of the fact that a humane colleague had

experience from abroad and applied it to

a dog who would otherwise have died. We

successfully resolved the case together. Today, we perform other operations in conjunction with human medicine, whether

laparoscopic ovarian collection or stomach

suturing directly in the abdomen of large

breeds of dogs. We were perhaps the first

in the country to introduce a stent to a cat

so that it could urinate.

How many patients do you treat each

day?

Many. On average, fifty to seventy per day.

There are four doctors and four assistants

here and there are really a lot of those

cases.

What is the most beautiful thing about

a veterinarian‘s job, and what is the dark

side of this profession?

It is best if you manage to save the health

and lives of animals. But not everything can

always be fixed. If I have a dog cancer patient who already has metastases everywhere, then it is difficult. And, as in human medicine, timeliness is paramount; then the

patient can still be saved. If that is no longer

possible and we have to put it down, that is

the dark side. Unfortunately, we also have

to perform this service. The advantage, however, is that we can save the animal a lot

of pain and suffering, which is not possible

for humans.

You mentioned an animal aid foundation.

It is located in the area and is designed

for cats and dogs and other small

animals. On what initiative did you set

up the foundation?

The foundation was founded in 1994 and

provides a cat shelter for the city of Ostrava.

It has sixty places for cats and eight places

for dogs. We also take other animals, such

as found guinea pigs and rabbits, we’ve had

ferrets, turtles, wounded roe deer, snakes,

but most of them are cats. We have about

400, and about sixty dogs per year. One of

the founding members of the foundation is

the current mayor of Ostrava, Tomáš Macura. The foundation was established at a time

when there was only a small shelter for dogs

in Vítkovice. It was full; the capacity was not

enough, so we created our shelter. And today he has been here for twenty-six years.

What is the most exotic animal you have

come into contact with during your

practice?

When I was at the beginning of my practice, they brought a boa in for examination.

I imagined that three guys would bring a

five-metre-long snake. Eventually, they brought a box with a small nematode, which

also recovered during the trip. We also had

a cougar with a broken leg. And about three

or four years ago, a young lady bought a serval, which is a cat about the size of a lynx

with dangerous teeth and claws. We‘ve

done three surgeries already, because he’s

always eating toys and stuffing his intestines.

When the young lady came to us, she was

desperate because the serval had an injured

leg and was refused treatment in three surgeries. So we induced sleep, took an X-ray,

found a broken leg, put on a fixation bandage, the fracture fused and it was okay. In

the meantime, the serval has grown up, weighs about twenty-five kilograms and we are

glad that the young lady sends us a picture

of how they are doing once in a while.

Since this is a physically and emotionally

demanding job, how do you recharge your

batteries?

My energy is my children. In addition, we

have two dogs and a cat. We go to the

Beskid Mountains for a cottage; sometimes

we go cycling, skiing, and we like to travel.

But most of all, I‘m being recharged by our

patients. You simply have to love veterinary

medicine, have responsibility and make sacrifices for this job a lot of time. If you do

not have a relationship with it, you are not

able to sacrifice a lot of time and study new

research, after a few years you will leave our

field. And we also have decent and kind clients, which we really appreciate.

Thank you for the interview.

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