His Love for Veterinarians and Animals Has Kept Him in the (3. strana)

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. POSITIV 4/2021 ǀ 89