Heidie qualified as a vet from the University of Liverpool in 2011. She has since worked at small animal practices in Staffordshire and Merseyside. In 2016, Heidie stepped into the locum world and worked as a locum vet for four years. Her special interests are in shelter medicine and animal welfare. She is currently studying for a master’s degree in Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law.
Meet Heidie:
I’d always wanted to work with animals since I was little, and when I qualified as a vet, I felt that I could now really help animals in need. I found out about feral cat neutering programmes when I was still in vet school, but it wasn’t until I was over four years qualified that I finally had the chance to take part in one.
I contacted the Greek Cat Welfare Society, an organisation based in the UK, by e-mail. They work with Greek charities to coordinate British vets to fly over to various parts of Greece and take part in trap-neuter-release (TNR) programmes. I got paired with Argos – a charity named after Odysseus’s dog (king of Ithaca) based on the tiny Ionian island of Ithaki. Argos waited for his master for 20 years and died at his feet upon his return from Troy- based on the tiny Ionian island of Ithaki.
In May 2017, with great excitement, I boarded my flight to Kefalonia. I then travelled to the port of Sami, where I would take a ferry to Ithaki. Unfortunately, on the day I arrived, there was an industrial strike action being conducted by ferry workers, meaning I had to take a water taxi instead!
As I took the little private chartered boat across the narrow channel between Kefalonia and Ithaki, I could fully appreciate the beauty of the islands, with its beautiful clear blue waters, blazing sunshine and pebbled beaches appreciable on the shoreline.
When I arrived in Ithaki, I was greeted with a warm welcome by two of the charity volunteers, Judith and Nick. I was taken to my accommodation which turned out to be the spare bedroom of the Levi’s, who very kindly hosted me during my week-long stay.
The house overlooked a beautiful grove of olive trees and greenery, and having my own en-suite bathroom, I certainly thought I had struck gold! The hosts were wonderful, and with their beautiful dog Sara and five rescue cats on-site, it was a small slice of heaven.
Judith was a retired human nurse who coordinated most of the TNR projects on the island. I spent the first day getting my bearings, relaxing, and getting to know my two lovely hosts and all their beloved pets.
The next day, the real work began! Brave volunteers had been trapping cats all over the island on the day of my arrival, so when I arrived at our makeshift ‘clinic’ – an old kindergarten building that the council allowed Argo to use – there were upwards of twenty cats waiting for me. Some were almost tame and obviously fed regularly by locals, others were so feral that they were definitely tigers in spirit trapped in little cat bodies.
Judith explained how things would work across the different stations. At station one, volunteers would transfer the cats from the regular carrier boxes to crush cages, ready to be pre-medicated. At station two, they would be injected with a sedative, and subsequently anaesthetised. At station three, the cats would be prepared for surgery, then brought to me in the room designated as ‘theatre’ – a small, clean room with a large old wooden table (the operating table), a standing lamp (theatre lights), and a box for me to stand on (I’m short and the table was too high!).
Following surgery, the cats were returned to their carrier and once fully recovered, released back to their territory. After each operation, my surgical instruments were cold-sterilised, then put through a cycle in a steam cooker in the kitchen area!
Considering I was the only qualified veterinary professional on-site, everything worked extremely smoothly. They had all clearly done this before! A book was used to record each of the cats’ sexes and any public donations received.
There would be the odd problem slowing the system down – sometimes a cat would escape from a box in station one, requiring all-hands-on-deck to catch it again; at other times one of the locals would hear there was a vet on the island and bring their dog along for a vaccination or a health check; and at yet other times a cat would require more than just neutering, most commonly enucleating end-stage eyes and amputating severe tail injuries.
Flystrike (hatched maggots eating flesh) was seen one time and treated accordingly. Unfortunately, due to the time of year, many female cats were pregnant, meaning pregnant spays occurred daily. Sometimes, a female cat would be trapped along with her litter, which gave us time to cuddle with kittens and have a break.
Generally, we spayed and castrated between twenty and thirty cats a day. After neutering, each cat had the tip of one of its ears trimmed. This procedure is known as ear-tipping and is commonly performed on stray cats. It is a permanent mark which can be visualised from afar to show the cat has been neutered. This indicator will prevent the same cat from being re-trapped for neutering in the future.
In the evenings, I was taken out to local restaurants where everyone seemed to know everyone. Most restaurants would have at least a couple of cats hanging around them, and it delighted me to see that the ear-tipped cats looked healthier than their non-neutered counterparts, with bright eyes, clean noses, and shiny coats. This really made me feel that this work was worth the effort.
What also blew me away was the kindness and generosity of the locals. Every day, lunch would be brought for us from a local bakery, café or restaurant, and most days, the owners of the establishments refused to take payment for our food. Everyone was aware of our work and grateful for our help. They showed their gratitude by feeding us delicious cheese pasties, Greek salads, courgetti fritters, and baklava.
All too soon, my week in Ithaki was up. I was treated like royalty. I got to do hugely rewarding work and met wonderful people who were as passionate as I was about helping animals. I enjoyed it so much that I went back the next year with my nurse friend Sophie (this blogger), and then again the year after with a couple of other nurse friends, Julie and Clare.
I am now seriously considering a career in more welfare-focused work as this is where I feel the most job satisfaction is. Sadly, I was unable to travel to Ithaki this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but as soon as travel restrictions are lifted, you know where I’ll be…
You can connect with me via e-mail: heidiepark@gmail.com
Hi, I’m Sophie!
I worked with Heidie during my time locumming. We were both locums working together at practices in Liverpool, UK. Heidie kindly invited me to Ithaki to help her with the cat neutering programme.
It was satisfying knowing we had made a huge difference to those sweet street cats. I will be forever grateful to Heidie for introducing me to such a beautiful country and this wonderful charity.
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