Review Reprinted With Permission From Kuwait This Month Magazine

The International Veterinary Hospital - Kuwait

"Compassion For Animals is intimately connected with goodness of character and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man."
Arther Schopenhauer - Philosopher

The International Veterinary Hospital is a fair drive down the Magreb motorway towards the Saudi border but Margaret McLuskey, manager of the smart new facility which opened last month, is confident that pet owners will soon appreciate the benefit of the extra few minutes traveling time. “I’ve been down to the vets off the 4th Ring Road and the traffic down there is horrendous.Here the roads are good and the extra mileage doesn’t really constitute much extra traveling time” she explained. For sure, as I turned off the 306 onto the freshly tarmacked road that led up to the ‘Dallas like ranch’ that is the new center, the 20 minute journey from Fintas had seemed like nothing. I had booked Ben and Josh, my two 5 month old puppies, an appointment with IVH’s groomer, their scraggly coats never truly recovered from their early days in a chicken cage at the Friday market, but as I approached the ranch there were no signs to confirm that this was the right driveway.

Even after walking into the reception I was not sure that I had come to the right place. I was used to vets that greeted your nose before your eyes but today it was my vision which had to confirm the destination as I surveyed the beautifully framed animal prints hung on every wall. The International Veterinary Hospital is still a hive of preparatory activity. Signboards that I had been looking for on my approach will indeed soon announce your arrival. They are on order along with a “huge shopping list” of other equipment that will make the center the best equipped animal hospital in the country. Currently open for kenneling and grooming it will be another month before the facility is completely operational. Equipment for the two consulting rooms, the operating theatre and recovery rooms will hopefully be in place by the end of this month and, arriving with it, two fully qualified veterinary surgeons, one from Italy and one from South Africa who will head up the medical team in what will be a truly unique center.

Margaret McLuskey has been in Kuwait for 10 years. Previously she worked for the British Embassy but says she “jumped at the chance” to head up this center when approached. She greets me in her carpeted office and I hesitate at the door, holding tight to Ben and Josh’s leads before she assures me that they can join us inside. The bird swinging in its cage in the corner of her office is a resident, currently boarding at the hospital while its owners are out of the country. “Last time they went away they left him with the maid’s brother,” Margaret tells me, “but when they came back he was almost bald because he’d been pining!” This time I doubt he even notices he’s left home. We take Ben and Josh to a kennel while they wait for their appointment with the groomer and, based on my previous experience of vets in this country, I am awestruck at exactly what I find.

17 individual compartments make up the dog kennels, each with a very comfy looking doggy bed, food bowls and plenty of space to stretch out. Natural light streams in through the windows, glancing off the fun, framed pictures of larger than life dogs on the walls. The floors are dry and clean and Margaret explains that all her charges are taken out regularly for walks and toilet visits. It is clear immediately that the design and layout of the hospital has been done by someone who truly loves animals. The “Cat Zone” is equally well laid out. Two rooms with a total of 18 individual units, each large enough to house two cats should owners wish their pets to share accommodation. The design of each unit is again done with the animal in mind. Plenty of space to move around coupled with areas to curl up, hide and climb.

“The cats all get taken out daily for playtime and to be brushed too.” Margaret adds. Tabatha is 17, a grand old lady in cat years, “She belongs to one person and doesn’t like anyone else in the family even.” Margaret laughs, as she pets her through the wire cage front. “It took her a few days to come around once she was dropped off here but now she’s very happy.” All the current residents certainly look more than content, most curled up snugly in their boxes sleeping soundly. The food store is full of top brand name pet chow that is delivered regularly. Currently they have enough in stock for 6 weeks in the event that the political situation cuts them off from their supplier. Washing machines and tumble driers hum as they refresh the “bed linen” and you could be forgiven for thinking of this as a hotel rather than a hospital.

Piped music eases those new arrivals that might not yet be adjusted to their surroundings and there are even plans afoot to offer the ‘guests’ TV, according to Margaret in a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune.As Ben is collected by the groomer for his ‘make-over’ Margaret shows me the large empty rooms that will be the consultation areas. “Everything will be computerized. Everything will be registered.” She explains. “You can’t bring your pet in and us not have a record. We’ll be able to remind you of due dates for shots etc. We have special software coming for it all.” She sounds excited about the arrival of everything that is currently outstanding. “The other vets (in the country) don’t have X-ray, endoscopes, ultrasound, all these things. If you want shots it’s OK but if you want anything else it’s a problem. We are having all the equipment here right down to the proper dental machine for cleaning their teeth.”

Margaret has no formal certificates in animal care or medicine. Her qualifications to manage the hospital come from her compassion and love of animals. “I have rescued so many here. I reckon it must be hundreds I’ve found homes for now.” She tells me. “I remember hearing about this guy in Qurain who was selling dogs in horrendous conditions. Small dogs in chicken cages that were so small they had to sit in what they’d ‘done.’ They were fed on bread and water. This guy was selling these dogs. I used to go and rescue the little ones. I must have bought at least 10 of them. Taken them home, bathed them, got their shots and then given them to people who would take a dog. It was making me ill because the more I bought the more he got in. He was loving it.

The problem here is that kids see a dog on the telly and Dad goes and buys them two – not realizing what work is involved. Then they decide they don’t want the dog because it’s messing in the house or whatever and so they get thrown out, or sold or they turn up at the Friday market. That place needs exposing. The authorities need to do something about it. I know they try sometimes but they don’t try hard enough. You can buy a monkey there that’s being kept in a suitcase!” Margaret talks passionately about the lack of regard for animals in this culture and you can see in her eyes how deeply she sees the need for it to be addressed. “I hope that this hospital will help” she says of plans that one day Kuwait will be recognized internationally as a country that has more stringent protection of animals. “The Environment Protection Agency has already been in contact with me which is excellent and the ministry has been sending people to us. It is certainly movement in the right direction.” The grounds of the hospital house a huge warehouse which will become a horse riding stable and riding school for children plus plenty of space for resident boarders to make the most of their regular exercise time.

There are qualified staff on site 24 hours a day, even the vets assistants being fully trained veterinary doctors from the Philippines. “They say there’s not a lot of money to be made in veterinary surgery” Margaret says, “and that is perhaps why it has never been done properly out here before.” Regardless of the potential profit margin though, her sponsor remains indiscreetly in the background financing the project generously. He is also, maybe unsurprisingly, heavily involved with the POW cause. Such”goodness of character”, to quote Arther Schopenhauer, is rare in this part of the world, especially where animals are concerned but as you look around this magnificent facility, a facility that has been so badly needed in the Kuwait for so long and one which will, without doubt, be embraced by all committed pet owners in the country, you thank god that there are some who possess it.

The International Veterinary hospital is now open.Heading south on the Magreb about 20 km beyond Fahaheel take the 306 towards Wafra. The IVH is about 1 km down, on the right. Telephone: 3261421

Review Reprinted With Permission From Kuwait This Month Magazine