Help from the Kitao Family

Dr. Bekki Watts realized her dream in May when she graduated with her DVM degree.

Since her father worked for Amoco, the Houston native lived much of her earlier life overseas. During the four and one half years the family lived in Africa, her mother, who volunteered at the local zoo, brought chimpanzees home for care.

Helping the chimps inspired Watts to become a veterinarian. Helping her reach her goal is the Kitao Family International Externship Award, which provides funds to support up to six weeks of study abroad for a fourth-year veterinary student.

Watts, who received the award in spring 2009, spent her first three-week rotation in Townsville, Australia, where she worked mainly with equine patients in an equine surgery center located next to a smallanimal clinic.

“Townsville is a big Thoroughbred horse racing community located on the Great Barrier Reef,” says Watts. “We treated lameness, performed ultrasound and worked on a lot of feet. When the equine center wasn’t busy, I would go next door to the small-animal clinic and help. I actually performed an enucleation, teaching a new grad how to perform the surgery.”

Watts says the atmosphere at the small-animal clinic was very relaxed. Veterinarians didn’t wear white coats and went by their first names.

“It seemed like a more intimate exchange between veterinarian and client regarding the treatment of their pets,” says Watts. “There doesn’t seem to be much worry over lawsuits in Australia. The veterinarians love what they do, and they have fun doing it.”

Another difference Watts noticed was that Australians don’t dress up their animals or treat them like their children. Instead, she says, “they treat them like their animals.”

Watts’ next rotation was in April when she traveled to Zambia, Africa.

“I earned my bachelor’s degree in animal science at Texas A&M University. One of my friends, who graduated with her DVM degree from Texas A&M, invited me to stay with her and her husband to help her work on polo ponies,” says Watts, who was on the Texas A&M polo team and was eager to reconnect with the young veterinarian.

“Leslie Robinson, DVM, owns a comprehensive ambulatory equine veterinary practice in Mazabuka, Zambia,” Watts says. “She is the first veterinarian in the area to provide services such as ultrasound, radiology and many surgical procedures.”

The area is populated mostly by sugar cane farmers and families involved in playing polo. Because each polo player needs a string of horses, each player has 10 or so horses, Watts says.

“Since Leslie hasn’t built a clinic yet, all the veterinary medicine we performed was out in the field. The first morning I was there, we castrated one of Mr. Robinson’s colts in their front yard.

“The next three weeks, Leslie allowed me some hands-on experience. I was able to perform more than 40 dentals, multiple castrations, hernia, sarcoid and squamous cell surgeries, reproductive ultrasounds and joint injections,” she says.

The duo served as veterinarians at a polo tournament in Mazabuka where they treated some lameness cases, many of which resulted from the horses being trimmed and shod inappropriately.

But it wasn’t all work for Watts.

“I was able to play a few chukkers (time periods of play) of polo and ride the horses through the Robinsons’ game farm. They have herd animals such as diker (doe like), bushbucks, sable, and eland (all various types of antelope). The countryside is beautiful and being able to see these animals in their natural habitat was a definite perk of my trip,” she says.

“I plan on visiting Leslie a few times a year so we can continue working together from time to time.”

After graduation, Watts moved to Pemba, Mozambique, Africa, where her husband works for an oil company, and she is starting her own ambulatory small-animal practice.

DERINDA BLAKENEY