In this world of varying attitudes towards animals, there are some of a kind who are predisposed to be in the company of animals and birds and work towards their well-being. Pallavi Kelkar, a veterinarian at Happy Tails Hospital in Mumbai, loved animals right from her childhood. This reminds one of a line from a famous poem by the nature poet William Wordsworth, which can be quoted thus, ‘ The child is the father of man’. As observed by the elders at home, even as a toddler, Pallavi used to insist on being taken to a park close to home to be able to pet the dogs who were regularly walked there. She was very comfortable touching injured birds and animals, while many others at her age then would refrain from doing so. As an adolescent, she would love to watch in awe senior veterinarians treating their patients. In spite of being so drawn to the world of ‘treating and healing’ animals, she initially decided to take another career path namely that of Physiotherapy. But Doctor Umesh Karkare, founder and director of Happy Tails, whom she used to visit, had already recognized the innate ability in her and advised her to study Veterinary Science. Since taking that decision, there was no looking back for Pallavi as she completed her bachelors in Veterinary Science from Bombay Veterinary College and her VSc (Surgery and Radiology) from the college of Veterinary and animal sciences University. For five years she honed her skills as an apprentice undergraduate student in Happy Tails Veterinary Services, before joining it full-fledged in August 2015. In all humility, the soft spoken and highly qualified doctor says that she is still learning and can’t yet call herself a specialist. She has great regard and respect for Doctor Umesh Karkare and says, “Dr Karkare has been my mentor even before I came into this profession. He always encourages me to push beyond my limits and pursue new and better ways of doing things. I really admire his work-ethics and the kind of hard work that he puts into everything he takes up”. She also appreciates the whole-hearted support given to her by her parents, once they realized that their daughter had found her calling in pursuing this career. Pallavi is not only passionate about her work, but also is quick at diagnosing the issue accurately, even though her patients are unable to verbally describe their plight. Accurate diagnosis is the precursor to optimum treatment and recovery. One case she reminisces about is of a puppy rescued on the Bombay- Goa highway, which the rescuer had named ‘Bombay’. Bombay had to be operated for a stone stuck in her intestines. She was operated and in a month’s time recovered completely and got adopted into a good family too. There was another of 3 baby squirrels stuck on the sticky rat trap. Along with a few of her colleagues had to free them out of the adhesive and then sponged them with warm water with a little detergent in it. According to Dr Pallavi faith in a doctor’s capability also helps in the recovery of a patient with the most complicated medical issue. She cites a case, when she was doing her thesis in ophthalmology in Kerala. “One case that I remember was one tiny Pug puppy Mia, who had gotten a very bad corneal ulcer. In Kerala people used to come from far off places to the Government hospital that we worked in. Post-op care after eye surgery is extremely important. They used for constant follow-ups whenever they were called. Mia’s eye recovered beautifully. The faith and trust they had shown in us to save her eye was amazing”. She feels that no other profession would have offered her so much experience and learning as this in which she has treated almost all kinds of animals namely dogs, cats, rabbits and birds and many more and a wide variety of medical conditions too. In this technologically advancing world, good hearted Doctor Pallavi is happy that on a large scale pet animals are getting better medical facilities and post-operative care, but she also believes that the overwhelming number of street dogs and cats need to be tended to as well. She says, “Though it’s not practical to rescue and rehome each and every one of them, the least people can do in housing societies is, they can collectively feed and take care of a few dogs and cats of their locality, take them for regular checkups and vaccinations to a vet and get them sterilized for sure. So that we can create a safe haven for them right here in our own localities”
Looking ahead, there is hope in her young eyes of a better tomorrow as her prognosis of tomorrow’s society is that attitudes are changing towards the positive and a lot of kind-hearted animal lovers are taking the initiative of holding adoption camps and many common folk as well as personalities getting in, outdoor cats and dogs and giving them a good life and some day she wishes to adopt one too, when of course the time is right.
By Supriya Bhonsle
