International Member Spotlight: Dr Cheryl McCrindle

In this month’s member spotlight, Dr Cheryl McCrindle tells us how she currently uses her decades of veterinary experience to support local farmers, outlines her work supporting international animal welfare organisations and how she fulfilled her ambition of becoming a cowgirl.

Can you tell us what work you do and where in the world you are based?

I’m an emeritus professor at the University of Pretoria Veterinary Faculty. I’m contracted to the Faculty of Health Sciences to work with postgraduate students in the field of Zoonoses in Public Health. I also assist the University of South Africa in teaching Epidemiology to Animal Health Technicians. Three days a week I work in a rural practice at Rayton, which is east of Pretoria in the Gauteng Province, with small scale and emerging farmers. There’s only one other vet at the practice, who I previously worked with at the International Dairy Federation. I used to sometimes see hundreds of cows a day, whereas now I’m more interested in small scale dairy production.

Just recently, I went to see a small-scale farmer with a beautiful bull who had died and was very bloated. I had a look at the bull who weighed between 800 – 1000kg and was blown up like a balloon. I incised the bull to perform the post-mortem, got through into the abdominal cavity and it promptly exploded – I managed to dodge it, but the farmer and my assistant got their overalls covered. It turned out the bull was eating too much maize and wet green grass.     

What is your role and what area do you specialise in?

I tell everyone that my role is that of a ‘village grandmother’ as I have been in practice since 1970. Initially, I worked in a research laboratory developing vaccines then lectured in infectious diseases at the University of Pretoria’s Onderstepoort Faculty. After having children, I purchased and ran an urban small animal clinic and surgery for 10 years as it was close to the schools they attended. When my children were in high school, I moved to clinical production animal medicine and surgery at the previous Veterinary Faculty located at the Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa), then migrated to Veterinary Public Health back at Onderstepoort Faculty until I retired in 2012.

Can you give us an insight into the types of work you carry out in practice?

My rural practice in Rayton meets the needs of small-scale farmers, who have mainly turned to farming to make ends meet. I mostly work in affordable primary health care for poultry, sheep, goats, cattle, horses and donkeys, as well as farm dogs and cats.

A lot of people think we only deal with wildlife in South Africa. I do see wildlife occasionally, but I normally just treat them initially such as fixing broken bones and then refer the patient to wildlife specialists.

What does a typical day look like for you?

On the days I am at the university it’s easy to get to work and I can also do Zoom meetings. When I am at the Rayton rural consulting rooms, it means a 32 km drive. Currently, I arrive at the clinic between 8am – 9am and sort out the orders and payments (I am my own practice manager), while the receptionist takes the bookings. Clients bring in pets or farm animals by appointment, or sometimes they just come along without an appointment. I also charge a reduced consulting fee to farmers who come in and ask for advice on diseases, farming and parasites.

Many of the animals from farmers are referred because of injuries, and I can help with primary health care by phone or tell them I think the animal needs stitches and a vet must come out. Often in a case like a calving problem, I will go out and help or refer them to another practice. Occasionally, it is an outbreak of a notifiable disease and I notify the state veterinarian. As we are a consulting room, I only do minor surgery like stitching bite wounds, but I can stabilise a badly injured animal before referring for X-rays or surgery and my colleagues at other practices are happy to get referrals from me.

What’s your favourite thing about your role?

I like being the ‘village grannie’ that people turn to when they have a problem, and it really makes me happy if the animals I treat survive and prosper. Sometimes a small-scale farmer passes me by in the street and I say, “long time no see,” and he replies, “that is because we are doing things properly, thanks to your advice!” Also, animals like me and I like animals. Dogs wag their tail when they see me and the horses in the stables that I visit put their heads out to say hello.

Can you tell us how veterinary regulation differs in the country you work in compared to the UK regulation?

The South African Veterinary Council registers veterinarians, veterinary technicians and veterinary nurses and obliges them to conform to a code of conduct. Our laws and regulations are closely aligned to those of the RCVS and are also in line with the OIE. We also have the South African Veterinary Association, which works on behalf of veterinarians with the council when they make the legislation.

How does your role uphold and protect animal welfare?

I am passionate about animal welfare and at one point I was the voluntary director of the Pretoria SPCA. I assisted other welfare organisations with subsidised and free sterilisations when I was a small animal practitioner and internationally, I have been associated with the WSPCA, Donkey Sanctuary and SPANA and still put into practice a lot of welfare approaches.

One of my contributions was a presentation I gave at the RCVS many years ago on ‘Household remedies for animals’ which is called ‘McCrindle’s list’. For instance, you can use salt water to wash wounds and sugar or honey to stop bleeding and get wounds to granulate fast.

What do you get up to outside of work?

I always wanted to be a cowgirl and when my daughter asked me to get her a quarter horse, we rescued one. Years ago, my son bought me an international quarter horse called Ses Smart Star with money he owed me for his university education and relocation to the UK. The horse was trained and ridden by Shane Borland, a Zimbabwean polo player, to represent South Africa at the World Equestrian Games in 2010. I now ride my own American Quarter horse called Arabesque Shore Edge (or Sandy for short) at a gallop, one-handed, dressed in cowgirl clothes and boots. YEE-HAH!