Do you like your vet?
In the top photo, Dr. Silver is checking Josh’s teeth as part of his medical exam. Assisting are Chimp Care Supervisor Tawnya Williams, and three clinic volunteers who are all current or retired doctors, nurses, and physicians’ assistants.
Does your dog like his vet? You can tell when you pull up to the vet hospital, he knows where he is. Does he walk in with tail held high or are you having to bribe him to walk through the door with tail tucked?
We don’t take the chimps to the vet, I go to them – kinda like a house call. It makes it a little harder to know what they think about my sudden appearance in their space, and I sure hope the chimps learn to like me.
They are complex individuals with social structures that mirror our own. Chimpanzees communicate and express their likes, dislikes, fears, pleasures, and distrusts. And they don’t have tails to wag or tuck to help express their impression of me.
Observations
I feel so blessed every day I get to come in and surround myself with such wonderful creatures. I start my day with rounds and say good morning. It’s the blur of activity and mutual excitement that will never get old.
These observations build rapport and make my appearance in their space part of the routine. I watch them interact in these large, complicated families; from the young and the old, to the goofy and serious. They fight and make up; they have friends and lovers; get into moods and get grumpy. But mostly they are happy, silly almost.
My job is to make sure they stay healthy so they can live carefree lives, but they probably don’t realize that. I am the person that delivers walnuts if they show me the arm I asked for, give a squirt of juice if they let me look in their ears. I even try to make sure they brush their teeth, but not all are willing. This is called positive reinforcement training, or PRT for short.
We are working on fun behaviors that will enable me to gain information on how they are doing internally without the chimps realizing it’s a medical exam. This is often amusing for both myself and especially the chimps, who relish the ability to show just how clever they are.
A spoonful of sugar
Smart and creative, mischievous, and playful. And I have to get them to take their medicine. Good luck! There is no outsmarting a chimp in that regard. They can tell by the look on your face that there is a vitamin or medication hidden in their banana or pineapple juice.
A unique part of the job here at Project Chimps is to be a medicine culinary artist. The care staff are phenomenal at finding the right amount of cinnamon to add to an apple sauce cup or that a certain patient only likes bananas, but you must take off the peel first. Otherwise, they will not be eating that.
Show and tell
Each day I ask the humans “so how is everyone doing this morning, anyone have any issues for me to look at?” But it is often the chimps who respond themselves. Some of them will come right up to me and show me there “boo-boos.” Others make me work for it, a little squirt of juice, a little spit back at me, but nothing beats a “juice face” when they finally are done with their game and show me what I need to see.
Others are a little more secretive and you have to observe more closely for the subtle things they do. Thankfully, Project Chimps has a wonderful and devoted care staff that will notice the slightest change in their demeanor or routine.
And of course, there is always grooming. They know when one of their friends is injured or not feeling well. You can see the shift in their dynamics change. They will even groom and clean each other’s cuts and scratches.
It’s important that they choose their care and understand that we are all here for them. Their physical and psychological health are so important to me and all the staff as it is the heart of our mission to provide exemplary care. Getting to know their personalities and be a part of their lives has been the most rewarding experience in my life and my career.
At the end of the day, I want to ask them “do you like your vet?” and I really hope, if they could talk, they would say yes. For now, I’ll have to accept a little juice filled spit as my answer and interpret the way I want to.
Learn more about Dr. Silver here.