16 Jun 2026
Kayleigh Cook BVSc, CertAVP(ESST), PGCertVPS, PGCAP, FHEA, CHSE, MRCVS and Kim Davies BSc, BVSc, CertAVP(EM)(ED), MRCVS recall their time on the BEVA Trust’s visit to a project to enhance equine welfare abroad.
In October last year, a trip was made to Animal Care in Egypt (ACE) on behalf of the BEVA Trust. The BEVA Trust is the charitable arm of BEVA and funds veterinary professionals to attend projects to enhance equine welfare.
The BEVA Trust sends veterinary professionals to ACE on an annual basis to provide veterinary care and support and training for local vets.
We travelled to ACE on a seamless flight from Heathrow to Cairo and then a short flight from Cairo to Luxor. We were met at the airport by a member of the ACE team who took us back to the accommodation for a good night’s sleep after a long day of travel.
Our first day was taken up with meeting all the staff, having a tour of the clinic and the local area, and a much-needed trip to the supermarket for supplies. The clinic consists of 25 stables, three isolation pens for infectious cases and six small turnout paddocks. There are two spacious treatment rooms, one that functions mainly for in-patients and the other that is available for patients at the out-patient clinic. There is also a small animal consult room, operating room and pharmacy inside.
Aside from the clinical spaces, there is a beautiful tortoise garden that provided a relaxing place to sit quietly and take in the surroundings. Each day followed a similar pattern of in-patient checks and medication, starting at 8am. This was followed by rounds to discuss the status of each in-patient and to plan any treatment required that day. We then performed treatment on all the in-patients, with numerous bandage changes and wound flushes. Most patients were hospitalised for the treatment of wounds due to road traffic accidents, as well as kick and bite wounds from other equids and livestock.
Any further diagnostics were then performed, such as radiographs, tracheal washes and ultrasonography. The clinic is closed between 12pm and 1pm to allow for a lunch break, which was a welcome chance to escape the heat.
In the afternoon, we mainly assisted the vets in the out-patient clinic, seeing a huge variety of cases presented by owners from around the local area. These ranged from minor wounds in which the owner requested some “blue spray” and for the animal to be dewormed, to cases of tetanus, rabies, respiratory disease and colic cases. You really had no idea what might walk through the door next.
A real drive towards improving the welfare of the animals was visible at the clinic. Any animal that arrived with a chain-style nose band was given a cover to reduce pain and pressure sores on the nose. Huge numbers of owners were also given “donkey doughnuts” – homemade cushions with holes in the centre to reduce harness pressure points.
A really uplifting example of the great work that ACE is doing to improve welfare in the local animals was evidenced when an owner presented his mare with a wound on her shoulder from a cart. While many of these wounds are seen daily, what was so uplifting was that this mare had been brought straight to the clinic after sustaining the injury. This enabled us to flush and suture the wound immediately, which drastically improved the healing time.
Charities such as ACE make such a difference to the lives of working animals and the families they serve, and the gratitude from the owners was truly special to see.
We also spent time in the afternoon on upskilling sessions for the younger vets. One of the focus areas for our trip was to get the vets feeling more confident in the use of their new ultrasonography machine. We put this to good use scanning thoraxes, abdomens and eyes of the various presenting cases. We also did mini-tutorials on colic management, respiratory endoscopy, emergency foal medicine and management of ocular diseases.
All the vets were so incredibly keen to learn and develop their skills.
Some of the clinical highlights of our trip were successfully flushing and treating a septic fetlock in a working donkey, enabling it to return to its owner to continue to provide a vital role in the family’s livelihood.
We were also presented with a donkey with a draining tract due to a fractured splint bone that we removed, as well as a huge thorn. In our spare time, we managed to visit the Valley of the Kings and enter some of the tombs, which was truly fascinating. We also visited many temples such as Luxor, Karnak and Hatshepsut’s temples.
The enduring beauty of these structures, which were built so many years in the past, is truly breathtaking. We were also lucky enough to find the time for a sunrise hot air balloon ride, which was simply magical.
We spent 14 days at ACE, and we really wished we could have stayed longer. It was a fascinating learning experience for us, and we were truly able to feel like we made a difference. I would highly recommend to anyone thinking about volunteering abroad to give it a go. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of our career.
We would like to thank all the staff at the BEVA Trust – particularly Leaya, who organised the whole trip for us – as well as all the staff at ACE who made us feel like such welcome members of the team. We hope to go back again very soon.
For more information on similar opportunities, please visit the BEVA Trust website.
Kayleigh Cook is an equine veterinary surgeon who qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2015. She spent two years in mixed practice in Surrey before returning to the University of Liverpool to undertake an internship in equine medicine and surgery. Kayleigh then spent four years in equine practice in Lancashire before moving to work as a senior lecturer in clinical and communications skills at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Central Lancashire.
Kim Davies graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2014 and returned in 2018 to complete a rotating internship at the hospital. Since then, she has completed advanced practitioner status in equine internal medicine and equine dentistry, and currently works as a senior vet in a clinic in Cardiff.