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Sunday,
September 18, 2011 - 31 animals were sterilized today We sterilized 21 dogs and 10 cats. Of the dogs, 16 were female and 5 were male. Of the cats, 7 were female and 3 were male. And what a long, tiring day we had! In addition to regular sterilizations, there were four very long and complicated surgeries: a bad hernia that took an hour to repair; one testicle in a huge male dog had not descended and Dr. Tello had to find it internally; an abortion of a cat took longer than a normal sterilization; and the last surgery of the day included removal of a huge cancerous tumor in a female dog. (We won't know the prognosis of that one for a while.) María, the mother of one of our volunteers, stays at my house during clinics - I have so many dogs that someone needs to be present at al times. When Maria and Zabrina were walking to my house that morning, a sweet little male dog had followed them for several blocks. We took him to the clinic and sterilized him. I kept him at my house for two nights, and then delivered him back to where he first started following the two women. So whoever the owner is, they received a complimentary sterilization for their dog. Three pieces of wonderful news: (1) Anne and Gordon Bakke had the idea to hold a fund-raising dinner for the clinics, and Dorreene Reynolds organized a silent auction concurrent with the dinner. Rather than repeat the details here, please click Dinner and Silent Auction to read all about it, including a link for pictures during the event. In brief, though, from the last paragraph: "After sales of dinner tickets and proceeds of the silent auction, the final tally of money raised is $1,949! That reduces my out-of-pocket expenses for the clinics by more than half - from $3,946.69 to $1,997.69. I would have kept sponsoring the clinics anyway - as long as I have the funds and the stamina - but the support of the organizers, volunteers, and the community has truly touched my heart! Thank you! (2) Anne Bakke also had the idea to paint the inside of the clinic building. The building is ideal, but the inside wasn't very attractive. Now the walls are a beautiful light green color. For all the work, thanks to Anne and Gordon Bakke, Mary Ann and Walter White, and my employee, Jose Espinosa. An anonymous donor contributed funds for most of the paint and supplies. I contributed $88.65 for various paint, supplies, caulk, replacement window panes, etc. (3) Larry Denne fixed problems with our overhead lights in the clinic. Follow-up on two dogs from our previous clinic: The old dog that had three hernias is doing great now. Before Dr. Tello diagnosed and repaired the hernias, the dog could not poop or pee. The owner had spent $145 with five local vets - none of whom saw the hernias. They all prescribed antibiotics and a diuretic, none of which did any good, of course.
Carolyn Price brought her male dog, Micky, who had been getting very skinny even though he was eating ravenously. He's a shepherd, so he could not have our normal anti-parasite injection of Endovet (which contains ivermectin). Dr. Tello gave him oral fenbendazole and recommended 4 consecutive days of B-12 injections. My employee went each day to administer the injections. Micky quickly gained weight and is doing great. We recently saw a little poodle-type dog across from Restaurant Mana that had huge clumps of horribly matted fur that was very painful to her. My employee, Jose, and I went there and took our grooming tools. Now Princesa is much more comfortable. (She was spayed long ago at one of our clinics.) Click HERE for a picture of Princesa and her owner, Enrique. Please donate! Your PayPal tax-deductible donations for Chiriqui go through Spay Panama's Animals YES in the USA and are eventually forwrded to me. Please send me an email if you donate by PayPal so I can thank you personally! If you donate via PayPal, it often takes a long time for the funds to reach me. (See income and expenses below.) If you are local to Panama, please consider donating directly to me. If you're not able to donate in person, I can give you information about how to deposit to my bank account. Thank you! Donors and amounts are reported on my web page for each clinic. Income and expenses are listed on each clinic web page. Thank you for your help! Your contribution helps make Spay/Panama-Chiriqui services possible. PLEASE BE AWARE that if you donate through PayPal, I cannot credit your donation on my web page until I actually receive the funds. If you have donated through PayPal and your donation has not been credited on my web page, please contact me. Anyone who is local to Volcan, PLEASE talk with your friends and neighbors, explain the importance of proper sterilization and tell them about our clinics. My goal is to sterilize at least 30 animals during each clinic. Our next clinic will be on October 23, 2011. MANY thanks to our wonderful volunteers and contributors. Without their help and dedication, this important work simply could not be done. Mary Ann White AGAIN took the blankets and dishes home from the clinic to wash! I don't have words to express my gratitude!
At this September, 2011 clinic, Dr. Tello operated on 21 dogs and 10 cats. With my average cost of $22 per dog and $11 per cat, expenses were $572 plus $100 for building rent, for a total of $672. With contributions of $485.00, there was a deficit of $187.00. Therefore, my accumulated deficit would have been $4,133.69. However, thanks to the $1,949.00 income from the dinner and silent auction, that's reduced to $2,184.69...plus the $88.65 I spent for various clinic improvement supplies, is a total of $2,273.34 out of pocket. (I never count the cost of the miscellaneous things I always provide at the clinics - drinking water, coffee, cream, sugar, occasional desserts and other foods, etc .) I very much appreciate any and all contributions. They are welcome and needed!
Here in Volcan, our small group has been responsible for sterilizing 1,361 animals to date. Added to the 129 animals that Spay/Panama (from Panama City) sterilized in in Volcan in February of 2005, we have sterilized 1,490 dogs and cats! There are many more to go, but we are making progress! Our goal is to sterilize at least 75% of the dogs and cats in the Volcan area, and thus almost completely solve the problem of homeless dogs and cats, and the terrible venereal disease suffered by so many dogs. Thanks to everyone who participated in our clinics today, and to those who had their pets sterilized. Always remember that TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Dorothy
Atwater - 6780-2565 or muffiemae@gmail.com Back to Clinics Page Back to HOME PAGE |
