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Sunday,
July 22, 2012 - 42 animals were sterilized today by This was our record number for one day, and people who want appointments are increasing rapidly! We sterilized 24 dogs and 18 cats. Of the dogs, 19 were female and 5 were male. Of the cats, 15 were female and 3 were male. (Sterilization of females is more complicated and the surgery takes more time.) It was a long, tiring day - but emotionally and spiritually rewarding! Dr. Tello also operates once a month in Boquete and in David. On Saturday, July 21st, the day before our clinic in Volcan, he sterilized 74 animals in David! Plus, the person who usually gives injections of anesthesia did not come and he also had to inject the animals himself. None of this important work could be done without Dr. Andres Tello, and we are all so very grateful for him! The man is a saint! We had a little excitement today. A very unhappy male cat was apparently very resistent to the anesthesia. After he received the injection and while we were trying to put him into a crate until he was asleep, he escaped. We always close the front door when we inject cats - just in case. Nevertheless, this cat was running all through the building, avoiding capture, leaping up onto the valences of the windows. He finally ran into the wash room where there is a window, high up on the wall. It has bars but no screen, and he escaped through the window! All this activity was after he had received the proper dose of anesthesia! The cat's guardian was frantic and crying. But Rosemary Rios, one of our excellent volunteers, did an admirable job of chasing and capturing the cat...he had run through the fields all the way to the church, which is a least three blocks from the clinic. Needless to say, Dr. Tello then had to give the cat an IV injection of more anesthesia! This male cat had an infected eye from one of his many fights. Now that he has been neutered, he will not be inclined to fight with other cats. Diwa's recently adopted female dog was our final appointment today. Diwa mentioned that the dog had been limping on her right leg. Dr. Tello examined the leg and foot after surgery - and he squeezed torselos from two of her nail beds! Something like a bot fly lays eggs into the skin, and the eggs develop into larvae. I've seen this before, but never in a nail bed. When the first one came out, at first I thought he had squeezed the entire nail out. These larvae are curved, very hard, and approximately the size of a dog's entire toenail. The dog will be fine now! Yuck! We already have 33 appointment scheduled for the August 19th clinic. I will schedule 50 to allow for the inevitable no-shows. However, more and more people honor their appointments unless they call to cancel. I keep a file of no-shows and those people are welcome to bring their animals to a future clinic, but without an appointment. I am pleased that we helped so many animals today, but to do more than that number in one day is too long and exhausting....for me anyway. Dr. Tello and our volunteers are a lot younger than my 71 years of age! We schedule appointments very close together to allow for no-shows. And we never know in advance how complicted and time-consuming any particular surgery will be. Therefore, people with appointments usually have a fairly long wait anyway, but those without appointments will probably need to wait until the end of the day - and hope we have time for them. If anyone complains about the wait time, I ask them how long they have to wait at a medical doctor's office! (And no doubt pay more than what they are able to contribute for excellent treatment of their pet.) This
is an excellent video about Spay Panama (in Panama City): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZOz_TcORUM&feature=youtu.be In addition, while Spay Panama has lots of volunteers who handle many tasks, other than our volunteers on clinic days, everything else is my responsibility. Therefore, even if we had additional competent vets, I couldn't possibly handle more than one clinic a month. We hope to have a YouTube video of our own one of these days! 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 July 22nd, 2012. MANY thanks to our wonderful volunteers and contributors. Without their help and dedication, ths important work simply could not be done.
At this July 22, 2012 clinic, Dr. Tello sterilized 24 dogs and 18 cats. In addition, he performed three abortions, removed a venereal tumor from a female dog, and performed eye surgery in addition to a sterilization. With my average cost (for sterilizations only) of $22 per dog and $11 per cat, expenses were $726 for sterilizations, plus $100 for building rent, for a total of $826. With contributions of $635, there was a deficit of $191.00! Therefore, my accumulated deficit is $2,230.21. My hearfelt thanks for all the generous donations of those who have contributed in the past and who will contribute in the future! I very much appreciate any and all contributions. They are welcome and needed!
Here in Volcan, our small group has been responsible for sterilizing 1,670 dogs and cats to date. Added to the 129 animals that Spay/Panama (from Panama City) sterilized in in Volcan in February of 2005, we have sterilized 1,799 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 |
Cristina Espinosa did a good job with registration. She is only
12 years old and is the daughter of my employee, Jose Espinosa. 