77th STERILIZATION CLINIC IN VOLCÁN

Sunday, October 19, 2014 - 26 animals were spayed/neutered by
Dr. Andrés Tello, our wonderful veterinarian, plus he removed two venereal tumors, amputated a dog's leg, cauterized numerous papillomas from a dog, gave a Great Dane 2 liters of fluids IV, and performed four exams on already-sterilized dogs.

Dr. Tello sterilized 16 dogs and 10 cats. Of the dogs, 10 were female and 6 were male. Of the cats, 9 were female (one was pregnant) and 1 was male.

To those of us who participate in the clinics, 26 animals doesn't seem like many animals to sterilize in a day, but with all the other procedures done by Dr. Tello we had a very long day anyway.

Monday after the clinic, my employee and I called the woman whose dog had the leg amputated to ask how the dog was doing. She said her dog was very happy!

If you want to see a picture of a venereal tumor being removed from a male dog and a leg amputation in progress, click HERE. I did not include these pictures in the main album because some people would rather not see them.

Fran Hogan from Boquete brought her rescued dog, Bob, who has been in pain for seven weeks. Bob was skin and bones when she adopted him. Fran had taken Bob to five different vets in David, a couple of which are revered by some of the expat community. Some of the vets did blood work. Everyone had a different diagnosis and Bob was subjected to seven weeks of different (and unnecessary) drugs. Some of the David vets said Bob needed X-rays, but of course no one in this entire area can X-ray dogs and cats. None of the David vets did a manual examination of Bob.

At our clinic, Dr. Tello manually examined Bob. It appeared that there was a problem with his spine, but Dr. Tello took Bob with him to Costa Rica to X-ray him. He would return Bob to Fran at the clinic in David on October 25th.

Later in the day on October 25th, Fran advised me:

Bob is home! Dr. Tello showed me his X-ray which shows that both hips are the problem. One is completely out of its socket, the other is not right either. He has to have surgery on both, one at a time. Dr. Tello will do the first surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30 in Boquete. 6 week recovery. Then the other. Dr. Tello says the problem is congenital and was not a big source of pain until Bob gained weight.

Bob was very glad to see me. And he likes Dr. Tello a lot, even though the took his
testicles. :-)

Great news! Fran finally got a correct diagnosis for Bob, after spending many hours and lots of money for incorrect diagnosis/no diagnosis by vets in David.

An email from a happy client:

Estamos muy complacidos de la operacion realizada a nuestra perrita Margie. Sanó muy rapido y se ha puesto más bonita. Gracias por su noble labor. Congratulaciones y bendiciones a todo su equipo de especialista.

Atentamente.

José Fernando González y Familia

Translated: "We are very pleased with the operation performed on our dog Margie. She healed very fast and has become more beautiful. Thank you for your noble work. Congratulations and blessings to all your team of specialists."

Our next clinic, #78, will be on November 23rd, which is our final clinic for 2014. Anyone who wants an appointment needs to call right away because the clinics fill up fast.

Be sure to click the link below for the Picasa web album of pictures taken during this clinic.

I now have a personal PayPal "Donate" button. You can use this "button" to donate. If you already have a PayPal account, you can just log in and specify to send money to "friends or family" at my email address, muffiemae@gmail.com. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can use a credit card.

Your contribution is not tax deductible. But be assured that every penny goes for the animals. On my web page created after each clinic, I give a complete accounting of income and expenses. (See "Income and Expenses" listed below.) Except for our wonderful veterinarian, neither I nor anyone else connected with the clinics receives any pay or financial benefit. I rent the building where we hold the clinics, and I buy all the anesthesia, medications, instruments, supplies, and equipment. I have no offices, no salaries, no advertising. Every penny goes for the animals. This is a project from my heart, and I pay the deficits from my own pocket.

Again, other than contributing cash or depositing to my personal bank account, donating to my personal PayPal account (muffiemae@gmail.com) is the best way to help support this important project if you don't need a tax-deductible receipt.

Thank you in advance for future financial help, and thanks to everyone who has donated in the past.

Volunteers:

Claudia Flores served as registrar.
Don Binder weighed animals, gave the anesthesia injections, plus gave the pre-op injections of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory. He also put mineral oil in the eyes of the animals so they would not dry out, and performed whatever other duties were needed.
Jose Espinosa, my permanent employee, helps weigh and tag the animals, provides transportation for animals when necessary, and helps with various duties. He also takes my car to pick up and deliver animals when necessary. Then Jose and I go to the clinic site on Mondays following the Sunday clinics to clean and organize for the next one.
Rosemary Rios, Jenny Rodriguez, and Francia Pinedo assisted Dr. Tello, gave post-op injections of B-12 and antiparasite. They dressed the incisions, took the temperature of the recovering animals, tattooed the ears of female dogs, administered flea and tick treatment, generally checked the well being of the animals, and performed whatever other tasks were necessary.
Alex Rios cleaned the instruments.

Again, we had a great team of volunteers and everything ran very smoothly!

We had a lot of delicious food for the doctor and the volunteers! Thanks to everyone who contributed: Dana Larson for the main dish, Don Binder for drinks, and Carla Black for dessert. I took prunes and organic oranges from my trees for everyone to take home.

Income and expenses:

$ 595.00*
contributions by guardians/owners

       25.00       cash donation by Al Jan (formerly from Texas, now in         Panama)

      20.00        cash donation byPhil Huebner (Volcan)

       25.00       cash donation by Lotti Gambetta (Boquete)

       65.00         cash donation by Fran Hogan (Boquete)

$ 730.00       Total Cash Contributions

*Note: The $595.00 contributions by guardians/owners were for spaying and neutering only. Payments for other procedures--amputation, removal of venereal tumors, etc., and any other services were collected from owners and paid to Dr. Tello separately. Neither those payments or the charges for other services are included in the income and expenses above.

Thanks to Susan and Pat Farrell who donated a Furminator (to use on dogs' coats) and a tube of silver cream to promote healing.

At this October 19, 2014 clinic Dr. Tello sterilized 16 dogs and 10 cats. With my average costs of $25 per dog and $15 per cat, expenses were $550 plus $100 for rent of the building, for a total of $650. Income this month was $730, leaving an excess of $80.00. Therefore, my current out-of-pocket expenses are reduced to $1,359.94.

My heartfelt thanks for the generous donations of those who have contributed for this clinic, who have contributed in the past, and who will contribute in the future! We need and appreciate your help! Love and thanks to everyone!

Alex Rios tending to a dog after surgery.
For other pictures taken during the clinic, click HERE. Click on the first image to enlarge it, then you can advance through the rest of the pictures.

Here in Volcan, our small group has been responsible for sterilizing 2,683 dogs and cats to date. (And this number does not include the extraordinary surgeries that Dr. Tello has performed at our clinics...removal of tumors, amputations, etc.) Added to the 129 animals that Spay/Panama (from Panama City) sterilized in in Volcan in February of 2005, we have sterilized 2,812 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--but thankfully, we see a lot fewer venereal tumors than we did in the past!.

Remember: In 7 years a female cat and her off springs can be the source of 420,000 kittens. In 6 years a female dog and her off springs can be the source of 67,000 puppies. Unless your dog/cat is totally confined and unable to continue the population increase (AND the spread of venereal disease), please do the humane thing of having them sterilized!

For the health and safety of your dog/cat, however, have the sterilization performed by a competent vet who is experienced in early sterilization (eight weeks of age and up) and small-incision surgeries, and one who closes with stainless steel sutures....like Dr. Tello, who we are so fortunate to have operate at our clinics. (I do not trust care of my dogs or injured dogs that I find in the street to ANYONE except Dr. Tello.)

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 - 6517-8752 or muffiemae@gmail.com
US telephone: 817-349-6345
skype: muffiemae

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