SECOND STERILIZATION BLITZ IN VOLCÁN

(Para la versión español, haga clic aquí.)

Our second sterilization blitz was held on May 21, 2006. Francia Pinedo (owner of Bienes Raices Volcan) graciously allowed us to use her offices for the surgeries. Her office is closed on Sundays, the days the surgeries are performed. The setup is better than the previous one and her office is in a central location. It is on the main road to Rio Sereno, catty-cornered across from Super Berard's.  Francia said we could continue to use her offices for future sterilizations. An additional bonus is that Francia is fluent in both Spanish and English.

That day, Dr. Tello sterilized 14 animals (12 dogs - five males and seven females) and two cats, both female. Plus he cleaned the teeth of my latest "adoptee," which were in very bad condition from severe early malnutrition.  Cleaning Prissy Lou's teeth took longer than many of the surgeries!

One cat, only about four weeks of age, had just been found in the street by Yina, who adopted the kitten and had her sterilized that day.

Yina Ortiz again worked as Dr. Tello's assistant, and sisters Betsy Boeve and Cindy Reichert again attended and gave valuable help. They carried animals from the operating table to the recovery area, made sure they were covered and warm, and attended the animals as they recovered from the anesthesia.

Several Panamanian passersby stopped in to see what was going on. Some of the passersby asked to be notified of the next sterilization blitz. One woman has several animals and Betsy Boeve offered to pay half of the surgical cost for sterilizing the woman's animals. This woman came with her daughter and they observed the surgeries for several hours. The daughter wants to be a veterinarian and she was enthralled by watching Dr. Tello perform the surgical procedures!

Of the 12 dogs, five were brought from Boquete by Ruby McKenzie and three of her friends. They all help organize sterilizations in Boquete. They have a date scheduled for June 4th but wanted to have these dogs attended to right away. Four of the dogs from Boquete, all female, are owned by Panamanians. One was pregnant. Three of the Panamanians could pay only $10 per dog and Herta (from Boquete) donated an extra $30 to Dr. Tello.  Pat from Boquete brought her own personal "baby" (Sandy) and paid the regular fee.

Ruby McKenzie contributed $60 for one Panamanian dog, Poly, who has had a very sad life, including almost being beaten to death by intruders into the store of her owners.  In addition, Poly has had two previous surgeries by "vets" unknown to me. Each time the vets supposedly spayed Poly and removed a venereal tumor which "magically" seemed to grow back. In fact, Poly had NOT been spayed. Dr. Tello removed a huge uterus from Poly and also removed her venereal tumor.  If the tumor grows back, Poly will also need chemotherapy. But I suspect that during the previous surgeries, the "vets" did not remove the tumor in its entirety (if at all) and this final surgery by Dr. Tello may solve the problem without chemotherapy - which is said to be very painful for the animal.

Contributions and payments for Dr. Tello this day averaged $40 per animal. The fees collected included discounts to  Panamanians who could not afford to the regular prices, my paying Dr. Tello accordingly for the length of time it took to clean Prissy Lou's teeth, the full regular fee from gringos, the full regular fee from a few Panamanians - including from Francia Pinedo who had a male and female dog sterilized. I also paid for most of the cost for the sterilization of the recently adopted male dog of my Panamanian worker, Jose Espinosa.

It was a long day - but very satisfying. We didn't finish until 5:30 p.m. With the first sterilization blitz, we finished at around 3:30 p.m., but that day there were many more cats. Dogs require more surgical time, especially females.  This second time we had only two cats, and the majority of the dogs were females.

Pictures are below. (Next time I will get pictures of Betsy and Cindy in action! Thanks again, you guys!)

 

Dr. Tello and Yina in action Poly's venereal tumor During removal of Poly's uterus
Put your mouse pointer on Poly's incision and click to get a close-up of the TINY incision through which her massive uterus was removed! Kevin (Francia's nephew) sitting with their female dog "Nina" while she recovers from anesthesia. Kevin is giving Nina water from a teaspoon. Francia Pinedo sitting with her male dog "Chombo" while he recovers from
 his surgery.
Jose Espinosa (my wonderful, excellent worker) sits with his recently adopted dog "Rocky" while Rocky recovers from surgery. Pat from Boquete attends her beloved female "Sandy" while Sandy recovers from the anesthesia. And here is Randy Muscarella's best friend "Whisky" as  Whisky recovers from the anesthesia after being neutered.

 

Thanks to everyone who participated in this event: Dr. Andres Tello and his assistant Yina Ortiz; to Francia Pinedo (771-4550 or 6539-0579) who graciously allowed us to use her Real Estate offices for the surgeries; to Betsy and Cindy for their help and financial assistance; and to all the people who brought their animals to be sterilized.

Many thanks to everyone who has participated in the sterilization process for these dogs and cats.  I love you all - and so do these fortunate animals! 

Dorothy Atwater - 771-5883 or 6780-2565 or viajar2566@yahoo.com

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