July 12, 2009 - 34 animals sterilized 
today by Dr. Tello, our wonderful veterinarian!
(Plus the amputation of a dog's leg.)

What a beautiful day we had, with no rain at all.  Dr. Tello sterilized 16 dogs and 18 cats. Of the 16 dogs, 12 were female and 4 were male. Of the 18 cats, 11 were female and 7 were male. I have never seen so many WHITE cats in one place at one time as we had today. Dr. Tello performed abortions on two dogs - one was pregnant with seven puppies and the other with nine.

Patrick and Agnes McKittrick of David belong to a group that want to begin sterilization clinics in David. Patrick brought Dr. Rigoberto Quintero to our clinic to receive some training from Dr. Tello. 

One man showed up with a large, very skinny male dog. He said he hesitated to come because he had no money at all, not even a dollar. I told him that I would pay to neuter his dog. Enilda Gonzales was standing nearby and heard the conversation. Bless her heart, she donated $7.00 toward the cost. Enilda is an elderly woman with a very kind heart, certainly not wealthy, but she brings one or more cats to every clinic and pays $10 for each. (Many of the cats are not hers - but she does have a lot of her own.)

I had asked a very poor family to bring their three dogs to be sterilized. I knew they would not be able to pay anything. They are nice people and their dogs are well fed and cared for. Now they won't have puppies to contend with, or have the risk of venereal disease in their dogs.

A female dog had a broken front leg after having been hit by a car awhile back. The bone was protruding and there was infection in the bone. She would have died before long from the infection if the leg was not amputated. I never cease to be amazed at the expert work that Dr. Tello does. There's a picture below of the dog after the amputation was done. (It's not "gory" so don't be afraid to look.)

The dog's owner has very little money but she said she would pay $10 on Wednesday (today, when I am writing this). She did come to my house today, gave me $5.00, and said she would bring the other $5.00 in a few days. I'm confident she will. She loves her dog, and I am deeply touched when people with very little are willing to pay what they can to help their animals. An amputation like this would have cost around $150 anywhere else...and the challenge would be to find a competent vet anywhere in this area to do it. Dr. Tello also spayed the dog at the same time. I am so happy that we saved this dog's life and she will be happy and free of pain. The woman says the dog is very happy and is already running around on three legs without any problem at all. (Of my 12 adopted dogs, one of them had a leg amputated by Dr. Tello - plus an abortion and a venereal tumor removed at the same time. She lives a full and happy life. She's about 10 years old now, and has lived with me for almost five years. After being nothing but a homeless miserable "puppy mill" for the first years of her life, now she runs and plays with my other dogs like she finally has a chance to be a "puppy" herself.)

The clinics are a full-time job for me. Not a day goes by that I'm not planning, thinking about, talking to people around town, buying supplies, and/or doing other work for the clinics. But I'm rejoicing, not complaining. I've found a purpose in life that fills my heart with joy. Every dog we sterilize saves a potential 67,000 puppies being born from them and their offspring over a six-year period. Every cat we sterilize saves a potential 420,000 kittens being born from them and their offspring over a seven-year period. Many of these would have pitiful lives full of suffering.

MANY thanks to our wonderful volunteers and contributors. Without their help and dedication, this important work simply could not be done. We've all been remarking how smoothly the clinics run now...and they are so well-coordinated because of our volunteers.

Wally Ewen, who served as registrar;
Lynn Longbons, who gave the injections of anesthesia and pre-op injections.
Richard Kongable helped around the clinic and provided transportation to take numerous dogs home after surgery. (Richard's dad, Bill, is here visiting from Texas and was also at the clinic.)
Kevin Espinosa, who did pre-op shaving and prepping. (Kevin is Jose's son.) 
Jose Espinosa. He is my permanent employee and I donate his time and work to the clinics. He helps weigh and tag the animals and give the anesthesia; he and I go to the clinic site on Mondays following the Sunday clinics to clean and organize for the next one;
Brenda Paulson, who gave the post-op injections of vitamin B-12 and anti-parasite, flea and tick treatment, and tattooed the ears of female dogs to indicate they have been sterilized;
Francia Pinedo, who assisted Dr. Tello and helped wherever necessary, including translation. (Thanks also to Francia for helping to schedule the animals prior to the clinics. She also does the translation for the Spanish version of this web site.) Francia is a good friend and I know her to be an excellent - and HONEST - real estate agent in Volcan. Her web page is http://www.volcan.paradisepanama.net 
Eymi Pitti and Karolyn Rovira, who cleaned and sterilized the surgical instruments and monitored the animals while they recovered from the anesthesia.

Thanks to Dana Larson for providing 30 sandwiches (or more) - and individually wrapped! We really appreciated that; people didn't even have to take them out of the wrapper to eat them. And thanks to Linda Weldon for the delicious cookies, and Richard Kongable for the soft drinks.

Please forgive me if I have neglected to mention any volunteers or contributors! 

Income and financial donations:

At this July 12, 2009 clinic, we sterilized 16 dogs and 18 cats. At my average cost of $20 per dog and $10 per cat, expenses were $500, plus $200 for building rent, for a total expense of $700. (We did not have a clinic in June, but I still had to pay $100 for the building rent in June.) With contributions of $690.00, the deficit was only $10.00. Since October of 2006 to date, my accumulated deficit is $4,353.75.  Please contribute! I very much appreciate your contributions, which are welcome and needed! (US citizens: please contact me about how to make IRS tax-deductible contributions.)

Following are a few pictures taken during the July 12, 2009 clinic.  

Eymi Pitti and Karolyn Rovira	Andrea Gonella and I. Andrea is an animal lover and rescuer.	Francia Pinedo assisting Dr. Tello
Lynn Longbons prepares an injection.	Dr. Tello operating on a BIG dog.	Claudia and her husband with one of their dogs.
Kevin Espinosa and Brenda Paulson	Kitty anesthetized, shaved, cleaned with iodine, and ready for surgery	Maritza, my neighbor, brought two kitties to be sterilized.
Two dogs in recovery, kept warm and cozy and checked often by Eymi and Karolyn.	This is a lucky little lady. She would have been dead from infection before long if her front leg had not been amputated.	Dr. Tello's beautiful wife, Ana, and their son Emanuel, now six months old.

Bill Kongable, Richard's father, took the following pictures:

Lynn Longbons, me, Brenda Paulson	Great picture of a dog under anesthesia	Wally Ewen, registrar
Enilda Gonzales with one of her cats	The porch area of our clinic building	And this is our clinic building. It is perfect for our needs! A perfect size for one vet and all the different "stations." There's also plenty of parking area.

Here in Volcan, our small group has been responsible for sterilizing 789 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 918 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.

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

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