Spay/Panamá, with the help of local volunteers and the Centro de Salud de
Cerro Azul, concluded a spay/neutering weekend covering the communities of
El Pinar, Buenas Vistas, San Pedro and Rancho Café.
Friday June 25, 2010
Trapping of cats
Upon arrival at the Centro de Salud of Cerro Azul, everything was set up
so operations could start from the moment cats were trapped.
Left: Ernesto trapped a cat by hand but has a scratch to show for it (he’s still smiling though).
Middle: Jessica preparing a cat trap. Right: Abril moving the cage to the location the cats are seen.
Saturday June 26, 2010
In the morning trapping continued. Left: Jessica and Nelson preparing a trap. Middle: children next to the traps with cats caught. Right: local children assisting the Spay volunteers (Kelsie, Marisol and Nelson) with trapping.
Left: Registration by Abi and Abril. Middle: Local police brought a stray dog. Right: Anesthesia by Alberto.
Operations on stray dogs, trapped cats and pets from local volunteers. Left: Ernesto. Second left: Dr. Augusto. A very short but well deserved break for some of the volunteers up in Altos de Cerro Azul before the blitz officially started.
Start of the blitz
Animals were weighed, registered and then received a tag.
Left: Siri observes the preparation of anesthesia. Center and right: the dogs and cats receive antibiotics and a painkiller, they are shaved and disinfected, and the dogs get a tattoo with the letter S (stands for “sterilized”).
Left: The animals get noted in the operation log by Geraldine (cat or dog, gender, name of the guardian or rescuer, weight, description, name of veterinarian perfoming the operation and any other observation the doctor wants included in the register). Right: Nirvana checking up on her Mum.
Sterilizations. Left: Dra. Gloria. Middle: Dra Raquel. Right: Dra. Letty.
Dra. Gloria also operated on a dog that was hit by a car.
After surgery, the animals get vitamins and dewormer, and their ears cleaned. Cats also receive a little nip of their ear instead of the “S” tattoo (easier recognizable). All dogs 3 months and older get a rabies vaccine. Left: Ligia and Marlen. Middle: Kelsie and Chino. Right: Special care by Marlen.
Left: Last step - sprayed against fleas and ticks. Right: Dogs waking up.
Left: Rebecca sterilizes the surgical instruments. Middle: Elena keeps everything clean and tidy.
Right: Jim providing transport.
Sunday 27 June, 2010
Left: Another dog heading for a better life. Middle: Registration. Right: A lady waiting with her cat in the kitchen until anesthesia kicks in.
Left: preparation for the operation. Middle and right: Sterilization.
Left: Post operation care. Middle: Animals waking up while their guardians are keeping an eye on them.
Right: Lunch being delivered by Gwen and Rachelle.
Stories
Left: on Saturday the man brought the dog and cat which are inseparable but the cat escaped. On Sunday the dog found the cat, and it was brought in (together with the dog) for its operation.
Right: A lady brought her three cats in a bird cage.
On Sunday, the 131st animal operated in the blitz, was also the
28,000th for Spay/Panama in total!
Left: Dr. Augusto operating with the assistance of Ronald. Right: The dog with her guardian.
After the blitz, some of the volunteers went up to Altos de Cerro Azul, to check out the waterfall.
Report
The Result:
In total 114 dogs and 27 cats were sterilized. Please note that we operated on feral cats and stray dogs as well as pets from low income families. In the community of San Pedro we reached more than 90% of the animals, which means that if there would be a (unwanted) litter, there is a good chance all animals will be placed. Sadly, three dogs were dropped off and abandoned there this weekend anonymously.
The Team:
The Spay Panama team was represented through veterinarians: Dr. Augusto, Dra. Gloria, Dra. Raquel, Dra. Letty and Ernesto (Universidad de Panama), and the following assistants: Elena, her cousin, Edwin y su esposa, Eli, Abril, Abi, and local children (local volunteers), Jessica, Kelsie, Siri (volunteers from the US and Norway), Alberto, Marlene, Nelson, Marisol, Ronald, Rebeca, Ligia, Geraldine, Nirvana, Kylie, Sandra, Sylvie and Pat.
Sandra and Sylvie went to the two local schools to inform the locals via the children of the need of sterilization. Geraldine, Nirvana and Kylie hung up the posters. Appointments were made by Eli and Suly. Transport was provided by Cholo, Jim R. and Jamie.
Food was provided by Sandra (dinner Friday night and lunch Saturday), Sylvie (dinner Saturday night) and Rachelle & Smitty, Greg & Bernardo, and Gwen (lunch Sunday).
Lodging was provided by Melo on Friday night and by Sandra on Saturday night. The team usually stays at the operations site but the Centro de Salud did not authorize for the team to stay there overnight.
We used dog cages from Greg and Bernardo, as well as the cat cage donated by Bill and Claudia.
Finances:
During the blitz $498 was collected. We also received donations from the Altos de Cerro Azul community (in time order): Sylvie and Norman, Raina, Sandra and Rene, Jim C., Paul, Marco and Cindy, Ron and Sue, Jody, Ulla, Joe and Bonny, Greg and Bernardo, John, Nirvana and Kylie, Bill and Claudia, Gwen, as well as donations through two contacts from Sandra, for a total of $1071.50. This brings the amount of money towards this blitz to $1569.50 or the equivalent of $11 per animal. As the operation on a cat costs $12 and on a dog $25, we were not able to break even.
On top there is a cost associated with transport, food/drinks etc. amounting for the Cerro Azul blitz to $654 carried by Patricia, Sylvie and Sandra.
What can you do?
We need your help to continue with these blitzes to reach low income communities, in order to stop the overpopulation causing a large number of animals to roam homeless, hungry and sick. Every dollar counts - please click here to make your contribution, or contact Spay/Panama at 261 5542 or doctor@spaypanama.org for donations in kind, or if you’d like to be part of our team. Thank you!