PROYECTO MARIA CHIQUITA

(Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown)

One of the major concerns of Spay/Panama program is how to reach  the street animals in the most humane and effective way.  In our facilities we can handle the five-day post-op care of female feral cats but unfortunately can not do the same for the stray dogs.   This meant that all rescuers/feeders of street dogs had to handle the post-op, which in turn meant, that only a low number of street dogs were assisted.  Keeping the cats so long is also a heavy burden for the staff.

On March 19, 2006, Dr. René Guajardo visited Spay/Memphis and they mentioned the stainless steel suture.  The metal suture is the preferred sutured used in low-cost-high-volume spay/neuter clinics in the United States because:  (1) animals have no reaction to it at all and suture never has to be removed, (2) it provides a secure closure so animals can be released the same day, and (3) its low cost.

Subsequent to the visit, Spay/USA sent us a DVD of Dr. W. Marvin Mackie's Quick Spay, which shows the use of stainless steel suture.
 
Spay/Panama invited Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown, who trained with Dr. Mackie and has been using the metal sutures for years, to come to Panama on May 6-14, 2006 to train the veterinarians on the use of stainless steel suture.

Dr. Isis shows the Quick Spay method to local vets
All the surgeries were done with stainless steel suture and supervised by Dr. Isis

Spay/Panama will adopt the use of metal suture in most surgeries and will drop the post-op care to 48 hours.  When our level of confidence goes up we may reduce the post-op to 24 hours.  

Armed with a new technique, we got in touch with Maria De Los Angeles in María Chiquita, located in the Atlantic coast of Panama, who had contacted us sometime ago to help the animals of the town.  115 animals were sterilized on May 12-13, 2006, including many homeless animals (75 dogs and 40 cats).

4th Grade of Maria Chiquita School was invited to come see the sterilizations and to learn why their pets should be sterilized and explained about humane treatment of animals