Thank You!!

The only way we can help the animals we help and have successful clinics is with the participation and support of our volunteers.

Our volunteers come from all walks of life. Some are veterinarians or veterinary technicians and many are just dedicated “animal people”. All contribute to our cause. This year I asked those coming from the Seattle area to carry supplies to Holbox. Everyone was willing to help. I believe everyone got stopped in customs and had to explain what they were bringing into Mexico.

Holbox is an amazingly beautiful island. It is the perfect vacation spot. The clinic days are not vacation days. We generally leave for the ferry by 7 or 8 AM. The buildings have to be transformed into clinics. It is often hot and dirty. The animals are covered in fleas and ticks. Surgery is difficult as animals are in poor condition and lighting is often minimal. We never know how many animals are going to show up or when. We work until all animals are altered.

Our volunteers were great. Everyone did an amazing job and was very professional. It became routine to think out of the box. The animals all received the best possible care under the circumstances.

Thank you Sherrie, Taylor, Marilyn, Mike, James, Andrea, Laura, Bridgett, Carole, Merilee, Ashley, Moon, Deb, Coley, Ed, Tony, Heraldo, Jessica, Luis, Nelson, Lillian, Morelia, Alejandra, Alejandro, Elia, Roddrigo, and everyone else invovled.

Delema

Many of the animals that are presented for surgery are in very bad condition. They are malnourished and have an abundance of parasites, external as well as internal. The puppies are often extremely anemic and protein deficient. If these animals were presented for surgery at a clinic in the US they would be treated for these problems before being allowed to undergo the stresses of anesthesia and surgery. Our dilemma here is that there are no other options for these animals. We are here now and only have this one opportunity to spay neuter. If the animals are not altered while we are here they will be contributing to the overpopulation problem. This is one of the harsh realities. I believe we must take the risk and alter every animal we can at our clinics. Last year one dog died post surgery. The dog was an older female that was pregnant. She recovered but died during the night. Her owner was a little boy and he was devastated as was everyone involved. This year we lost two puppies during surgery. Neither animal was a good surgical candidate. Both were small, anemic and parasite ridden. Everyone involved was greatly upset. The owners of these puppies had been explained the risk and accepted the deaths. We altered many puppies that we were very worried about that survived surgery. It is an extremely hard choice to make. The answer is to have more spay neuter available to these communities. If we could arrange for a DVM to be here 3 or 4 times a year these animals could receive treatment for parasites and be better surgical candidates. The animals could be treated for parasites and then be altered in a month. This is of course what I am trying to set up. We have left supplies on Holbox including suture, 30 surgical packs, clippers, scrub, sterile drapes, sterile gloves, syringes and medications so animals can be altered by any visiting veterinarian.

Holbox Clinic May 12

This sign was posted at Morelia's house the day of the clinic.

The check in area also provided space for animals to be examined before they entered the clinic grounds. Pets brought just for treatment of parasites were kept out of the clinic area.

Our prep area was outside under a blue tarp. As the day went on the wind blew and the tarp got lower and lower. We took the tarp down at dusk and continued to work well after dark.

Morelia's kitchen converted to surgery. Her pet raccoon, Vanezzio, watched surgery from a ledge under the ceiling. Vanezzio is the baby raccoon in the pictures from last year. He is now full grown and has been neutered. He is very active and into everything.

Moon, Laura and Carole in recovery. Recovery was in one of the bedrooms. The bed was moved out to the yard.

Prep in action. Bridgett on the left, Laura on the right.

Koki, the mayor, observing prep. It is so important to get the local governments involved in this project. Our way through customs could de made much easier with their participation. Koki was very supportive of our efforts and offered help. Our lunch was delivered by the police.

On Holbox we had a very long day. We altered 66 animals and treated over 130 for parasites. The reception area was so busy. Dr Tony and his team from Merida performed all of the exams and treated all of the animals for parasites. Animals kept arriving for surgery until 7:30 PM. Knowing this was their only chance to be altered this year we didn't want to turn any away.

Una Mas!

San Pedro

Clients waiting for us to get started at our San Pedro clinic.

Reception

Check in was in a separate building. Carole was very fluent in Spanish and could talk to the clients.

The building that was used in San Pedro was full of benches and was a meeting hall of some sort. The volunteers had to move benches outside before they could set up the clinic. Building was spacious and provided lots of room for everyone.

Our much used, much abused autoclave. Being able to sterilize the instruments gave a greater feeling of security for our surgeons. many projects use cold sterile methods. We prefer to steam sterilize. The autocalve after this day had major issues. Ed was able to repair it and it continued to work for the rest of the clinics.

San Pedro has a population of about 250 people and we were told there were over 50 dogs that needed altering. Not all animals came and some that did come were just too small to withstand the surgery so they were turned away. 34 animlas were altered in San Pedro.

Esperanza

Esperanza is a very small Mayan village. The main means of earning a living is by making and selling charcoal. A huge bag sells for 50 pesos, less than $4.

We had expected 10 dogs and had 34 presented for altering.

The building we were using as our clinic turned out to be a jail. The rooms had heavy doors made of bars.

The children had great smiles and were fascinated by what we were doing. They were given small pins with "Spay / Neuter" on them with a picture of cat in a nurses uniform. These were courtesy of Marilyn Christiansen, one of our doctors.

Our gracious hosts allowed the children to finish our lunch. That brought smiles all around. These little ones were all fluent in Mayan and Spanish. Some could even speak a little English.

The animals were delivered and picked up in whatever was available. Cats were often carried in open bags which made for an interesting time after surgery. We over used the cliche "don't let the cat out of the bag!"

We were told that the people were very curious about what we were doing. There has never been a clinic in this area to perform spay neuter for these animals. We were very well recieved and I believe we will be able to build on this next year.

Update

Our clinics have been going very well. So far we have held clinics in Holbox, Kantunilkin, Chiquila, San Pedro and Esperanza. Sunday was to be a day off but there were cats that were trapped so Dr. Nelson, Dr. Lilliana and Dr. Luis Heroldo altered 13 cats. Each site is unique and offers its own challenges. Tomorrow for our last day we will all stay on Holbox and take care of the animals from the island. We have altered 180 animals in our clinics. It is amazing what a community effort these clinic are. I will add a review of each clinic as soon as I can. We have been working such long hours that it is hard to spend much time trying to write. The autoclave has become a little unhappy so we are having to coax it along. This takes time, energy and patience! Tonight we are trying to trap small black cat that has been around Casa Iguana. I think everyone will be happy to stay on Holbox tomorrow.

Chiquila

Our transportation to the clinic site

Our clinic site - a school

School before we transform it to a clinic.

Prep Area

Surgery, note the faces at the window

Recovery

The ferry for Holbox leaves from the little village of Chiquila. There are many fisherman and small boats used as private launches to Holbox. The pictures above show our clinic space that was a local school. This building worked great for our clinic. We had three separate rooms so we could keep our admit, surgery and prep areas separate. Recovery was able to share the room with prep. As at all of the clinics the children line the windows to watch the us. They are fascinated by our care of the animals. There were only 20 dogs presented for altering in Chiquila. We had expected many more but after the previous day didn't mind an easy day.

Off to Chiquila

We were up at 6AM, got the autocalving done and supplies pack for todays clinic in Chiquila. The whole group will be there as that is the only clinic today. Many animals in Chiquila. Have to catch an 8:30 boat. More tonight.

Happy Anniversary!!

Ed and I are celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary today. And celebrate we did. As my last post mentioned we were up early to start our clinics. We had a great day. In Holbox the clinic was not advertised and the goal was free roaming cats. A few cats were brought to us in traps which we had left on the island. One cat that was trapped didn't need surgery and was saved the risks of anesthesia because he had an ear tip. That is so great, an ear tip on Holbox! Morelia has trapped, ear tipped and altered cats since our last clinic. Only 17 animals today on Holbox, but clinics are planned on Holbox again on Monday. Kantunikin was a very full long clinic. Sixty three animals were altered to day in Kantunilkin. Mainly we altered female dogs. I believe there were 4 cats and 4 or 5 male dogs. Wow! A long day for our 3 veterinarians. Last dog was off the table at about 8:30 PM. Over 12 hours of surgery were performed and 80 animals altered. Many animals were presented to the clinic just for treatment of mange, fleas and parasites. In addition to the medical treatments animals went home decked out in new collars and leads. The smiles on the faces were ear to ear. As usual we had many children watching us and asking questions. A truly great day.
Tonight our dear friends Alejandro and Elia of the Tarpon Club had the whole group for a very late dinner on the beach. Fresh ceviche, guacamole as appetizers, then fried sea trout, rice, black beans and salad. A true feast, topped off with a delicious cake. Thank you Elia and Alejandro.

Underway

Our first day of clinics is underway. We just delivered volunteers and supplies to the dock for the trip to Kantunilkin. The majority of the group will go to Kantunilkin as there are many animals in need of altering. I will stay here on Holbox with Dad and the doctors from Merida. Once they are familiar with the anesthesia I will head for Kantunilkin. Time to start, more later.

More Fun With Aduana

Yesterday Dr. Taylor, Dr. Marilyn, Moon, Laura, Andrea and Bridgett all arrived. Marilyn was the only one that had problems in customs. Customs confiscated all of the rabies vaccines, all of the flea products and all of the deworming products. What they allowed through with various people seems totally random. They started out telling Marilyn that they would charge her duty for the donated collars and leads- $2 per leather collar and $1 per nylon collar. Once they got involved confiscating all of the vaccine and flea product they decided that it wasn't necessary to charge duty. Truly seems like who is in charge when you go through customs is what is important not what you are bringing through. The officials were aware that there was a list and Marilyn's name was listed. So Morelia today on top of everything else has to go back to Cancun and get the confiscated items from customs.

Coatimundi

Last year when we first started to organize this project Morelia asked if we could alter raccoons. There are many raccoons on the island and they eat the sea turtle eggs. Wisely my vets declined. This year there is a tame coatimundi that needs to be neutered. Dr. Marilyn is game so we will do it. I understand from Dr. Kamaka, an exotic specialist in Kirkland, that our anesthetic procedure will be fine. Should be interesting!

Meeting

We came home from dinner tonight to a message on our door that we had a meeting at the alcalde at 8:30. Morelia and Alejandra wanted to inform the mayor, Koki, of the clinics and enlist his support. We met with him for about 30 minutes. He was very supportive and offered any help that we needed. I think we are official now!!

More good news tonight as our first volunteers Dr. Sherrie, Mike and Carole arrived with all their supplies. They were pretty loaded down as they were bringing supplies from volunteers that had decided not to come due to the flu scare. Everything came through customs without a problem except for boxes of donated outdated antibiotics.

Missy Young from Animal Talk was unable to join us this year but she collected and sent down collars and leads for the dogs. Dogs will be given a new collar to wear home after their surgery. Thank you Missy!

Planning

I just spent an hour with Morelia. She has been talking to the various villages. Everyone is so anxious for us to come and help. We will be going to Holbox, Chiquila, Solferino, Kantunilkin, San Pedro and Esperanzo. Two more villages than last year. They estimate in San Pedro, a village of 200 people, there are 50 dogs that need altering. I always begin to worry at this point that I didn't bring enough supplies. I know we will have plenty of suture and flea control thanks to a very generous donation . I always worry about other supplies and anesthetic agents. We will do as many animals as possible.

It's Here!!

Our dear friend Alejandro Vega invited us for dinner tonight at his house. As I left Casa Iguana I told Freddie that Morelia might bring our supplies and to put them in Casa Principal, our home in Holbox. We came home to our supplies! Yea. What a great surprise. It looks like everything came through without any problem. Tomorrow we will reassemble the autoclave and start organizing our supplies. We hope to set up clinics in two locations each day. This means I will have to have two cases packed with everything needed. For the last 5 days I have done nothing except lay in the sun and read. Tomorrow I get to start organizing for the clinics. This is great!

No News

We believe Morelia went to Cancun today as she could not go yesterday. So far no news if she was successful retrieving our supplies. We are keeping our fingers crossed. More as soon as we have news.