We Have An Autoclave!!

Dave Shipe, General Manager of Les Wilkins and Associates, donated an electric autoclave to the Holbox Spay Neuter Project. No more using the pressure cooker on a hot plate at midnight to prepare for the next days clinic. No more burning of instruments in a heat only sterilizer. No more cancellation of surgeries due to a lack of sterile packs. Thank you Dave and Les Wilkins.

Time to plan 2009

It is time to start planning next year’s Holbox clinic. I am tentatively planning the first week of May for the clinic. April might be cooler but April is high or middle season and May is low. Also Easter is in April this year and that is a busy time in Mexico. So it is looking like May again.

This next year I hope to:

• Increase the number of animals treated


• Have teams alternate days (1 or 2 days of surgery, 1 day off)


• Encourage technicians to accompany vets


• Target free roaming cats on Holbox


• Try to treat for parasites and erhlichia before clinic


• Better utilization of volunteers


• Purchase autoclave


• Better stock of basics (syringes, fluids, antibiotics)


• Purchase trach tubes for clinic to be left with supplies on Holbox


• Again provide basic veterinary care and surgery for surrounding Mayan communities

I will plan on using same anesthetic protocol.
Flea / tick control and rabies vaccines will be given.
Everyone will be responsible for their own expenses again.
Morelia will be our contact person. She is a vital asset to the success of the clinics.

Funding is an issue. Expenses last year were over $4000 (many items were left on Holbox and will be used this year) and so far I have received $2690 in donations. This year expenses should be considerably less assuming the suture and supplies left on Holbox are still usable (I expect them to be as long as there isn’t a hurricane!). I had hoped to be able to purchase instruments to be left on Holbox but I don’t see how that will happen this year. I haven’t pursued a 501c3 status. I would really like to become a “chapter” of a existing group rather than set up another 501c3. I’m not sure this will work but seems like the easiest (and cheapest) approach right now. There is another group Spayucatan (www.spayucatan.org) that is active on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula that I have recently contacted.

Please offer any advice or help that you can.

Great Volunteers

It is definitely time to say thank you to all our volunteers. This picture was taken after the clinic in Kantunilkin on Sunday. Unfortunately some people had already left and are not pictured.
So THANK YOU all. Our veterinarians: Kate Schubert, Sherry Crow, Marilyn Christensen, Kimberly Dauphin, Melanie deHaan, Antonio Rios, Dr Eddie from Tiziman; our technicians Caitlin Schreiner, Abbie DeLeers and Angie; all our assistants: John (translator extraordinaire), Natasha Zweig(translator extraordinaire), Missy Young, Alex, Anna, Ashley Eastway, Harriet Johnson (instrument diva!!), Thad DeLeers, Liz, Ed and Coley Aldrich. Our contacts in Mexico were Morelia Montes, Gabby, Gloria, and Roddrigo. Our good friends, Elia and Alejandro Vega of the Tarpon Club, were who we emailed anytime we were panicking before the clinic. There is no way this clinic would have run as smoothly as it did without each and everyone who helped. Thank you!!!

Disclaimer

Isla Holbox Spay/Neuter project is not associated with Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project. I am the clinic director for Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project and I pattened the Holbox clinic after FCS/NP but there is no association between the two. Just didn't want there to be any confusion on that point.

People do care

I have heard it said many times that animals are not cared for in Mexico. I can truly say that the owners we met do care greatly for their animals. The problem is there are NO OPTIONS for care. There are no veterinarians in this area. The closest veterinarian is 1½ hours away. To control population animals are poisoned or puppies and kittens are killed at birth. This is not done out of cruelty. These people have no options. People want to do what is humane. We can and must provide them with options. We will make a huge difference in this area by providing basic medical care and spay neuter services.

Due to the generosity of our donors and volunteers we were able to alter 151 animals in 3 days. We treated many animals for parasites (internal and external) and gave rabies vaccines. At least one broken leg was set and a number of animals were treated for other issues. Supplies and medications were sent to Playa del Carmen for the altering of beach cats and kittens at Peanuts Animal Shelter. Supplies were also left on Holbox for future spay neuter clinics.

I believe this to be a very successful first endeavor. There will be another clinic next spring if not before. I am currently trying to figure out how to do more. I will be trying to secure 501c3 status this next year. I believe the ideal situation in these remote areas would be a mobile unit for surgery. Animals were not transported to us in cars but were carried, led or came on modified tricycles. There are so many little villages that need spay neuter to come to them. The areas that we set up surgery in were very basic. If we had a surgery unit that had surgery table(s), gas anesthesia, an autoclave and heating/air conditioning we could do so much in the remote areas. This is my goal.

Playa del Carmen - Help Needed

On April 14th I received the following Email:

Hi Kim:
By a common friend in the island of Holbox, Morelia Montes, I got word that you will be traveling to the island to perform volunteer veterinary services in the community. She recommended you and took the liberty to give me your name and address. Maybe you might help us.
We live in Playa del Carmen, in Playacar, and we have a growing community of stray beach cats that wander around and are friendly to some of us. We are trying to neuter them, vaccine them and make aids tests (some have tasted positive), but there are lots of them, it´s too expensive because there aren´t enough volunteers to raise funds to cover these costs. We do have competent vets, but too many homeless cats. And we definitely want to have a healthy and controlled population. Because we love cats, and because we want to preserve our environment.

Would you be willing to come to Playa del Carmen when you come to Holbox? In such case, what do you need, and how many people in your party? Where would you perform the operations? etc. We will do our best to provide with whatever you need.
We are looking forward to hear from you and would appreciate your help very very much.

Thank you in advance, for this favor.

Sincerely,
Nelly.

How do you reply to such a plea? "No" has never been a word that I use in regards to animals in need. So I said I would work on this request. What I finally came up with was for me to send extra supplies to the group to help them alter the beach cats and care for the kittens in Peanuts Animal Shelter. I had originally planned to travel to Playa and take supplies. That evolved into Morelia connecting with them after my departure and delivering supplies. I believe they will also get our drugs that were confiscated in customs.

So today I received this email:
Dear Edson, Kim, and all the staff of feral cat project:

I want to thank you, in the name of the volunteer cat rescue team of Playa del Carmen, for your generous support in Playa del Carmen. Kim left a boz if important supplies for us in Holbox, plus a good amount of medication that will help us operate about 100 cats. With the help of two veterinarias who will be working for free, and the trapping and transport that Kelley and Laura will do, we will surely (in the long run)have a healthier and controlled population. Morelia also offered to lend us a couple of traps, which will make the catch easier.
We hope that in the future you can come and visit us in Playa del Carmen, where we are still offering you our home.
We heard that your clinic in the area of Holbox was a success.
Congratulations! You deserve all our respect. With such works, you will definitely save the planet.
Thank you again, and have a wonderful day.
Nelly and Ivan, Kelley and David, Laura, Claudia, Morelia, and volunteers.
Thank

This is so great. We need to help local groups alter animals. The need is so great and PEOPLE WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING. THOSE THAT CAN MUST PROVIDE OPTIONS!!

Sunday

I decided Sunday we needed a later start. What I hadn't realized was how long it would take us to get to Kantunilkin and get organized. Consequently we didn't start surgery till close till noon. We had decided to only alter males due to a lack of drugs and sterile packs. There were only 14 dogs requiring altering before lunch. We inventoried supplies and packs and decided after lunch we could alter 5 females and 10 males. We had a great lunch in a nice restaurant in Kantunilkin. Dr. Eddie joined us and brought coconut ice cream. What a treat!! After lunch there were only 4 dogs waiting for surgery. 18 animals altered but 25 total seen and treated for fleas, sarcoptic mange or given rabies vaccines. An easy day for all. Headed back to Holbox during daylight and in time for a nice dinner.

Saturday

Saturday the group headed for Solferino. Dr. Kate and I stayed on Holbox to alter cats. We had two cats delivered to us in pillow cases. The kitchen counter in our unit at Casa Iguana served perfectly as a surgery table. Both kitties were female and some what tame. Surgery went well and when the kitties were recovered Kate and I headed for the ferry to join the group in Solferino. We missed the ferry so hopped a small boat across laguna and took a taxi from Chiquila to Solferino. The clinic was set up in the ejido building. Check in was in the adjacent town square and recovery was next door to the ejido building. There was plenty of room for everyone!! 50 animals were altered in Solferino plus the 2 cats on Holbox. Not a bad day. Got back to Holbox late and faced preparing packs for Sunday. We were out of xylazine for the TKX cocktail (still no drugs fron customs) so decided to just alter males on Sunday in Kantunilkin. Suggested a later start as everyone was pretty tired after two days.

Friday Clinics

Morelia Montes is the go to person on Holbox when an animal needs help. She was our community contact and organized the clinics here in Mexico. She spent many hours explaining the need for spay neuter to the local communities and recruiting volunteers to help us. On Holbox without advertising she had 60 animals signed up for surgery. She asked for 5 teenagers to help at the clinics and got 45. These kids were organized to provide all types of support for us. They collected towels from the local hotels, made sandbags, trapped cats on Holbox, cleaned instruments during the clinic, and provided help in many ways. They seemed to enjoy helping and were very interested in what we were doing with the animals.

Friday morning May 17 we were scheduled to hold surgery in Holbox and Chiquila. Half of our group left for Chiquila on the 7 AM ferry. It was soon discovered that the only xylazine was in Chiquila. Luckily there is now cell phone service on the island and a phone call soon had some xylazine coming to Holbox. We set up our clinic in a small house on the main road from the port. The house served our needs well. Quarters were somewhat tight with 3 surgery tables but very adequate. We had a bathroom, a refrigerator and kitchen area for cleaning instrumants. Our patients were admitted and waited for surgery on the covered porch area. We had a number of dogs and cats waiting for us in the morning. Once we got started the day went very smooth. Morelia had arranged for fresh fruit and yogurt at 10 AM and there was a big cooler (provided by Tarpon Club) full of drinking water. At the end of the day we were treated to a delicious fish lunch at a local restaurant

Thanks to a donation from Missy Young of Animal Talk Rescue we brought down and left on the island 10 cat traps. The kids trapped and brought us cats all day. They were so excited when they arrived at the clinic with the cats. We were able to alter all animals presented. We altered 46 on Holbox Friday.

The group that went to Chiquila had a much different experience. They were in a school building that was quite large but needed quite a bit of set up. I will try to get someone from the Chiquila group to outline the day. 33 animals were altered in Chiquila.

I was very pleased with how the first day of clinics ran. Our animals all recovered well and went home without apparent issues. The caretakers were very thankful for our services.

Quick Update

I had planned to update every day after each clinic. Of course that didn´t happen. We typically arrived back on Holbox exhausted, dirty, hot and faced getting the next clinic organized. So no time to blog. The clinics went amazingly well. We altered about 150 animals in three days of clinics. That of course did not scratch the surface. Perhaps the most important aspect of the clinics was the introduction of spay neuter to small villages. We were very well received. People want to do the right thing by their pets. They must be presented with opportunities and options.

Holbox is experiencing an unusually hot May. Every day it has been at least 90. This made conditions very difficult for all volunteers from the northern climates! I want to thank every one involved with the project. Every person who came contributed. Thank you. I will recap each clinic in more detail soon.

Worries Justified

Monday night after a very busy day at the FCSNP clinic we left for Holbox via Maiami. Had an uneventful flight. We flew Alaska Air to Miami and everyone was very nice. I had weighed and rearranged luggage until I was overweight on only one bag. Unfortunatly my scale did not agree with the Alaska scale and we were over weight in 3 bags. Customer service was fantastic and we were only charged for one bag. Thank you Alaska Air!! We arrived in Cancun on time, went through immigration and onto customs. As bad luck would have it they were checking all bags via xray. Our bags went through, stopped, reversed, went back through and got pulled. I was asked if I had medicines in the bags and I answered yes. We were informed that everything was going to be searched and confiscated. A very nice man from SARGARPA came and asked me to show all medictions. I pulled out everything he inspected it and confiscated all injectable meds. So good by to Propofol, atropine, ivermectrine, yobine, xylazine, antibiotics, lidocaine. The official was very apologetic and went to his superior but they insisted all be impounded. He gave me the information to apply for proper import papers from Mexico City. The irony of this is that after our group went through they stopped using the xray machine to expediate the process of entry. Major bad luck!!

So plan b is under way. Drugs are being replaced by Dr. Tony and paper work is being submitted to retrieve our drugs.

Have had a very productive day organzing details with Morelia. Melanie , John, Angie and Natasha are here and helping. John and Natasha are great translators!!

More later.

Border worries

I have been optimistic about getting our supplies into Mexico. An email Wednesday warned me that our supplies might be confiscated at the border. Panic!! I have spent the day calling and visiting US Customs and trying to gather information for Mexican customs. I am happy to report that I have made headway and think all will be well.

I want to thank MWI Veterinary Supply for the donations they made to the project. MWI has been a big supporter of Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project. When I called Bob Piovesan and told him about the Mexico plans he immediately offered supplies. This has been a great help. Thank You Bob and MWI!!

Tomorrow finish packing, autoclaving and paperwork.

ISLA HOLBOX
Spay/Neuter Project



For several years we have been visiting Isla Holbox, a remote island 150km NW of Cancun. It has been a goal to sponsor a Spay/ Neuter clinic on Holbox. While visiting over Christmas the clinic began to take shape.

On May 16, 17, and 18, 2008 my dream becomes a reality. A group of veterinarians and technicians will participate in a free Spay/Neuter clinic for the dogs and cats of Holbox and surrounding communities in Quintana Roo. Our goal is to help alleviate the overpopulation problem in a humane manner. The nearest veterinarian is 1½ hours away and will join us. Pet overpopulation has often been dealt with by poisoning unwanted animals.

Ed, Dad and I leave Monday night for Isla Holbox. Many loose ends to attend to before then. Tomorrow a trip to customs to make sure all paperwork is in order. Weekend will be filled with packing and consolidating equipment and supplies.