Past Clinics, A History of PATA Spay/Neuter Clinics
Volume Clinic, Santiago, 2009
Casa Ejidal, Santiago
15 November, 2009
PATA held a 3-day MASH-style Fall clinic with our trusty Mexico City vet friends, from November 13-15. We tested a new site location at the Casa Ejidal in Santiago. There's a huge need for animal population control in Santiago so we were very excited at the opportunity to make an impact there.
Spay/Neuter Clinic, 2009
The 4th annual spay/neuter clinic at the Casa Ejidal in Salagua from March 27-31, 2009 was another resounding success with 281 animals receiving the surgeries free of charge.
A huge thanks to our dedicated volunteer staff of expats and local Manzanillenses, who showed incredible perseverence, commitment, energy and love to help ensure all animals were cared for and the clinic operations ran smoothly.
Our local vet, Dr. Gaby Leyva, was an inspiration as always showing the compassion, resolve and focus that has helped PATA have such a positive affect on the community. We could not have accomplished our goals without the steadfast support of Dr. Yolanda and Dr. Esther from Mexico City.
This was our BIGGEST clinic yet -- with a record breaking 67 surgeries performed on Saturday alone -- however the work load was manageable thanks to everyone who pitched in working double shifts and staying longer than expected.
Dr. Yolanda will remain in Manzanillo until the first week in May, so there will likely be another mini-clinic or two in the next month to finish whatever animals did not receive surgeries this time around.
Mobile Mini-Clinic Blitz, 2008
Our team led by Las Brisas vet Dr. Gaby Leyva and Dr. Yolanda Hernandez from Mexico City successfully completed 100 spay and neuter surgeries in 4 needy neighborhoods in a 5-day pre-Christmas mini-clinic blitz that helped push PATA Manzanillo over the hump of 1,000 spay/neuter surgeries completed in just three years!
Neighborhoods benefiting from the holiday goodwill were: Las Brisas (14 animals done), Colomos (50+ animals done), Campos (22 animals done) and Centro Alameda (20+ animals done).
Many thanks to Sylvia, Bianca, Nadia Padilla, Chris Tracy, MJ Feroglia and Stan Burnett, without whose faithful, energetic and quiet commitment made the long days possible.
Campos Mini, 2008
Our third one-day "mini-clinic" was a success this past Sun. Nov. 30, 2008 in Colonia Campos, past the Manzanillo power plant. Dr. Gaby completed 23 surgeries with the help of a Tecoman university veterinary student (under her supervision) and a fleet of energetic volunteers, both Mexican and expat, including five Campo Verde secondary school students.
We will host a series of PRE-CHRISTMAS CLINICSDec. 19-22, 2008 to finish the work in this and other needy neighborhoods, with one of our favorite Mexico City surgeons, Dr. Yolanda Hernandez, who comes each March to assist and teach at our massive spay/neuter clinic and is an integral part of the PATA team. Volunteers should rendezvous at Dr. Gaby's clinic in Las Brisas at 9:30 am and we will have rides out to the sites.
Tentative schedule is:
-Dec. 19 -- Las Brisas at Dr. Gaby's clinic
-Dec. 20-21 -- Colomos
-Dec. 22 -- Campos at Casa de Tercer Edad
Colonia Alameda Mini, 2008
We had a spectacular "PATA mini-campaign" this past Sunday, May 18 in Colonia Alameda, Proyecto #4 in downtown Manzanillo. Since it was our first effort we ended up starting late in the day after relocating to a last-minute home offered by a neighbor of the family that initially called us seeking spay/neutering assistance.
In total, 14 animals were done -- 10 cats (5 male, 5 female) and 4 dogs (3 male, 1 female), the majority of which were feral and/or street animals without formal owners. We were very pleased by the turnout and support from the neighbors. We were able to utilize spare medicine, suture material, anesthesia, antibiotics, etc from our March clinics so we had ZERO extra costs to pull this one off.
Thanks to the "bare bones" team of Dr. Gaby, Nadia Padilla, Diana Viramontes, Ernesto, Gustavo (vet students), Mary (Gaby's mom) and MJ Feroglia. What a greatly efficient team!
High-Volume Clinics, 2008
PATA Manzanillo hosted two exciting intensive spay/neuter clinics in 2008.
The first was an intensive four-day training seminar Feb. 28 to Mar. 3 granted to local veterinarians by the Rural Animal Veterinary Services (RAVS) branch of the International Humane Society. This free course focused exclusively on technique, as well as provide our local veterinarians with U.S.-based knowledge and skills necessary to raise the level of pet care in Manzanillo. Teaching clinic topics involved surgery, anestheisa, pain management, sterile technique, humane euthanasia, emergency procedures, and trapping and feral work.
SET UP DAY: The RAVS vets have arrived safely and are rarin' to go. We set up all the amazing equipment they brought down and prepped the clinic site for the next five days of surgeries and demos.
DAY ONE: Off to a great start with around 20 vet students, practicing veterinarians and two vet school profs showing up this morning for the RAVS teaching clinic. We spayed/neutered 26 animals today, too, including a sweet old female ex-street dog named Viejona.
DAY TWO: A day chock full of cats, thanks to one family who reportedly have more than 40 cats in their home in El Naranjo. The vets were busy dealing with some emergency cases, including a chihuahua with a heart murmer, a "failure-to-thrive" young kitten, and a return visit from Viejona. Lots of hands-on surgeries by senior vet students, monitored by RAVS staff. We spayed/neutered around 30 animals.
DAY THREE: Lecture day was a great success! Lots of topics of importance were covered, including the need for accurate and thorough physical exams, diagnosis, trauma treatment, shock, pain management, humane euthanasia and other useful tips. More interaction from vet students and professors, as well as some local vets who paired up with RAVS vets to spay/neuter around 15 animals.
DAY FOUR: White fluffy dog day. Lots of case loads that kept everyone on their toes. We had some great involvement from the local vets and students, and capped off the spay/neuters at 30.
DAY FIVE: A wonderful last day to what has become a hugely successful first teaching clinic in Manzanillo! So much support from the local community, as well as veterinary community, has convinced Dr. Susan Monger there is much to be done in the future. Around 13 surgeries done today but a wealth of knowledge emparted on all....
Our third annual volume clinic kicked off March 12-16, 2008 , providing free spaying and neutering in mass quantity to pets of low income families. As always, 100 percent of PATA Manzanillo's fundraising efforts are dedicated to purchasing supplies, anethesia, and medication to fund the clinics, which so far have seen almost 900 animals receive complimentary surgeries in just three years.
Clinic Wrap-Up
All our supporters, friends and volunteers derve an enormous pat on the back for helping us achieve 313 free surgeries in these two clinics! Despite the focus on teaching and the slower pace of the first clinic, we managed 114 surgeries, and the pace picked up last week with our annual PATA spay/neuter volume clinic, with 199 dogs and cats receiving surgeries. We have also had the fortune of welcoming in a growing "visiting vet" volunteers, with a returning contingent from Maryland, USA (Dr. Janet, Laurie, Sandy and Patty) and Dr. Lori from Edmonton, AB on board. Five vets from three different countries on the tables working side by side to support the Manzanillo local community was a complete joy to see!
On a whole, we saw a HUGE improvement in the condition of the animals brought in, and a slight increase in the number of male animals getting neutered. Combining both clinic numbers, 191 dogs received surgeries, a third of them male and double the number of female dogs receiving hysterectomies. Of 122 cats, however, we were pleasantly surprised by a leveling off of the numbers, with only slightly more females than tomcats. We are making progress!
We also were lucky to have the cooperation of the municipality, who loaned us a truck and staff person to help round up street animals, of which we did more than 25. As always, all animals were given rabies vaccines courtesy of the Centro de Salud and dogs received polyvalente "five step" vaccines that guard against distemper, influenza, lukemia amoung other deadly canine diseases.
Since RAVS provided their own anesthesia, medication and supplies, we had reduced costs on our second clinic and thanks to generous donations from the community at several collection sites, we managed to complete the 199 surgeries with a budget of 15,000 pesos, or roughly 75 pesos a surgery or $7 USD. Using anesthesia, suture and other supplies purchased by PATA, Dr. Gaby Leyva will continue throughout the year providing the free surgeries to pets of families in need at zero cost at her Las Brisas clinic..... As PATA's official vet, she provides her services "pro bono", donating her time to the cause of "less street animals"..... we hope to soon have a few more local vets such as Dr. Gil Arana, Dr. Gustavo Murillo and Dr. De la Pena also providing this community service using PATA-purchased meds.
Thanks again for all your support during these two clinics and the fundraising efforts to help us achieve these clinics. The number of free surgeries provided by PATA Manzanillo has now grown to 800 in the past three years, and we hope to reach the 1,000th surgery this year with mini-clinics held in low income neighborhoods such as El Naranjo, El Centro and downtown Manzanillo in cooperation with other local vets who came out and learned with the RAVS vets.
High Volume Clinic, 2007
PATA Manzanillo collaborated with Fundacion Haghenbech, a Mexico City-based organization dedicated to offering free spaying and neutering clinics around the country to host a second annual clinic in Manzanillo, March 25-29, 2007. It was a huge success with 218 dogs and cats receiving free surgeries from our team of expert veterinarians in just five days.
The Manzanillo clinic capped off a month-long Pacific Coast initiative which binds together communities starting in Sayulita/Bucerias (north of Puerto Vallarta) under the direction of Molly Fisher and her Mexico Animals organization (Mar. 3-16), La Manzanilla and Julie Wagner's Cisco's Amigos group (Mar. 19-22), and lastly, PATA Manzanillo.
Participating veterinarians included Yolanda and Esther, the two Hagenbach Foundation vets from Mexico City, Dr. Janet Van Horne from Maryland, Dr. Gilberto Arana from Salahua, and Manzanillo's most dedicated vet, Dra Gaby.
In the final tally, the majority of animals were female: nearly six times more female dogs were done than males (113 female dogs; 19 male dogs) and more than three times more female cats were done than tomcats (66 female cats; 20 male cats). All animals were dewormed, given free rabies vaccines courtesy of the Centro de Salud, and dogs received complimentary distemper shots.
The value of the surgeries topped 106,200 pesos ($10,500 US). The PATA Manzanillo clinic provided them with a budget of less than 30,000 pesos ($3,000 US).
Counting in the 127 animals from last year's campaign and the operations done throughout the year at Dr. Gaby's private clinic, PATA Manzanillo has helped bring nearly 500 free operations to animals in need, greatly reducing the number of "throw-away" dogs and cats that are turned out into the streets of Manzanillo.
We also must thank the wonderful support of FMAS, which contributed 5,000 pesos to the cause, and the local restaurants who provided tasty meals to fuel the volunteers: Juanito's, Monkey's Fried Chicken, Senor Sushi, El Fogon, El Caribe, Pedro's Cazuela Grill, K'amelia's, Cabanas de Don Andres and Manos Morenas. A big thank you also to Lisa Martinez from La Posada Rosa hotel in Las Brisas for hosting the vets for the second year running - PATA Manzanillo's official host of the veterinarians!
