Pet Sterilization Clinics in Yucatan

Waiting for surgery, Chuburna

As we all know, there are hundreds if not thousands of dogs and cats wandering the towns and cities of the Yucatan. Groups have been formed to help them and some of the towns poison them. Sometimes they are shot at, tortured, or deliberately run over and left to die.

The animals suffer from mange, feline AIDS, rabies, and distemper. They carry worms and other parasites, not to mention millions of fleas, ticks and other opportunistic insects. Once in a while, some nice person snags one and restores it to health and miraculously, the animals usually make excellent, loyal pets.

The longer term solution though, is to restrict breeding of the feral and domestic animals. Toward that goal, an intrepid group of vets and techs descended on the area last week and held clinics in various locations in Merida as well as Progreso, Chuburna and Chelem.

We had the pleasure of participating in the spay and neuter clinics in several locations.

The campaign was lead by local vets from Planned Pethood Merida, a veterinary clinic on Technologico near Costco and their affiliate, Planned Pethood of Colorado. The international effort brought in vets and techs from other parts of Mexico and the US. Medications, syringes, solutions, and other supplies were all donated and hundreds of pets walked (staggered) out of the clinics in much better shape than when they came in. In one case, Dr. Terry Piak of San Diego found multiple tumors in one dog and laboriously removed them all.

Registration tent, UADY

We don’t have the final count yet, but around 1200 animals were sterilized at the various locations this past week.

The very first customer, UADY

A lot of us at the clinics were bemoaning the lack of good lighting, not having the best supplies, our own disorganization (to be expected in a big volunteer effort), and each other’s job performance. We are human. That’s what we do.

Then we went home to our computers and TVs and experienced the news about Haiti. Foreign governments sending supplies that they can’t unload from the ships because the docks are damaged and they have no cranes. Hundreds dying because there are no medicines. Bodies rotting under thousands of concrete structures because there’s no heavy machinery to clear the debris for rescuers. Volunteers flying in from all over the world who have little to work with. It’s hot and apparently the smell of rotting bodies is horrific.

At our clinic, we had pain killers. We had anaesthetic, surgery equipment, sterilization solutions, we could do basic surgery safely. We even innoculated the animals agains parasites and killed the ones they had. We gave everyone antibiotics to follow up the surgery.

We don’t have any point to make here. It’s a confusing world.

Assuming the position

At any rate, the sterilization clinics were a huge success. All of the local animal rescue and assistance volunteer organizations pulled it together and supplied volunteers and snacks. Volunteers kept all the records, admitted and weighed patients, and assisted the docs. We also had support from the veterinary school and a lot of students participated as surgical assistants. They also worked in the prep areas – injecting, shaving, and sterilizing the little beasties.

In Chuburna, a curious street dog came sniffing around the clinic and stayed a while. We leashed him up, and he left several hours later, much improved and somewhat lighter.

On the coast, it was fun to see campesinos arriving by beaten up tricicletas (bike cabs) carrying up to six animals. Most of the dogs had never been restrained before and probably won’t be again.

cabfull of pooches

more pooches

Julie Hart of Chelem, who works for the new Yucatan Coast Animal Aid group, explained to us that what her group would ultimately like to do is spay and neuter as many strays as possible, then restore them to health and find homes for them both here and in north America. Julie’s group was out in force to help the vets in Chelem and Chuburna. YCAA would like to expand to encompass the coast from Chuburna all the way east to Dzilam de Bravo. What a job! They’re looking for space for a shelter. Their website is under development. Meanwhile, you can leave messages for Julie in the Comments section at the end of this post.

Julie Hart

We spent three days at the veterinary college of UADY and received hundreds of patients there. Registration opened at 8 am and we had a steady stream until early evening. Many people had been scheduled ahead of time, but many hadn’t. The volunteers handled everything with a minimum of chaos. This was a great location where we could have up to eight surgeries going at once. And here, the school cat wandered in… She’ll have a more pleasant life now.

Dr, Antonio, UADY

Baja vet

The only vet on the island of Holbox was there, Dr. Luis Vega.

Dr. Luis Vega, Holbox

Also, Jeff Young, owner of Planned Pethood in Colorado, Drs. Tony Rios Perez del Valle, Lillian Ciliana Martin and Nelson Mis Auila from Planned Pethood in Merida, Dr. Jose Malaret from the Dominican Republic, Dr. Terry Piak from San Diego, and a number of vets from Baja and Guadelajara. Noticeably, there were no local vets besides the ones from Planned Pethood. Super volunteers included Craig Nelson from San Diego, who is with GIVE, Kim Morgan from Seattle (the injection lady), and Marie from San Diego.

Dr. Jeff Young, head of Pet Pethood, in Colorado

Dr. Jose from D.R.

Dr. Lillian and Kim the injection lady

Dr. Terry, San Diego

Volunteer organizations included Evolucion in Uman, AFAD Merida, Yucatan Coast Animal Aid on the Gulf coast, and Proteccione de Perros y Gatos of Progreso (Progreso Humane Society).

The effort received donations from Coke, Burger King, and other companies.

Recovery area, Chuburna

We’re sure we are leaving a lot of people and organizations out. If you send in more information in the Contact section below, we will add it to the body of this article.

Anxious pet owner in Chuburna

Anxious client