A Day at the Clinic
Yesterday Nancy and I volunteered at the local spay and neuter clinic. Its mission is to provide low cost spaying and neutering of dogs and cats in the Boquete area and to promote the general welfare of the animals. There used to be a substantial amount of stray animals in the area and town itself; packs of stray dogs and feral cats roaming the streets with no access to care or sterilization. There are far fewer strays now than there used to be but the work goes on. There is a lot more information on the website: https://www.aadab.org/ I can’t say enough good things about the founders and volunteers of this organization; they are all just splendid people. Nancy and I live here now and we want to help our community and this is one of the ways we have chosen to do that.
So we decided to volunteer. The day before we had attended a brief orientation and training session but we were still unprepared for the actual clinic. We arrived at 7:30 in the morning and the parking lot was full and there was a line of owners and their pets going around the building waiting their turn for spaying and neutering! There were a lot of people volunteering to make this all work. There was a kitchen set up to feed the volunteers and provide snacks and refreshments for the owners, there was a intake area, a space where ten or so operating tables were set up and a recovery area. We were amazed but we were quickly put to work. I was to help at the intake – I helped weigh the animals, hold them still enough for the anesthesia, mark their tags with their weight and dose of medication, and line them up for the actual surgery. There were large dogs, small dogs, medium sized dogs, dogs with owners, stray dogs, cats in pet carriers, stray cats brought in in traps; just an amazing quantity of animals. And the animals were all understandably nervous and jumpy. It was hard work: getting the animals to hold still on the scales and holding them for the anesthetic injections, and lining them up for the next step. Some of the cats were too hard to control and had to be put in bags; cats don’t like being put in bags and between their teeth and claws they made it as difficult as possible! Nancy worked in the recovery area with the large dogs (we are both “dog” people no doubt). She moved them, checked their temperature, and helped them recover from the anesthesia, and got them ready to go back to their owners. Very hard work but very rewarding! We made it to the early afternoon when my back could not take any more bending and lifting, and Nancy was sore from the waist down from spending the day moving large dogs around on the floor. By the time we left close to two-hundred animals and been attended to and there seemed to be no end of the flow!
So that’s how we spent out day yesterday in Panamá. We are both still sore from the experience but we will be back to do this again soon!
Saludos, Craig