First Sterilization Clinic

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First off before I go into this wonderful event that I was lucky to be part of I want to thank the following C.E.O Mexico for transportation to and from the clinic, Air Transat for flying me to Cancun Mexico, CANDi International for letting me be part this wonderful event, VIDAS for their hard work in successfully spaying and neutering the animals. I also need to thank Sea Adventure & Royal/ Grand Solaris for the wonderful accommodations and at such a great price!

This past week I headed down to Cancun Mexico to help out with a free sterilization clinic in Bonfil Mexico, which ran from Jan 20-24th and this was my first time doing a clinic like this. The situation of strays in really bad in Mexico, so many dogs and cats that just don't have a place to call a home. With the average Mexican making 4 dollars a day there just is not enough funds for them to support their own family, and take care of their pets by spaying an neutering which becomes super costly. These events are free for the locals but everyone works super hard to get funds so are able to head down there to do these types of clinics. Always in need and look for donations, wither it be a towel, money, bowels,food, etc. Its was so good to see so many people that took the time and came to the clinic and are helping their pets and their own country.

The process would consist of lining up, once you registered your pet and left your info they would do an examining of the pet, check the heartbeat, listen to the lungs, check teeth and get a weight basically make sure that nothing was wrong and that it was healthy to go into surgery. Once that step was complete they would line up and wait to be called into the surgery room. Their pets then would be shaved, have the catheter put in basically all the steps required before going into surgery and being spayed or neutered. Once surgery was complete they would be moved to the recovery area where they'd be taken care of by removing tubes, cleaning ears, removing blood from belly's, removing ticks, remove the catheter, cut nails, basically get some extra pampering that in general a lot of these dogs and puppies just do not get. All the info would be recorded on a piece of paper that was on the wall. Each dog or puppy that came to the table was recorded. We also looked in finding or getting it a better collar dogs that had none were given one and ones that were in bad shape were given a brand new collar.

Once the dog or puppy was awake and doing well we would move him/her to the floor. At this time we would look for owners so they could sit with their dog(s) while the anaesthesia warn off. They were also given a dose of de-worming formula. Before taking off and heading home each person was giving a sheet of instructions and more info concerning their pet. Paper collars with info was then removed and names were crossed off the board.



In total 852 animals were spayed or neutered during this five day event. The hours we long and tiring. I personally was awake every morning at 5:30 am, having breakfast by 7am, on the bus around 7:30 or a bit more. I'd spend from then till about 6:30 or 7pm at the clinic and go to bed like 10 or 11. Breaks during the clinic were short basically a few minutes for lunch before heading back to help. My time there I did basically everything, I juggled while doing stuff to also manage to take 1, 700+ photos of this event. I baby sat puppies, helped cleaned the instruments for the vets doing the surgery, sat with dogs while they recovered and even did a whole lot while they were at the recovery table. Yes I have no prior experience in this what-so-ever but always been a quick learner.

 This whole event was tiring and draining both physically and emotionally as much good and positivity this event was, we also had some hardships along the way. We had to put some dogs and puppies down to distemper. A few dogs had to loose their eye due to injury or infection. We also which in my opinion was the hardest part of the clinic was dealing with the poor machete dog which was an emergency call we got and took three hours to fix/repair. Basically a young guy was drunk and high, his wife came to the clinic with a friend to bring their dog to be spayed/neutered, to teach her a lesson for leaving he decided to machete the dog. The poor dog did survive but lost an eye in the process. Naturally laws are very loose down there however police did go after him but as the type of person he is, the coward ran. Its very possible he could be going to jail for this.

In general the clinic was a huge success we had a wonderful turn out, we prevented many more lives from being born. I truly enjoyed my experience and I totally look forward to doing another clinic sometime soon. Its such a rewarding experience to give back and help out especially something that has struck and called out to my name since I was a little girl. Nothing more rewarding then helping out some dogs, or puppies in need and I wouldn't trade this for all the beach time in the world.



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