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By
Dorothy Atwater: Spay/Panama is a wonderful organization, financed greatly from the pocket of its founder, Pat Chan. The government will not "subsidize" projects such as sterilizing of dogs and cats. However, Pat Chan (www.spaypanama.org) does plenty of subsidizing out of her own pocket. I am amazed at the hard work and dedication of this woman! They use the utmost care and love with the animals. At her clinic in Panama they usually sterilize around 50 to 60 animals every Saturday and around 25 to 30 every Wednesday. Since 2002, through June 7th they have spayed/neutered 7,740 animals, all at low (or no) cost. (See their web site for the latest up-to-date numbers.) They use the latest (and safest and most expensive) anesthesia and the best equipment. Pat continually sends her vets to the US for training. Trappers
go out on Fridays to locations where
"feeders" feed feral cats and trap the cats for surgery on
Saturdays. The males were released the following day, in exactly the
same
place they were picked up. (This is important, because they live in
"colonies" and a new colony may not accept a stranger.) Pat
has cages where she used to keep the females and care for them for five
days before releasing them in the same manner. However, now that she has
paid the expenses for a US vet to come and train her vets in the latest
and safest method of using stainless sutures, both male and female dogs
and cats can be released the same day of their surgery – unless, of
course, they have some other condition that needs further treatment. There are
numerous volunteers who come to the clinic to help clean the cats'
cages, give them food and water, etc. However, the 1:00 a.m.
"rounds" are usually done by Pat herself. Sometimes a
volunteer who is scheduled to come is unable to do so, and Pat takes
over the jobs herself. It's
like an assembly line. First, each animal is weighed, then anesthetized
according to weight. Then another team shaves the area for surgery and
cleans the skin with two different solutions. Then another volunteer
gives antibiotic and analgesic shots - again, according to weight. Then
the animal is carried to the operating table. A young animal can be
sterilized very quickly. An older animal (especially the female, and
especially if she is in heat) takes
quite a bit longer. They also have equipment and expertise for
emergencies. More than once I have seen an animal quit breathing and
have seen the team go into action to resuscitate it. Despite the VERY
poor condition of many of the animals that are sterilized by Pat and her
team at Spay/Panama, their mortality rate is less than 1/10 of 1%. This
includes surgeries done in other towns, when Pat rents a bus for her
people and all their equipment and does a week-end sterilization blitz
to help the animals in places other than Panama City. After the
surgery is done, volunteers carry the animal to the post-op table. Here
the skin area of their surgery is again cleaned with sterile solution.
Their ears are cleaned, their incision is dressed with an antibiotic
cream, and dogs over four months of age are given a rabies shot. All
animals are also given an antiparasite treatment and a multi-vitamin
shot. Then they are treated for fleas and ticks. So you can see that the
animals receive much more care than simply the sterilization itself. For feral
cats, the very tip of one ear is clipped so that they will not be
trapped again. (The surgical incisions are so small that they are
invisible after a very short time.) With dogs, they tattoo a small
"S" inside one ear. Spay/Panama's web site also lists some animals for adoption – mostly cats, but a few dogs as well. Pat Chan
spares no expense in keeping her vets trained in the safest and most
modern techniques. She frequently sends one or more to the U.S. for
training and seminars. For
example, on March 19, 2006,
Dr. René Guajardo visited Spay/Memphis and they mentioned the
stainless steel suture. The metal suture is the preferred suture used in
low-cost-high-volume spay/neuter clinics in the United States because:
(1) animals have no reaction to it at all and suture never has to
be removed, (2) it provides a secure closure so animals can be released
the same day, and (3) because of its low cost. Subsequent
to the visit by Dr. Rene, Spay/USA sent them a DVD of Dr. W. Marvin
Mackie's Quick Spay, which shows the use of stainless steel suture. Then
Spay/Panama invited Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown, who trained with Dr. Mackie
and has been using the metal sutures for years, to come to Panama at
their expense. May 6-14, 2006, Dr. Isis trained Pat’s veterinarians in
the use of stainless steel sutures.
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