PATA Manzanillo spay/neuter clinic a huge success!

The PATA Manzanillo clinic that I talked about in my last post ended last night. It was a huge success with over 280 animals spayed or neutered at no cost in just 5 days! I believe that the largest number of animals in one day was around 70! Mind boggling, really. In addition to local families bringing in their pets, there were some street animals that were brought in that ended up being adopted! Overall, I found the clinic very inspiring and rewarding. I watched all the vets and volunteers working tirelessly day after day witnessing their passion and love for animals. It was incredibly heartwarming to watch these vets perform surgery after surgery and still have a smile on their face at the end of the day. Not only that, they receive no monetary reward - they volunteer all of their time. What an incredible experience! I ended up spending several days tattooing identification numbers on the animals as well as helping out in post operation recovery. My fellow volunteers were joking that I should set up my own tattoo business here in town. After accidentally tattooing my finger when a dog started waking up from the anesthesia while I was working on her, it was very clear that this is not a new career path for me!

Local volunteers Lance and son Dylan looking after a puppy in the post operation recovery area


Local volunteer looking after a chihuahua named "Bella" right after surgery. This little dog took longer than usual to come out of anesthesia as her body temperature was quite low and the volunteers had to work hard to bring it back up to normal. Socks filled with rice are warmed up in the microwave to help warm up the animals.


Saturday night around 9pm- our longest day with around 70 animals. This is one of the vet students Gustavo using his own body heat to help warm up a dog recovering from surgery while taking a much needed break!


A brief look in the surgical area. Here 3 vets are performing surgeries. Local vet Dr Gaby is seen opposite the volunteer assisting in the yellow shirt.


Here is Marta, a vet from Guadalajara, checking on one of the dogs that just came out of surgery. She is the one who taught me how to tattoo the identification numbers on the animals


Here is a dog just waking up and ready to be moved into a kennel to await her owners to come pick her up. Isn't she adorable?


3 darling puppies that came in with their mom who had surgery.


One of the volunteers Judy looking after this cutie in post operation recovery


We had alot of little cats like this one come through the clinic.


Here are our fearless leaders of Pata Manzanillo. On the left, standing up, is local vet Dr Gaby Leyva along with Renee, organizer extraordinaire. This was taken at the gathering of vets and volunteers last night. They were thanking all the vets, vet students and other volunteers that came out for the clinic.