Kathy is doing AWESOME!! She is a wonderful dog!! I had to take her with me to the spay clinic so she had to travel in ferry :) Was spayed on thursday and everything went fine. Today, I took her to a friend's house to give her a bath. She has 5 cats and Kathy was fine with them, just a little bit scared. Her leg is doing very well, a little less swallen every day.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Spay clinic March 17-18 2009
Hi!! I apologize for being disconected for so long, I was absolutely inmersed in the organization and execution of our spay&neuter clinics.
The first clinic was held in an industrial area of Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela (about 8 hrs from Caracas) where, like most industrial areas in Venezuela, there is a huge population of stray dogs. Contrary to the second spay clinic (the one in Margarita) we did not find cats in this area.
We arrived to Puerto Ordaz on March 16 and set up everything in an space that a company lent us. The veterinarian arrived the next day in the morning and started the surgeries right away. The clinic lasted 2 days.
The animals were crossbreeds in different conditions, some were in better shape while some others need extra care. 21 females dogs (17 adults, 4 puppies) and a female cat were spayed; and 6 male dogs were neutered. 20 of them were vaccinated against rabies and 6 of them against distemper, parvo, parainfluenza.
We found a female dog that lives in a old plant no longer in operation, the guardian of the place had to open the gates to the dogs so they can go out and dig into the garbage or beg food because although he shares what he eats with them, he doesnt have enough to feed them, plus the two females are producing more and more litters. When we went to pick them up to spay them, we realized that one of the dogs had just had puppies, but had no even a drop of milk in her breast. She was very anemic and the puppies very hungry. We spayed the mom and the other female, purchased food and vitamins for them and one of the volunteers offered to take care of the puppies.
She is doing a wonderful job and the four puppies are doing awesome!! In about a month she will be trying to find homes for them. Here is a picture of the puppies where they were found , as well as pictures of the dogs that were treated in this clinic.
The first clinic was held in an industrial area of Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela (about 8 hrs from Caracas) where, like most industrial areas in Venezuela, there is a huge population of stray dogs. Contrary to the second spay clinic (the one in Margarita) we did not find cats in this area.
We arrived to Puerto Ordaz on March 16 and set up everything in an space that a company lent us. The veterinarian arrived the next day in the morning and started the surgeries right away. The clinic lasted 2 days.
The animals were crossbreeds in different conditions, some were in better shape while some others need extra care. 21 females dogs (17 adults, 4 puppies) and a female cat were spayed; and 6 male dogs were neutered. 20 of them were vaccinated against rabies and 6 of them against distemper, parvo, parainfluenza.
We found a female dog that lives in a old plant no longer in operation, the guardian of the place had to open the gates to the dogs so they can go out and dig into the garbage or beg food because although he shares what he eats with them, he doesnt have enough to feed them, plus the two females are producing more and more litters. When we went to pick them up to spay them, we realized that one of the dogs had just had puppies, but had no even a drop of milk in her breast. She was very anemic and the puppies very hungry. We spayed the mom and the other female, purchased food and vitamins for them and one of the volunteers offered to take care of the puppies.
She is doing a wonderful job and the four puppies are doing awesome!! In about a month she will be trying to find homes for them. Here is a picture of the puppies where they were found , as well as pictures of the dogs that were treated in this clinic.
With the help of all the people that donated we were able to help directly 29 animals by spay/neutering them and many many more unwanted animals from being born!
I feel an immense gratitude to all of you who contributed to make this happen!!!
Alexandra
I feel an immense gratitude to all of you who contributed to make this happen!!!
Alexandra
Monday, March 16, 2009
Katy might be able to keep her injured leg!
Another email from Alexandra in Venezuela:
"I have good news, I picked up Katy from the vet on Friday, the blood work is good, only the hemoglobin and hematocrit are a slighly low but given her condition that is normal. Yesterday, we took her to the traumatologist. He recommended to try to save Katy's leg because, in his opinion, she has high chances of regaining use of it. He prescribed cefalexin, rimadyl, maxibol (anabolic), and cleaning her paw twice daily. Her paw is a little bit less swollen.
She has very good appetite and is drinking lots of water. It will take some time to put some pounds on, but she has a wonderful disposition so I am very optimistic that she will recover very soon. She really wants to live, she lets me do anything to her. Even thought she is weak she is always happy wagging her tail, even if you just see her she wags her tail. With other dogs and cats, so far she seems indiferent. We are in apartment right now and she won't do anything unless I take her outside.
Attached are 2 pictures, the first one was on Friday at the vet and the second one today at my mom's apartment.
I am traveling to another city tomorrow for the spay/neuter clinic so I probably won't have access to internet until thursday. I will email you back then.
Hugs from Katy and me!"
She has very good appetite and is drinking lots of water. It will take some time to put some pounds on, but she has a wonderful disposition so I am very optimistic that she will recover very soon. She really wants to live, she lets me do anything to her. Even thought she is weak she is always happy wagging her tail, even if you just see her she wags her tail. With other dogs and cats, so far she seems indiferent. We are in apartment right now and she won't do anything unless I take her outside.
Attached are 2 pictures, the first one was on Friday at the vet and the second one today at my mom's apartment.
I am traveling to another city tomorrow for the spay/neuter clinic so I probably won't have access to internet until thursday. I will email you back then.
Hugs from Katy and me!"
Friday, March 13, 2009
Another email from Alexandra in Venezuela
Received today!"After meeting some of the dogs awaiting for homes, the other dog I think I should take is Brandy, she is a small to medium size dog that is living in the street, my friend (the same that has Azabache) has been feeding her but she has nowhere to go. She is shy and submissive but gets along really well with other animals and people."
Update from Alexandra in Venezuela
We received the following email from Alexandra yesterday, and she asked us to share with any interested Blog readers:"I just wanted to give you all an update of my trip. I arrived safely to Venezuela but very soon I was busy.
Yesterday, I was driving in a very crowded and hot area about an hour from Caracas when I saw a dog trying to cross a very busy street only to reach a small dirty puddle. My heart started pounding hard because the cars would not even avoid her. When I passed closer, I realized that her paw was broken and her leg was shaking probably because she was in so much pain. Luckily she managed to cross the street and I parked just beside her to see if she would let me help her. When I approached her, she hid her tail, lowered her head and closed her eyes like saying -please don’t hurt me-, it was so heartbreaking. I picked her up and put her in the car and in no time we were on our way to the vet. We named her Katy because of the place where we found her. The vet check her carefully, administered anti-inflammatory and analgesic because she was in a lot of pain. He recommended amputating the leg but he doesn’t perform that surgery so we have to take her to a specialist. I will pick her up from the vet tomorrow to take her to the specialist. She has suffered so much and she’s still a sweetheart. Yesterday, in just a few hours she was already moving her tail, like saying -thank you helping me!!- I will everything possible to help her but as usual my main concern right now is what I am going to do with her when she recovers because I have no one to take care of her once I am gone.
The preparation for the spay clinic are going really well, we have a lot of animals waiting and we received a donation from a small company for surgical material.
I will keep you all informed about the spay clinic and Katy’s progress."
Yesterday, I was driving in a very crowded and hot area about an hour from Caracas when I saw a dog trying to cross a very busy street only to reach a small dirty puddle. My heart started pounding hard because the cars would not even avoid her. When I passed closer, I realized that her paw was broken and her leg was shaking probably because she was in so much pain. Luckily she managed to cross the street and I parked just beside her to see if she would let me help her. When I approached her, she hid her tail, lowered her head and closed her eyes like saying -please don’t hurt me-, it was so heartbreaking. I picked her up and put her in the car and in no time we were on our way to the vet. We named her Katy because of the place where we found her. The vet check her carefully, administered anti-inflammatory and analgesic because she was in a lot of pain. He recommended amputating the leg but he doesn’t perform that surgery so we have to take her to a specialist. I will pick her up from the vet tomorrow to take her to the specialist. She has suffered so much and she’s still a sweetheart. Yesterday, in just a few hours she was already moving her tail, like saying -thank you helping me!!- I will everything possible to help her but as usual my main concern right now is what I am going to do with her when she recovers because I have no one to take care of her once I am gone.
The preparation for the spay clinic are going really well, we have a lot of animals waiting and we received a donation from a small company for surgical material.
I will keep you all informed about the spay clinic and Katy’s progress."
Since sending this email to friends in Canada, Alexandra has received several offers to help pay Katy's travel expenses to Canada, and an offer to foster her once she arrives.
In her next email, Alexandra wrote:
"I am not sure I can bring Katy with me, it will depend on how soon she recovers enough to travel, but I will do everything I can to recover her and I am very optimistic she will recover, especially there is hope to drastically change her life. Tomorrow, I will pick her up to take her to another vet and I will keep you informed."
We are very hopeful that Katy can be one of the two dogs that Alexandra brings home with her to Canada in April, and we know that she will do her best to make that happen.
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