PAWS Spay/Neuter Day

In mid-September PAWS ran a spay and neuter day, and got a number of the local dogs and cats fixed.

It was wonderfully successful. In total, we fixed four male dogs, one male cat, one female cat, and one female dog. The female dog was Fly, a locally owned dog who has had 12 puppies in 9 months! WOW! Fly's owner finally agreed to allow us to spay her, so we scheduled the date as soon as possible. The fact that Fly is spayed is a huge relief. Not only did she produce many puppies, but her owner also didn't confine her or the puppies and many of her puppies were tragically killed. Since Fly was in heat when we rounded her up, we also caught two of her boyfriends- who are very skittish so we'd have never gotten our hands on them otherwise. One of Fly's older puppies (Mowgli) had been neutered before, but he followed anyways, as did the remaining pup from Fly's most recent litter, Amigo.

Fly's boyfriends and Amigo were three of the male dogs neutered, the fourth was Shep. Shep's a handsome white German Shepherd cross that vanished the last time we tried to do a spay/neuter. We'd hunted for hours and gave up... and then Shep turned up about half an hour after the vet left. This time, however, we successfully caught and neutered him!

The two cats were the kittens from Jolie's first litter. The male was Neville, the little one who tumbled from our porch and who is owned by Jen and Neil. The female is Samba, owned by a student named Amanda.

So now that you know the 'victims', let me explain how spays and neuters work in Dominica. In the States, you take your dog or cat to the vet's office and sign a few forms. The staff takes your pet into the back and you receive instructions to return that night or the next morning. You come back to find your pet is neatly stitched and clean-up. No blood, no mess. The animal might be slightly sleepy, but is perfectly capable of walking. The surgery is performed in a hospital, with oxygen masks, surgical drapes, and autoclave sterilized instruments.

Now in Dominica, we rounded up the dogs and cats and penned them in a fenced yard near the campus. A Paws member named Rodney lived there, and as his landlord lives on another island and the vet could drive directly onto the property, we decided to hold our 'event' there. The spays and neuters were done outside, by the wonderful Dr. Toussaint and a second vet whose name I didn't catch. The anesthetic was a simple injection. Not only were the surgeries done outside, but the surgical tables were the beds of pick-up trucks! As the surgeries were finished, the male dogs were laid out on the grass. The cats and Fly were placed in crates.

Poor Mowgli though that we were doing something pretty nasty... all of his buddies were PASSED OUT on the grass! He couldn't figure out what was doing on. All the animals came through the surgery just fine, although some of the owners were concerned about how sleepy their animals were! In the States you never see your animal completely drugged up.

Here are some photos of our spay/ neuter day. Some of these are graphic, so don't press play unless you can handle a bit of blood. All of the animals came through their surgeries just fine, and all of the animals were completely unconscious during these surgeries. If you see any open eyes, don't worry, that's just a side effect of the drug. Enjoy!