Nosey

I have never seen such an expressive sad face in a dog like I saw this morning when Nosey realized we were leaving TS, she turned her back to us and her face....what an expression of sadness, seriously and I think the rest of the team will agree with me.
Nosey we will miss you!!
We made it to Antigua and tonight we are all getting a few gallos and some food at the Portal Latino. I just saw my friends from Antigua and they will also be coming, FUN TIMES!

El Sendero Ecologico....a must !

On our last day in Todos Santos, Tracy and I went to El Sendero Ecologico which is about 25 min from Todos Santos on the way to Hue Hue. We were amazed with all the beauty we found on this short but steep trail. On our way up the fog started falling down at the top of the mountain range, making the hike even more magical. The trees, the rock formations, the caves used as a ceremonial sites, the stream with gorgeous waterfalls, etc. I really recommend to anyone coming here to do this hike, is very short and you get a lot for it.
I also want to mention how open people are to us here, we get greeted a lot with smiles, sometimes asking when are we coming back or asking something about their dog.It is very gratifying when this happens.
Adios Todos Santos, hola Antigua !!

It´s over?? :(

Well, today is our last day of work here in Guatemala. It´s hard to believe that two weeks has gone by so quickly. In honour of our last day, the sun is shining brightly and we had a lovely breakfast (banana bread and hot chocolate) overlooking the square. After breakfast we split into groups to finish our last tasks of the trip. For Roberto and I this included the challenge of vaccinating our beloved Nosy, a task no one was looking forward too, as she loves and trusts us so much. After unsuccessfully trying to distract her with chicken (Nosy did not survive this long on the streets by being stupid, that´s for sure) we put on a slip lead and threw my sweater over her and held her down for her vaccine and new collar. We were worried it would take a while for her to forgive us, but she came to see us about 15 minutes later as happy as always, so that´s a relief.

Today we had our last lunch in Todos Santos. The lady who makes our lunches and dinners here has been amazing. She always seems to outdo herself with every meal, and I may be the first team member to head back to Canada without losing weight on the trip!!! Tonight we will have dinner with the whole team, including Bonita and Andres our two interpreters. It´s hard to believe we will be saying good-bye to all this so soon. I know I will miss the amazing scenery, the friendly ppl and all the dogs who have befriended us in our time here. I will NOT miss the rooster who thinks the sun comes up at 3am, however :)

Thanks so much again to everyone who has helped make the project such a success again this year, and especially to all the team members who helped me so much and put up with my inexperience!

last day in Todos Santos

well I had to wait to the last day to contribute to our blog, seems to be the venezuelan way. We leave tomorrow and I will be spending a week on my own in Guatemala, not sure what I will be doing yet.
I have to admit I was nervous about dreesing up as a dog and expecting to entertain a bunch of kids, I certainly stepped out of the box on this one, but We figure it would be the best way to send the message: how to avoid a dog bite and how to feed your dog more protein in tortilla land. Even feeding the magic formula of 2 tortilla per kg dogs need protein and we hope eggs will help.
The play was a success and we have become instant celebrities in TS. We have been asked a few times to take pictures with kids and even adults!. This hopefully means that the message was sent and that it will make a difference, if that´s the case it was all worth it.
The team work was again great and we leave with a lot accomplished. I have feel a difference from this year to the last one in regards to how people take care of their dogs. Many times post op dogs were picked up in a taxi because owners lived too far and they took our advice seriously when we told them that Oso could not walk that far and that Oso would have to be carried home.
However, San Martin was a different story, lots of underweight dogs and not that great pet care. It was our first time there and we hope things will change a bit for next year.
Well I am off to have some delicious lunch (food has been great on this trip) and then off to El Sendero Ecologico which is hike 20 min from TS towards Hue Hue. This hike was highly recommended by our Peace Corps friend Kelly.
Graaaaciaaaasssss

Last Day in Todos Santos

It`s our last day in Todos Santos - hard to believe! It's a gorgeous sunny day here in the mountains. It`s passed by very fast. Marjo and I arrived in Guatemala almost 3 weeks ago. It`s amazing how quickly we fell back into the routine. Things that I noticed last year (like the barking dogs and the roosters and pig noises all night long) are just familiar backgound sounds now.

We finished our last spay clinics yesterday. As Kate mentioned it`s very very cold in the AM and even once we heat the room enough to start, it's still cold and a challenge to keep the patients warm. When we surgically open their bellies, we see steam rising from the belly, something we never see in the OR at home. The focus is to be quick and careful with the spays so that we don`t have complications after. If the dogs aren't eating or comfortable the next day or even that night, we recheck them at their homes.

A Todos Santos take on a "Pet Kaddy"

Pila keeps warm during the cold AM hours

We had a couple of cancellations because one community is worried that their dogs are being poisoned and they took their dogs away to Las Ventosas for a couple of weeks to keep them safe. Unfortunately last night we got a call from a woman to say there was a poisoned dog in the street. Kate and Marjo grabbed some drugs and supplies and headed out there. The dog was convulsing and too far gone to save so he was humanely euthanized. We need to talk to the municipality to try and find out who is doing this - but we may never know who.

We've split up into groups of 2 today to do our final housecalls and rechecks. There are a few dogs that are too aggressive or lame to bring into the clinics so we're going to their houses to vaccinate them. This morning Anne Marie and I were a team and we got to try and vaccinate Hueso - our escape artist from last year. She's much the same so once the family had her in the small storage room we just quickly vaccinated her - no chance for a full physical but she`s in good condition and eating well. We also vaccinated the lame old dog from the hostel we are staying all. We'll also leave some pain meds for his arthritis. Same with Marcel, a lame old dog that lives near the old Hispanomayan School.

We`ve accumulated quite a little pack of dogs that hang around us, looking for food but also very happy for the attention. Walking down the main street towards our spay clinics this week we often had a retinue of Nosey, Bobbi, Marcel and now Pila, the little puppy that Anne Marie and Kate rescued. She`s is proving amazingly resilient and becoming less afraid and more puppy-like everyday.

Pila enjoys a break behind the Los Pablos clinic

Andres takes a stint walking Pila

I'm finding it quite amazing how much attention Pila is getting. Many times a day people will stop me and ask me her name and whether she is "macho o hembra", a boy or a girl. They seem quite taken by her which I find surprising given how many dogs - and puppies - there are around. Many times a day I`ll hear "Pila? Como esta Pila?" and look up to see a kid hanging out a window asking how Pila is doing.

2 Todos Santeran children want a photo with Pila.

Pila is booked on my flight and now all I have to do is find the right-sized carrier to bring her home in. I think she'll adapt well to life on the West Coast of Canada.

Todos Santos prepares for Christmas

and the team prepares to head home.

New kid on the...mountain!

Hello everyone. My name is Joye and I´m a technican from Nova Scotia taking part in this amazing experience in Guatemala. You may have read the blog entry about my clinic, Truro Veterinary Hospital, and their huge contribution enabling me to be here. If so, you know that I only had 1 week to prepare for this trip. We are now a week and a half into things and I think I´ve finally figured out what I´m doing here! :)

So many things are different here from the dogs we see back home, of course. The average body condition score is 2 out of 5 rather than 4 and the dogs are all infested with fleas and intestinal parasites. Of course, the clients speak mostly Spanish or Mam (a traditional language), so I have a hard time communicating most of the time. That being said..the "appointments" are similar to those at home in many ways. We discuss diet and parasite control and vaccination and the importance of spaying and neutering, in much the same way we would in Canada. As at home, some people are very receptive to our comments, and some are not. I guess some things are the same all over the world.

Last week we visited the community of San Martin and stayed with families there. The family I stayed with was so helpful and pleasant to be with, even if I´m pretty sure we had to walk to Mexico to get to their house! The people in San Martin, and their dogs, were very different from those we´ve seen in the central portion of Todos Santos. The dogs were thinner and in many cases more fearful or hostile to us during exams. The community seems much less traditional and more Westernized, with more Mexican influence. It´s only an hour by bus away, so the differences were very remarkable.

This week is spay week and so far it´s progressing very well. It´s sooo cold here in the mornings, however, so we are often off to a slow start. I spend much of the early morning shivering and huddled by our meager heater, and I developed a cold on Monday that has been hanging with me throughout the week. Today some members of the team presented a show and activity for the children here on dog safety which was very entertaining and well received. Roberto as Scooby Doo was a huge hit! :)

Well, that´s all my news for now. One more day of spays left and then some catching up and organizing..so hard to believe it´s almost over already. Thanks to everyone who has helped make this experience so amazing for me!!

Joye

Wednesday 5h30pm....my first time blogging since I arrived in Todos Santos. So much to say but lets concentrate on the kid activity that took place today. It was just GREAT! The afternoon consisted in a play teaching kids how to avoid dog bites and how to feed them more proteins by giving to their dog one to two eggs per week, followed by an english class (veterinarian related) for kids 9 years and older and some drawing for kids 8 years and younger. We were hoping to be able to have 200 kids, I would say we got about 100 kids and I was told its a pretty good turn out for Todos Santos. Roberto was wearing a Scoobie Doo costume for the play, I was a veterinarian and Kelly (Peace Corp volunteer) was Rosita (Scoobie`s owner)

Disons que la piece de theatre fut un succes! Tous les enfants voulaient des photos avec nous et tous ont, je l`espere appris comment eviter les morsures de chiens en lisant le language corporel des chiens, en immitant la roche ou bien l`arbre! Nous avions a la fin de l`activite une collation consistant en un chocolat chaud (pour nous rechauffer en fin d`apres midi) et un morceau de pain rempli de confiture a la banane.
Apres la piece de theatre, Roberto s`est occupe de la classe d`anglais avec les plus vieux et moi des dessins avec les plus jeunes. Les dessins apprenaient aux enfants comment se comporter avec les chiens. Ne pas deranger une mere qui allaite, un chien qui mange, ne pas les frapper, ne pas toucher un chien inconnu, etc...Chaque enfant avait une feuille differente et etait en groupe de 4 pour partager une boite de crayon. J`allais d`enfant a enfant en leur expliquant la signification du dessin. Une chance que j`avais l`aide de Benita (notre traductrice MAM, leur dialecte Maya) car les petits bout de choux ne parlent pas beaucoup l`espagnol.

Je crois que l`evenement fut un succes.......d`apres les visages souriants!

Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Buenas tardes from TS. We have been super busy over the past few days. We have all had a bit of a touch of some respiratory issues here....lots of colourful things living in our lungs i think...which makes the climbs at this elevation somewhat difficult. It makes the flea and bed bug bites seem less of an issue...although Roberto, like last yuear, seems to have the right blood type for the fleas!

Last week we spent 3 days in San Martin, another community about an hour away. It was an interesting experience for us. We were billeted two by two with local families. Our sleeps were not always great as we often had cannons going off at 5 am (religious celebrations ???), roosters crowing starting at 2 am (where are their watches?), dog fights all through the night and fellow roommates who snored loud. The families were gracious and welcoming to us and opened their homes and fed us well. The dogs in San martin were very different than those in Todos Santos. They were very untrusting of people and uninhibited...which was somewhat dangerous and less than relaxing at times. They were also very very thin....which reminds me of the importance of the dump here in Todos Santos and the small slaughter facilities as very important sources of nutrition for the roaming dogs. We only saw a couple dogs out of the many that were in decent body condition. And the puppies were in exceedingly poor condition....a bad combination of intestinal parasites and malnutrition. We were glad to be able to help out there a bit and will see what next year brings. It was a tiring three days for us and we were glad to get back to the simple comforts (??) of Todos Santos.

We started our spays yesterday and i think have done about 8 or ten. It is soooo cold in the morning that we are having to wait until 9 am before the room is warm enough to even consider opening up an abdomen. They are going well so far and we have just two more days of it left. Tomorrow is the grand VWB-VSF fiesta for the kids. Big Dr Roberto has his Scooby Doo costume and a play is planned for the children to discuss responsible pet ownership with the kids as well as proper dog handling and how to avoid dog bites. Plus there awill also be a bit of an english lesson. We are expecting about 200 kids and of course snacks will be provided! It should be great.

Well i must sign off now. It is great being here and seeing so many familiar faces. What has been striking for me is how many return clients we are seeing with their dogs....and most of the males have been castrated by us. All seem to be in good health and are in good body condition. It is wonderful to be able to continue our talk with the clients about parasite control and nutrition. We have figured out that it takes roughly 2 tortillas/kg of dog to have a decent body condition....that means about 30 tortillas for the average size dog here....which would keep the tortilla maker of the family very busy! Most dog receive just 10 tortillas a day...which means they must scavenge the rest off the street. Our talks on nutrition have probably helped these dogs the most.

Adios amigos! kate

2 Tortillas per Kilogram of Dog

Benita (our Spanish-Mam Interpreter)
taking a patient's history from some children in San Martin.

You learn some unexpected things when you work in a foreign country. The dogs in Todos Santos aren`t fed dog food and a routine question during our exams, especially if the dog is thin or the owner reports it isn`t eating, is to ask what they are feeding the dog and usually the answer is 'tortillas'.

During our clinics in San Martìn we learned that it takes 2 tortillas per kilogram of dog to keep a dog in good body condition. This was our 1st time working in San Martìn. Our clinic was set up in a disused classroom and we were billeted in local families homes, two of us per house. At one house the woman keeps her dog in the yard - so he doesn´t roam and can´t scavenge. So we know that all he gets to eat is what she feeds him and what she feeds him is tortillas only. She feeds him 30 tortillas per day - which she makes by hand as well as all the tortillas for her family - and he is in good body condition. He weighs 15 kg so now we know that it takes 2 tortillas per kg to feed a dog.
Things they don`t teach you in vet college.

The clinics in San Martìn went well but the people there are less familiar with our project so it took awhile for word to get around about what we were doing. The dogs seemed skinnier than the ones we`ve been seeing in the communities so far and we`re not sure why. We`d love to think that it`s our influence but it`s more likely that they have access in El Centro to the slaughterhouse and meat markets. Maybe it`s a combination.

One little puppy in San Martìn broke our hearts.

She came in with a dog that was getting sterilized and she stayed in our clinic (which was held in one of the classrooms in the local school as classes are out until January) through the afternoon till the other dog woke up from his anesthetic.

She was very small and skinny and ate ravenously when we gave her some of our food.

A little puppy curls up beside her adult housemate as he recovers from sedation for his sterilization procedure.

After the other dog`s procedure she went over to curl up beside him on his blanket and they both slept the afternoon away until the owner came to get them. He carried the bigger dog home and a little boy was supposed to carry the puppy home but we saw them way down the main street with the old man carrying the big dog and the puppy trotting along beside - and the little boy nowhere to be found. About 20 minutes later the little puppy came trotting back in through the gate all by herself and back into the classroom. We had to carry her back and find her house - where they hadn`t realized she was gone.

The kids in San Martìn were great. Because school is out we were an attraction so we had groups of them hanging out with us as we recovered the sedated dogs. They chatted away, asked about all our equipment and were particularly fascinated by our hot water bottles.

Back in El Centro we did two more days of clinics and last Monday we started our spay clinics for the females - which we`ll do all this week.
Hasta luego.

A rainy market day in San Martin.

Los Pablos

Team meeting

We had an incredibly busy day today at Los Pablos. We haven´t counted up our final numbers today but we´re estimating we saw 125 to 150 dogs today. Lots of vaccines and some chemical sterilizations of the males. It´s been interesting rechecking the male dogs we did in 2009. Their testicles are still present but usually palpably smaller, firmer, often assymetrical.
We made appointments for the females for next week when we do our surgical spays.

Again it was great to see some familiar people and dogs. We saw one of the 3 puppies we saw last year with Rawant´s owner. All grown-up and feisty. His name is Muñeco, very healthy. Most of the dogs are very fearful and can be challenging to handle but a few of them are incredibly relaxed and friendly - often dogs from the same households so it likely has a lot to do with how they are raised. Saw Terri - the shy little black and white dog we spayed last year. She's very timid and fearful this year.

Terri - very shy at the clinic this year

Many of the dogs we are seeing are not as skinny as before. Some quite healthy and with one dog we actually had to have ¨the talk¨about being too heavy. Still seeing a few of the venereal tumours (TVTs) which is depressing especially in dogs that have been sterilized - just not soon enough! Hopefully we´ll see the incidence of this decrease as more dogs are sterilized before being sexually active. It´s a treatable disease but requires once a week IV injections for 4 to 6 weeks and we are not here long enough to do this and it can´t be done by anyone in Todos Santos after we are gone. One owner is willing to go to HueHuetenango every week for 6 weeks for treatment if we can find a vet willing and able to do the treatment. That´s a 2-3 hour bus ride there and back. We´ll look into it for her.

Tomorrow we are off at 6 AM to a new community for the next 3 days. We expect the clinics will be busy.

Roberto and Marjo consult with 2 clients

1st Clinic Day

Just finished our 1st day of clinics. We're in the community of Los Mendozas in Todos Santos. The rest of the team arrived late yesterday afternoon on the bus from HueHue (Huehuetenango) after a 5 hour ride up from Guatemala City. Poor Kate (our indefatigable team leader) had to hop right back onto another bus with Marjo (head tech) heading to San Martin, another hour away. They were meeting with the local council to finalize some arrangements for Veterinarians Without Borders Canada's 1st project in that community. The local council are each going to billet 2 team members and we'll be doing the clinics in the local school since the kids are out of school until January. Lots of dogs there so we'll be busy!

The rest of the team got the supplies together for today's clinic and Roberto went on the radio to make another announcement about our 2 week project in Todos Santos.
We all got up bright and early this morning to get ready and our 1st patients arrived shortly after 8 AM. The dogs are looking pretty healthy - better body condition than previously. A few dogs with skin problems, one dog with an infected elbow from a dog bite, a couple of males with TVTs (Transmissible Venereal Tumours) and one poor dog with a massive facial tumour.
We helped the ones we could (antibiotics, pain control) and we'll do some housecalls later in the week to follow up.

Most of the dogs we could manage with muzzles and soothing words but we had one dog that its owners couldn't manage so we'll try again early tomorrow at our next clinic and see if we can get a muzzle on. The owners want the dog sterilized so we'll do our best to make it happen.

We saw a few old friends including Terry the Rottweiler with the infection from last November. He's looking good, doing well.

Many of the dogs coming in have been sterilized already but their owners want a health check. A few puppies for checkups that we'll see next year when they are older.

It ls good to be back and nice to see familiar faces and walks the streets (and CLIMB the hills) we knew last year. We have 5 returning team members this year and one new tech, Joye, who amazingly, was able to make arrangements to come at the last minute when we were down a tech.
We are fewer team members this year so we're going to have to be as efficient as possible.

Time to head back to the clinic to help load up the truck to take our gear to Los Pablos, where we'll be holding our next clinic tomorrow.

We'll write more when we can.

Truro Veterinary Hospital supports Todos Santos Canine Program

Just wanted to give you a little update on the Todos Santos clinics - starting next week!

We have a great team and Tracy and Marjo are already there preparing everything. We are reaching out to an additional community about an hour away this year too - so hopefully that will go over well. I can't wait to hear what happens this year!

Last Friday, we weren't so sure if we would have a complete team to send because our new additional technician had to withdraw from the team due to visa problems. We were very sad and of course, stressed because the team was already quite small this year! 

I decided to write to Joye Sears, a technician in Truro, who had applied after we sent out our call for volunteers in September. She was very keen but did not speak any Spanish so we did not select her. 

With only one week to organize - she is GOING! It's really great and I can't believe it has worked out.

She, like all the others, is responsible to pay for her flight, which given the short notice ended up being something like 1300$. Plus she is having to take 2 weeks off work without any notice. 

I just spoke to her on the phone and she told me that her clinic, Truro Veterinary Hospital, (165 Arthur St Truro NS) decided to pay for her flight and give her one week's wages!!!! They have decided that this is important for the global community and will be making a fund available, from now on, to their staff for community services, etc. WOW. I wanted to share this because I think this is a great example of clinics getting involved and giving back!

Thank you Truro Veterinary Hospital for helping to support Joye and the Todos Santos Project!

-Enid

Todos Santos 2010 - The Count Down Is On!

Supplies, supplies, supplies. Do we have everything? Do we have enough of everything? Will it all arrive at the same place, at the same time, and will it all be intact? That is what is filling my brain right now. Our 2010 visit to Todos Santos is days away now. Dr. Tracy Cornish and our head technician Marjolaine Perrault are heading down in a matter of days for the pre-project scouting/organization effort. This involves a hundred different tasks, including, but definitely not limited to, picking up some supplies from a local veterinarian, arranging housing for us all, getting clinic rooms finalized, advertising the clinics through posters and radio announcements and touching base with our municipal government contacts and Peace Corps volunteer. Complicating the number of items that must be dealt with before the rest of the team comes to town is the fact that it takes A LOT longer to complete tasks in Todos Santos than it does in Canada. The rest of the team arrives at the end of next week. We will all be in Todos Santos by November 14th and our clinics start the next day. We are excited. And I am sure somewhat nervous.

Our project this year will be similar in many ways to our previous trips to Todos Santos. We will be chemically sterilizing male dogs with Esterisol and surgically spaying female dogs. The team is a bit smaller, with 3 veterinarians (Drs Kate Kuzminski, Tracy Cornish and Roberto Martinez) and 3 technicians (Marjolaine Perrault, Anne Marie McPartlin and Catalina Zapata). Every team member is a returnee, except for our new technician Catalina. Sadly we will not be joined by Dr Enid Stiles this year. (Its not too late to change your mind Enid!) What will be different, however, is that we have two exciting additions to the project this year. The first is that we have been asked by another remote village of Todos Santos, San Martin, to help with their canine issues. As a result we will spend 3 days there vaccinating dogs against rabies and chemically sterilizing male dogs. There are no guest houses/hostels in this area, so we will be billeted with local families. This is something new for us...and could be interesting considering many people still speak Mam, a Mayan dialect, in Todos Santos. Our smiles will go far I hope. The other exciting addition is that Dr. Roberto Martinez is working on a children's play that will focus on dog bite prevention and improving the nutrition for the dogs that live with them. We all can't wait to see this big guy in his dog costume. We promise to post some pictures.....

And as I scurry around making last minute arrangements and hoping that our duffles fit everything we want to bring down, I reflect on our task ahead. We all know it will be hard...and uncomfortable...and exhausting. But we also know what a great opportunity is before us. We are so fortunate to be able to make this trek, back to a place that is very near and dear to our hearts. I know we will do great things because this team is great. And committed. And we believe in the project and in improving the lives of the people and the dogs of Todos Santos. It is a long way from Canada, and not every one will get why we do what we do. Why we travel so far to help a community so high up in the mountains that some days I swear we are above the clouds. The truth for me is that we all live in one world. And we are all responsible for each other. And if we don't, no one else will right now. So for me it is easy. The sheer gratitude demonstrated to us by the people of Todos Santos is overwhelming. We don't need to speak the same language to know what our attention to their dog means to them. A smile says a thousand words......

Todos Santos here we come...........

Kate

Vets without Borders Web Series - Episode One

This is the first episode of the webseries, Vets without Borders, which was filmed in 2009 by May Street Productions. Veterinarians without Borders sent a second team to Todos Santos, Guatemala in November 2009 to to examine, vaccinate and sterilize the remaining male dog population. During this phase the team also started sterilizing female dogs. This websiode shows what the team does on a daily basis to help the live of the dogs and community of Todos Santos.