Since we’ve never been in this area before, neighbors here were understandably leary of our clinic for the first couple of hours. But as we were getting ready to pack things up, people started streaming towards us! In the end we treated 84 dogs and 39 cats. That’s an incredibly large number of cats for a Street Clinic! Volunteers attending were 4.
On this day we saw cats and dogs of all shapes and sizes. The main denominator here was ticks. At one point, after hearing from the residents how bad the tick infestation was, I decided to see for myself so I peeked into a building… and you could literally see hundreds of ticks climbing up the walls and roof of the hallway. We strongly suggested they purchase a chemical sold in most pet stores in TJ, which is very effective against fleas and ticks, and is also inexpensive.
One cat, Solecito, had ticks so huge attached to its chin, that when the owner, 15 year old Mayra, pulled them off, it left a gaping hole which quickly became infected. The cat was treated and Mayra was instructed on how to care for the wound.
Since most animals are kept inside the apartment buildings, we saw many cases of overgrown nails. These were properly clipped, and owners received indication of how to properly inspect their dog/cat‘s nails periodically.
On this day we treated kittens galore! With no one taking responsibility of these cats, and not being spayed or neutered, over the years they have reproduced like crazy. Most cats we were brought most likely didn’t have an owner, but rather than refer to them as strays, the kind neighbors who would bring them for treatment asked, “Would you treat this cat and her kittens, who aren’t mine, but just so happen to be living in our building, please?”. We happily complied.
We also saw and treated many litters of puppies. Only 1 puppy had been vaccinated. All others were advised to visit a vet for the puppies’ shots. The importance of this was highlighted, and so were the consequences of neglecting to administer these shots, which by the way are not expensive.
All throughout the day we kept seeing these strays pass by, unnoticed by the rest of the people, so we made a point of trying to treat them before we left. It was easy with cans of dog food, except for one little guy who was in the worst condition of them all. He had obviously been mistreated because of his skin condition, so he was very skittish. As I got close to him, you kept seeing he was very easily frightened, and would need some coaxing before he would even begin to eat. He was even more scared than he was hungry. It took a persistence, but eventually we got him. He was a dark haired, small sized male dog, about 7 years old. He was nicknamed Péke by the I.S. volunteers, and was treated for worms, ear mites, fleas, ticks, he had his teeth cleaned, was given vitamins, but also most importantly was treated for mange, both internally and externally.
Some neighbors showed disbelief upon seeing our endeavor to treat this dog. Others began to praise HSTJ for not ignoring the sickest or the worst looking animals, but rather making an active effort to help them. One neighbor even admitted she knew who this dog’s owner once was, and explained that when it got sick, they would no longer allow him in the house, and when he kept sleeping outside the door, the family would throw rocks at him to get him to leave the building. Unbelievable!!! His owners for at least the past five years kick him out of his home, and now he has to be out on the street with no food, water, or family!
Such a sad story, one of many we see everyday on the streets of TJ, which thankfully are becoming less and less common. Its clinics like these that help people come to know the responsibilities that come with owning pets. Not only that, but they realize the wide variety of resources that are made accessible in order to assist them. All this kind of changes their view on pets in general, and the entire community becomes actively aware of the way animals are being treated. We know this when we see several of the animals treated at an I.S. clinic arrive at our monthly Spay/Neuter Clinics. This attitude change is also apparent when follow-up visits are made to the area 1-2 months later. We plan to visit Péke again very soon.
Chiquita’s eyes were closed shut because of a bad eye infection. Her ears were so swollen, they were also closed shut. Since there was no way of taking this poor animal in for a vet visit, we did what we could with what we had. First we cleaned out the eye gunk and then administered eye medicine, we gave her a shot of a wide-range antibiotic, next came the regular: fleas, ticks, worms and vitamins.
I spoke with Sara privately and asked, “What are the chances that someone could take this dog to visit a vet?” and she sadly replied that Doña Chayito definitely could not, and that she or her husband couldn’t either. She also explained that her husband, although not much of a dog lover, already goes into Doña Chayito’s yard every morning, before he goes to work, and secretly feeds the dogs, just in case Doña Chayito doesn’t or can’t that day. She gave me her word, that if I left the medication for this pup, they would administer it daily, before they left for work. And that’s exactly what we did.
Everyone was amazed to see that by the time Chiquita was ready to leave, she was darting her eyes around, lifting her head and was already eating on her own. We also plan to visit her again soon.
Thank you for supporting HSTJ who makes clinics like this possible every week and thank you to all the HSTJ volunteers who put much effort into reaching out to the farthest areas of Tijuana.
On our last visit to this area we were brought a brown female dog who was having a risky pregnancy. She didnt look well. We had strongly advised a vet visit, and provided puppy diapers because the dog was losing a considerable amount of fluids.
This time she looked much better! Sadly, 7 of the 8 puppies she had, died, leaving only one. The owner related that the vet visit was just the beginning of a long and costly ordeal that the entire family had undertaken in order to save their beloved family dog. In the end, their dog was able to make it through the pregnancy. This man finally said, "I learned my lesson. I am definitely going to be at the next Sterilization clinic. I don't ever want my Princess to go through this again".
The May 28 Itchy-Scratchy Clinic was held at Colonia Lomas del Porvenir. We treated 62 dogs and 6 cats. Although we have been in this area before, we always see new people, happy to bring their pets for treatment.
It is very sad however, to hear first-hand that not everyone wants to sterilize their pets. Many are still reluctant, because of the elevated costs at regular Vet Clinics. When they learn about our very low cost Spay/Neuter Clinics, many think its too good to be true, or that there's some sort of catch.
It takes a lot of convincing to get the people in this area to want to come to our Spay/Neuter Clinics, but its worth every minute to help decrease the number of strays on the streets of TJ.
Posts
