Spay Panama holds a clinic in El Higo

Pat Chan tags a kitten, as yet unnamed, with the name of
this reporter, who brought him to the spay/neuter clinic

Spay Panama holds
a clinic in El Higo
photos by Eric Jackson

By this time, the kitten is out cold and about to have his fur clipped for surgery

The actual surgery went quickly --- it's less invasive for males.

Then the kitty gets sprayed for arthropods, medicated for
worms and has his ears cleaned and inspected for mites

The recovery room was the floor of the Casa Comunal

More demanding was the spaying of female dogs and cats

A team of veterinarians included doctors from Panama and the United States

Working under bright lights with no air conditioning on a Saturday afternoon

A southpaw vet makes an incision

This North Carolina vet, who has done volunteer work elsewhere, was here for the first time

A lot of people who are not veterinarians pitched in to do different tasks

A public service break from retirement in Chiriqui

This dog was the only patient who had serious complications on this day

Panamanian reinforcements arrived just as one of the visitors was wilting under the heat

A boy and his dog

Pat Chan, formerly the chief financial planner for the Panama
Canal, is the founder and hardest worker for Spay Panama

This reporter was at his mother's house in San Carlos when a male orange tiger kitten, recently separated from its mother and abandoned by somebody obnoxious, came by looking for food and shelter. It's a little bit of a problem finding a place in a household with dogs, but a place was found. The next morning, this reporter noted a sign in El Rey in Coronado, giving notice of a Spay Panama clinic in the casa comunal in the San Carlos corregimiento of El Higo and decided both as custodian of this kitten and reporter, he would attend.

Spay Panama founder Pat Chan anesthetized the kitty and wanted to know its name. (It has no name yet, and this reporter will consider all reader suggestions.) Tagging the sleeping cat with the reporter's name instead, Chan noted that "in the Chinese culture it's considered very lucky to have an animal come to your home." And in turn, this country is lucky to have Pat Chan organizing a national effort to reduce the number of unwanted and abandoned animals by spaying dogs and cats.

Spay Panama, which has its headquarters on the Camino Real in Panama, is part of a network of groups that work to improve the lot of animals in Panama. Spay Panama is not an animal shelter, but they do spay or neuter a lot of homeless animals. If they can't place a dog or cat that they sterilize, they will ultimately put it back on the streets where it was found. But being a street animal in Panama City is not an enviable fate, and thus Spay Panama has a backlog of 31 cats --- mostly kittens, some adults --- for whom it is trying to find homes. Yes, it's true --- when the heavy rains flood the rodent habitats and the rats or mice invade your home or office, a free-ranging pet boa constrictor will reduce the unwanted visitors. But cats are much more prolific and efficient hunters, and for all their hot-blooded ferocity, cats are affectionate friends with interesting personalities. Call Spay Panama at 261-5542 or email them at doctor@spaypanama.org to adopt a cat, volunteer some of your time or donate money or materials to the cause.