Volunteering at Vidas Sterilization Clinic

The VIDAS clinic started on Sat 13th, but as I wasn't back from Belize until Mon 15th, I put my name down for Tues, Wed afternoon, and Thursday. I'd never been to this clinic so had no idea what to expect.
The Vidas group send a team of vets, technicians, students and volunteers down to Playa del Carmen every year to perform free sterilizations for dogs and cats. Some of the team are sponsored but most pay their own airfare as well as having to pay someone else to handle their patients at home. I think they have been doing this for about 8 years so they have it pretty well down pat.
Admissions start at 9am and continue until around noon, although in practice they try to be as helpful as possible with people whose work schedules may not fit in. The pets are tagged, weighed, and given a general health checkover at admission. Cats are kept in cages (most admissions arrive in a shopping bag!) and dogs are tied in a waiting area. Then one by one, they are brought into the operating theatre, where a team administers a pre-med injection, inserts a breathing tube, shaves the area to be operated on and then carries them to the operating tables where the vets are lined up to start work. Sometimes with the larger dogs it might take a few people to keep the animal under control to have its injection; some of the biggest dogs were the biggest wimps. Although the most piercing howlers were the chihuahuas - a lot of voice for a tiny dog!
So, the production line continued, animals sedated and ready so that as soon as one animal was sewn up and taken to recovery, the next was placed on the table.  There were usually 7 or 8 tables for dogs and 2 or 3 for cats.
Recovering cats were put back into their cages for everyone's safety, but recovering dogs need care, so that's where many of the volunteers worked, and where I started. The vet brought the dog out and there were 3 tables of volunteers to clip nails, clean out ears, remove ticks and fleas, all the while waiting for the dog to start to come around. When it started to cough or swallow, the breathing tube was removed, but usually it still took quite a while before the dog really started to come around. In the meantime, its tongue would be lolling out, and sometimes its head moving from side to side. Our job was to keep the animal calm, ensure it doesn't bang its head, and generally reassure it. When it tried to stand, we would help it take those first few wobbly steps, then usually carry it outside for a walk and toilet break. If all was going well, the catheter in its leg is then removed, anti-parasite treatment given, and its owner called to come get it. Depending on the dog the recovery process might be half an hour to an hour.
The dogs brought in ranged from tiny spoilt chihuahuas to large pit bulls who needed muzzles before they came to. Some were well cared for with shiny coats, some were full of ticks and fleas and looked like they had never seen a bath in their lives. We cared for them all.
On Tuesday afternoon, they asked for a volunteer to help with the instruments and so off I went to the operating theatre. There were 4 tubs of water - the first with an iodine wash, the second with bleach, 3rd clean water, and the 4th the sorting trays. The vets would bring their used instruments on a (sometimes bloody) tray and it was my job to scrub each one well with a toothbrush, removing the blood and any foreign bodies, then soak them in the bleach solution for 3 minutes, rinse in clean water then sort them so that the vets can find what they want for the next surgery. There were small, medium and large clamps, some curved some straight, needle holders, blade holders, pincers, blanket clamps, and who knows what else.
Sometimes I managed to catch up and get everything sorted, but then 4 surgeries would finish at once and I'd be overrun by instruments. Obviously every now and then the iodine water would get pretty foul and have to be changed, I tried to do it when I'd caught up but it didn't always work that way. Sometimes the vets would mention a certain item was low and I'd have to dig through the bowl to prioritise cleaning those instruments.
All around me, dogs were being walked in, dealt with and carried out, and music accompanied it all. It was generally a really good feeling inside the OR, with vets laughing chatting and joking together. Sometimes something weird would happen like the vet yelling because ticks were falling off her patient and crawling over her feet!
On Tuesday I worked from 9am till about 6.30, on Wednesday from 1 till 6 and Thursday from 10 till 6.30. I was pretty tired after just the 3 days, so I can imagine how exhausted those vets must have been, who had operated all day every day for 6 days straight! All in all, 823 animals were sterilized, all at no cost to their owners. The biggest day was the Tuesday with 101 dogs and 73 cats operated on.
Thanks so much to the VIDAS volunteers who made such a difference to the lives of animals here in Playa. Most of the owners would never be able to afford private sterilization, so the animal is left to the demands of its body. Many females die young, exhausted by continuous breeding. These animals will now lead happier healthier lives, and the overpopulation problem continues to improve. You can read more on the Vidas website: http://www.vidas.org/