July was another busy month

Our two teachers, Tony López and Julia Salido, led activities for children at three locations and participated in another event as part of our Teaching Compassion for Animals program. On July 3 they talked with 70 children about pets’ needs and introduced them to several educational games as part of an environmental fair at the primary school Gregorio Torres Quintero in Pueblito de Rocha. On July 7 and 8, they talked to and played consciousness-raising games with approximately 80 preschoolers, first- and second-grade students, and third- and fourth-grade students at Instituto Euro-Americano. On July 25, at the invitation of Fundación Corazón Animal, they participated in an educational event sponsored by the subdivision Villas de Guanajuato. And on July 28, they had another teaching event with 25 children at the Colegio Montessori.

Tony López playing a board game with children at the Primary School Gregorio Torres Quintero
Julia Salido and Tony López playing our board game with primary students at the Instituto Euro-Americano on July 8
Students at the Instituto Euro-Americano posing with Tony López
Tony and Julia with children at Colegio Montessori

On July 12 we sterilized 27 dogs and 36 cats, including 14 male dogs, at Salón Ramírez in the village of Yerbabuena. On July 26, at Sportmind Gym in the village of Santa Teresa, we sterilized 101 animals—41 female dogs, 10 male dogs, 36 female cats, and 14 male cats.  Dr. Ricardo Montes de Oca also gave a tutorial on our rapid spay technique to Dr. Juan Pablo Rodríguez Fonseca, who has joined our surgical team. The two campaigns and the tutorial brought our total number of sterilizations for July to 164 and the total number for the year to 909. We also distributed copies of our educational coloring books to children and their parents who attended the campaigns. 

The following  photos are from the July 26 campaign. 

Dr. Verónica Almaguer (right) shaved an anesthetized (male) cat in preparation for surgery as Frany Méndez Montiel applied drops to the cat’s eyes
Dr. Abril Hernández operating on the same cat
Dr. Juan Pablo Rodríguez operating on a dog
Karla Ahumada preparing an anti-inflammatory injection for a patient in the recovery unit
Adhán Mata López preparing antibiotics for patients’ post-operative care
Pablo Mateo Rodríguez cleaning surgical instruments
Julia Salido gives post-operative instructions to the owner of a patient ready to go home

At the beginning of the month we began displaying new messages on the backs of two city buses. One shows an elderly dog and the caption (in Spanish), “Please don’t abandon me when I grow old.”

The other shows an obviously homeless dog sleeping on a piece of cardboard. The message is “Make me part of your family.”

Our Facebook and Instagram accounts displayed two educational messages each week. Here are several of them.

“Adopt, don’t buy. Adopted pets are the best.”
“You need kindness and companionship. Your pet does too.”
“You need exercise every day. So does your pet.”
“Did you know that cats are able to reproduce from the age of four months and can be sterilized safely beginning at that age?”

Finally, we are publishing this, our monthly online newsletter, on July 31.

We are grateful to our two teachers, Tony López and Julia Salido; our veterinarians, Drs. Verónica Almaguer, Abril Herrández, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Juan Pablo Rodríguez, and Arturo Rocha; our campaign manager, Julia Salido; and our many volunteers during the month, most (but probably not all) of whom are listed here: Karla Ahumada, Julie Boyles, Valentina Breslauer, Yiye Breslauer, Mary Beth Canavan, Fran Fonseca, Joslyn Lewis, Beth Lozano, Andrea Martín Muñoz de Cote, Adhán Mata López, Frany Mández Móntiel, Victor Milán, Blaine Southward, Jim Sullivan, and Sandra Ward.