Miracle Puppy Needs Our Help!

In the post about the March 2013 PATA Manzanillo spay/neuter campaign, I wrote about a sweet little street puppy that we took in and kept alive for the few days of the campaign. Little Chito is now in a pet hospital in California, and she still needs our help. You can contribute toward her medical expenses through her page on YouCaring.com. Even a dollar or two helps. Thank You!

Here's Chito's Story

Chito was brought in by a wonderful rescuer of street dogs named Doña Maria. She's being checked by Dr. Gabriela Leyva Chavez, one of the stalwarts of PATA Manzanillo.

She was put on an IV drip, and warmed up with socks stuffed with raw rice and microwaved. I started giving her Reiki as we worked to stabilize her.

Here's Stan Burnett, President and heart and soul of PATA Manzanillo, rigging up the IV so we don't have to hold it all night.

The awesome Dr. Michelle Jack, who ended up taking Chito back to her animal hospital in Venice Beach, is checking her heart rate with an IPhone EKG. Got to get one of those for Colima!

We stayed late into the night after everyone else left, trying to get her temperature up into the normal range.

Finally Chito stabilized and we all relaxed a bit. Celebrating are Dr. Michelle Jack in scrubs and Zoe Katsulos, owner of Inside/Out, a humanitourism company that fundraises and brings volunteers to Manzanillo for the clinic.

Here's Chito snuggled into her nest for the first night. At this point it was still very touch and go, and we hoped to find her improving when we got back early the next morning.

And she had improved, if marginally! Chito was able to walk around and pee and even poop. You wouldn't believe how we cheered that first poop! Her favorite pastime was still to sit quietly in someone's lap, but she was interested in her surroundings.

Dr. Ester from Mexico City was instrumental on getting Chito started on parasite medication, vitamins, and something else that I can't remember. Each morning and night, Dr. Ester would find us and inject Chito with blue stuff and clear stuff. The third morning, a little round worm fell out of Chito's butt as Ester injected her. Yeah!

By the end of the first night, Zoe, Michelle and I had decided that no way was Chito going back on the street! Michelle pulled many veterinary strings and got her into the cabin on her flight home. You can see in this photo at the airport the way Chito is responding to all the love.

The night before, at Zoe and Michelle's hotel, Chito even enjoyed a normal puppy moment rolling in the grass!

Snoozing in the carrier. What a way for a baby Mexican street puppy to fly!

After a long and complicated trip to California, Michelle and Chito crashed! Whew! Made it!

Chito is now staying at the pet hospital where Michelle is a vet. Turns out our baby has a urinary track infection and anemia, probably due to a parasite in her blood stream. She's being treated for both, and the prognosis is good! Michelle is using up her brownie points getting Chito the best care possible at the lowest cost. Still, we need your help to cover the medication and tests. If you can spare even a few dollars, please contribute on Chito's page on YouCaring.com.

Chito's Future

Chito will be going from the hospital into foster care with Michelle's lovely dog walker, Karen Dowe. You can keep track of her progress through her Facebook page and through Michelle's. Once she's fully recovered, Chito will be available for adoption to the Best Owner Ever! If you'd like to be that best owner, please contact Michelle.

Thank you for reading Chito's story! If you have questions or comments, please share! I'll be happy to pass along current questions to Michelle, or you can contact her directly on her Facebook page. And please, if it's at all possible, contribute a mite to Chito's care!





Check out these related posts:

• Dog Agility in Mexico - An Awesome Day! 
• Love, rescue, spay, neuter, adopt out, vaccinate, and have fun with dogs!

519 Spay/Neuters in 5 Days!

Whew! I'm back in Colima from the March 2013 spay/neuter campaign with PATA Manzanillo. It was a hectic, long, incredibly well-organized five days. We started at about 7:30 am and ended around 10 pm each day, and sterilized a total of 519 dogs and cats. Vets came from the US and all over Mexico to help, about 8 operating at any given time.

The in-Mexico cost of the whole campaign is amazingly only about $1000 US, since almost all the labor and much of the materials are donated. If you'd like to help us, you can donate in any amount via PayPal and get a US tax-deductible receipt through Friends of PATA. 

If you'd like to participate as a volunteer, and combine your trip with an awesome vacation, you can do so through Inside/Out: Journeys for your Inner Self in the Outdoors-Humanitourism.

Here are some photos of the campaign. You can find more on the links above and on the Carole Remy Author Facebook page.

First step for owners was to register their pets at the signup area in the auditorium. When we arrived at 7:15 am, there were typically 15 to 20 owners already in line. You can imagine how super-organized these volunteers (in red t-shirts) were!

Here's the recovery area, all set for customers. The tables are for cats, the floor areas for dogs. About 20 volunteers worked this area over the five days.

Animals were prepped for surgery by a team of vet students supervised by a licensed veterinarian. The cats and dogs received a mild tranquilizer and then anesthesia right before surgery.

Dr. Gabriela Leyva Chavez and Diana, two of the tireless members of PATA Manzanillo. These ladies make it all come together, all year round!

As well as outstanding local veterinarians, dedicated vets came from all over Mexico and the US to help. Here's part of the team. Generally about eight surgeries were taking place at any given moment.

This vet flew in from Texas along with a team from their animal hospital.

This amazing and lovely vet came in from Mexico City and worked tirelessly through the whole five days. She took special care of this baby girl, who has today been flown to California for extra treatment and eventual adoption!

Dr. Michelle Jack flew in from California for the week, and is taking this beautiful little girl back with her for treatment at her animal hospital. If you are interested in adopting this miracle baby, you can contact Michelle on her Facebook page.

You never know what you're going to encounter! Michelle wired this cat's broken jaw back together. On the left is Zoe Katsulos, who runs Inside/Out. Contact her if you are interested in volunteering at next year's campaign.

An IPhone ap electrocardiogram. How amazing is that? Michelle sent a cat's EKG (not this animal - this pooch was a demonstration) to a veterinary cardiologist friend in the US and had an accurate diagnosis in minutes.

A team of volunteers washed surgical instruments. You can imagine the steady stream of work, with about eight surgeries going all the time!

First job for volunteers in the recovery area was checking temperatures. Animals that came in from surgery too cold were warmed up with socks filled with raw rice, heated in the microwave. Extreme cases were placed on a heating pad. Animals that came in too warm were cooled down with ice packs and cloths soaked in ice water.

The recovery area in progress, cats at the back, dogs in front. Once the temps were stable, all dogs and cats also got their ears cleaned and were checked for ticks in the ears and paws. Those with fleas got a flea grooming as well.

A lot of dogs got the full spa treatment, thanks to Holly, a perpetual motion wonder of clipping and cleaning!

Once the recovering animals began to wake up, they were vaccinated for rabies and given oral medication for parasites. Then they were placed in cages to wait for their owners. A whole team of volunteers kept busy cleaning cages as they freed up, ready to be used by the next animal.

Another big job was keeping everybody fed! A steady stream of volunteers brought delicious meals for breakfast and lunch, and provided dinner back at their accommodations for all the vets every day.

Behind the scenes the whole time was Stan Burnett, organizer and heart of the campaign. Whatever we needed, he found. Here he's working on the careful records kept for all 519 surgeries. As you can imagine, organizing and raising funds for the campaign is a year-round job for Stan. You can help by donating here.

Then on the last day, there's the tear down and storage for the next year. These dismantled kennels are a tiny portion of the apparatus needed to pull off a campaign of this size.

And here's why we do it! A happy family, reunited with their beloved little pooch, who won't be contributing to pet overpopulation! Let's give a special shout out to the wonderful, responsible owners who brought their beautiful babies in for sterilization. Thank you all!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this amazing campaign! Remember that if you'd like to help out, contributions are always needed, and 100% of your donation goes directly to the animals. All admin costs are absorbed by volunteers. Make your US tax-deductible contribution directly through PayPal at Friends of PATA.

Please join me in congratulating PATA Manzanillo on another excellent spay/neuter campaign! Do you participate in similar campaigns? Tell us all about it! Any questions or comments? We're here and eager to chat!



Check out these related posts:

• Mighty Hercules: The Story of a Puppy 
• Encouraging Words from Kevin Hanrahan

Twelve Nights and Who Is Candid? Blog Tour Begins!

Woohoo! Today Twelve Nights and Who Is Candid? are officially on the publicity circuit!

First stop today is at Readaholics Reviews, where you can see the excellent review and read excerpts from both novels.

I have two great books for you from a great author, Carole Remy. 

Both are erotic romances and both are amazingly hot!...

The Book Blog Tour for Twelve Nights and Who Is Candid? is being scheduled by Bewitching Book Tours. Roxanne promised me five stops for March and has already delivered nine! I love BBT!! If you'd like to schedule me for a visit for this month, or for any time in the future, here's the link.

Click to Schedule Blog Tour Stop for Carole Remy

Here are the stops already scheduled for this month. Show some love to the hosting blogs, okay? Drop by and visit!

TODAY!!

March 5 Spotlight (reviews)

Readaholic's Reviews

readaholicsreviews.com/

March 11 Interview

Pembroke asks me about the origins of Twelve Nights, and what's in the fridge!

Pembroke Sinclair  

pembrokesinclair.blogspot.com

March 13 Guest blog (reviews)

How can writers and readers consciously use the Law of Attraction?

Shut Up & Read 

http://shutupandreadgroup.blogspot.com/

March 15 Spotlight

My Sexy Escapes

mysexyescapes.com 

March 20 and 21 Spotlights

Sapphyria's Steamy Book Reviews

saphssteamybooks.blogspot.com

March 26 Guest blog (review Twelve Night)

Why do I love writing erotic romance?

Erotica For All 

http://eroticaforall.co.uk

March 27 Guest blog (review both)

What makes anticipation and dread so sexy fun??

Erzabet's Enchantments

http://erzabetsenchantments.blogspot.com/

March 29 Guest blog

The story of how Who Is Candid? started with a tax deduction...

Krystal's Enchanting Reads 

http://enchantingreads7.blogspot.com/

Last but far from least, I want to give a huge shoutout to my friend Suzanne Johnson, aka Susannah Sandlin! Thank you for introducing me to Bewitching Book Tours, and thank you for modeling the ropes! Oooh, that sounds much kinkier than showing me the ropes. Hee hee!

Visit Susannah here.

An Addendum—How The Tour Relates to the Law of Attraction

The Book Blog Tour is having a big impact on my emotional life. First of all, I feel incredibly supported and grateful! Roxanne and nine readers' blogs are all working to help people discover my novels! How amazing is that! Feeling so appreciative and so cuddled at this moment tells me I can expect more of the same. Ahhh...

The hours spent writing the guest posts don't feel like work. I looked at all the blogs and planned out fun topics in advance that felt like they fit the particular site. As the time comes to write each post, I look forward to getting my thoughts on paper! The fact that the writing is fun and easy tells me that this is the right path for me, right now.

If something feels difficult or makes you uneasy, the best thing to do is to pause. Paying attention to the little signs keeps the big catastrophes (which mean that the Universe has been trying and trying to get your attention...) at bay. I recently ignored a little personal niggle and got hit with a (somewhat gentle) whammo. It's an ongoing process...

Everything about the Book Blog Tour is pure and simple joy. Doesn't get any better than that!

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to chat!



Check out these related posts:

• Twelve Nights! "We're on Amazon, Boo!" 
• Exclusive Interview with Candid!