Aaron LaFromboise (local coordinator) for the clinic was busy cooking for all the Vets, Technicians, support teams and volunteers.  It was a huge undertaking for Aaron and she did a wonderful job.

As soon as surgery got underway, Denise, Georgianna and I headed out in the truck to meet with our friends on the corner.  As promised late Friday evening, they had rounded up dogs…..lots of dogs and many with pups.  We were overjoyed.  After loading them all into crates we headed back to the clinic.  We had turned the Blackfeet Boxing Club into a field hospital.

Every dog that was spayed or neutered was also given full set of vaccinations, wounds cleaned and repaired when necessary, ears checked and or treated for ear mites and potential dental issues, some had a teeth cleaning while others needed some teeth pulled.  We had a few dogs arrive with porcupine quills.  They felt much better when they left, minus the quills.

Saturday was a very long day for our teams and volunteers.

Our highly skilled Technicians are generally used in the prep areas of the clinic.  The two Technicians in the photograph above are Chris Minatelli and Kim McIntosh preparing a 4 week old puppy.

When a dog arrives, he is weighed and given a “pre-anesthetic” injection.  This calms the dog down, much like we human kind have when facing surgery.

We had two dog-prep stations because of the number of dogs.  In the prep area they are given another injection in preparation for surgery and very quickly fall asleep.  Our trained and experienced Technicians administer the final injection and then incubate them with Isoflorine and oxygen to keep them asleep during surgery, shave the surgical area and sterilize the surgical field.  They are now ready to be carried to the Veterinarian who will perform the surgery.

On average, our Veterinarians can complete a spay in 15-20 minutes depending on the dogs age, physical conditions or in heat.  A neuter averages around 10 minutes.  The flow from the dog-prep areas are crucial in order to keep pace with the Veterinarian and make sure the dog is safe, breathing well and sterile throughout the procedure.  Following surgery they are sent to recovery where volunteers and in some cases owners gently wake them up.  This process is done under the careful supervision of one of our Technicians.  Once  the dog is awake and alert he or she is ready to go home or to the shelter.

Now, onto Saturdays clinic.

Georgianna, Denise and I were determined to find the pups from the young female we observed while visiting the street people.  This was not an easy task.

On Saturday the three of us branched out to find the puppies.  One of the street people mentioned that they had seen her several times going under a storage shed in someone’s backyard.  We asked the homeowners if we could look under their shed however they refused us access.  Georgianna and Denise went off looking for other storage sheds in the neighborhood and I decided to see if I could access their storage shed from the alley behind their house.  That was a very big mistake.  As I was walking down the alley a very large dog appeared around the corner.  I stopped as the dog begin to approach me.  It was pretty obvious at this point that the dog had “lunch” on his mind and I was it.  With that in mind I headed very quickly (didn’t know I had that in me but self preservation kicked in) down the alley and managed to climb a fence with him in hot pursuit.  I had to wait for Denise and Georgianna to rescue me with a package of hot dogs.

Unfortunately that was not the day for us to find those newly born  puppies and rescue mom.  But then….there was always Sunday.

We did a lot of surgery  and mended a lot of dogs on Saturday so it was a very satisfying day for us and the many volunteers

Interestingly enough, there were several dogs that had been previously  spayed or neutered.  That is a very encouraging sign.  Our semi-annual visits are working.

In the next post I will take about the dog that “checked himself in and out” without assistance.  Guess he was just plain old tired of the mating game.

Sandy

I apologize for the delay in getting this article posted.  I have had a number of emails asking for the results of Browning.  It is so gratifying to see how many people are following and care about the Browning Blitz.

My journey began on Wednesday June 16^th.  It was a wild 6 days, but oh so worthwhile and appreciated by the many people we were able to meet, work with and help.

Prior to the clinic I went door to door in “Housing”.  Georgianna (a resident of Housing) accompanied me door to door street by street prior to the first day of the clinic on Friday the 18^th.  Georgianna explained to me that there were 3000 homes in “Housing” and I knew it would be impossible to visit them all.  So we decided to divide “Housing” into sections, beginning with section one.  Next October I will visit section two and next spring section three until I have had the opportunity to visit with everyone.

I was humbled by the welcome I received from the homes we visited.  Everyone acknowledged that they had a very, very big problem with the dog overpopulation and many offered to help in various ways.  Some, helped by bringing in the dogs that hung around their homes, others by phoning their friends in their area to tell them to “round-up” the homeless dogs they were trying to feed and care for and also bring in their animals that were still breeding.

Early Friday morning we were surprised and delighted by a large group of volunteers from Browning and a group that was visiting Browning called the “Global Volunteers”.  The Global Volunteer Corp had arrived earlier in the week and heard about the Browning Blitz.  They were angels from heaven.  We were very concerned that we might be short of volunteers on Friday and Monday.  Everyone jumped in like they had been doing this for years.  What a strange sight this must have been to people who had never experienced “mash-style”, large volume spay/neuter clinics.  They were troopers.  And, so the Blitz began.  People arrived with animals in tow, some in cages, some on ropes and some lead with a chain.  It was a beautiful sight to see.

At 10:00 am it was time to hit the road and pick up more dogs.  Georgianna and another local volunteer, Denise and I jumped in the truck and decided we needed to visit the “street people”.  They had many, many dogs and several females with puppies.  I needed to convince them that we were there to help them and their dogs.  I sat down on an old abandoned tire and started a conversation with them about their dogs and why and how much we needed them to help us help there dogs.  While I was chitchatting with them, Georgianna and Denise were scoping out the number of dogs and litters.  Denise had noticed a fragile obviously lactating female who didn’t have her puppies with her.  She knew we could not take her without the pups.  In the meantime I had finally convinced one man to allow me to take his dog to be neutered with the promise that I would return his dog “Red” back to him later in the afternoon.  He reluctantly loaded Red into a kennel in the back of the truck and off we went.

Later that afternoon, I drove Red back to the old building where his owner was anxiously awaiting his arrival.  That was a pivotal moment for all of us.  It became apparent that we had forged a bond with these people and off they went to gather more dogs for us.  We all agreed to meet at the same spot early the following morning.  Day 2 will follow in another post.

Sandy

For those of you who would like to participate in our “Sponsor a Spay” program in your community, you may do this by going to LCHS website which is linked to our site on the home page or sending me an email and I will set it up for you.

Sandy

Next stop is Helena,  will be hosting a low cost clinic on Sunday January 17th.  Monday January 18th will be set aside to spay and neuter all the shelter animals as well as a few off the Sunday waiting list.

Between clinics this month I will be visiting  a number of old and new  communities as they prepare for the new year.  We have added Shelby,  Ennis and Philipsburg  to our growing family.

We kick off the month with back to back clinics in Butte, Bozeman and Livingston.  Rabies and vaccine will be offered at the Bozeman and Livingston clinics as well as boosters.  Unfortunately the rabies and vaccine shots will only be available to those who have scheduled clinic appointments.

I want to thank so many of you for the nice emails and offers to volunteer at various clinics around the state.  I have forwarded your contact information to the community coordinators in the towns, cities and counties where you reside.  You should be receiving information from the coordinators shortly.

Because we have so many clinics this year the schedule is running a little behind.  I’m updating as quickly as possible and as venues are secured.  Looking  forward to seeing you all this year.  Lets reach that 8000 mark this year!  Sandy

Another big thank you goes to Pet Co Charities for their donation.  We have been working on a “matching funds grant” program for small communities with big hearts but very small budgets.  This money will help them by providing  an  additional Veterinary team and supplies.  For every team they host we will provide a team.

As our “war-chest” grows we will be offering no cost spay neuter clinics to those communities that have either been missed for the past several years or have been unable to host a community clinic with the promise of assisting them in their efforts to get future funding for semi-annual spay neuter clinics

100% of all the spay & neuter donations we receive goes directly into  our spay and neuter program.  All administration and office costs are budgeted through the Lewis and Clark Humane Societies general operating budget.

Over the next several weeks we have 17 clinics scheduled which will take us through November  7th.  Our very talented website designer Luke is working on our clinic pages, (past, present and current) and should have them up early next week.

We will be assisting Missoula with their up-coming special spay/neuter clinic for feral cats in celebration of SPAY DAY in October.  A couple of our Veterinarians are donating their time to assist this special project and the Lewis & Clark Humane Society will help by  providing some Spay Montana  personnel and equipment.  Feral cats are not deserving of the life they have.  They are a product of human irresponsibility and we commend  Missoula Animal Control for recognizing their plight.

Our new truck is working out wonderfully.  It is all decked out with our logo’s,  and of course,  “They can’t add or substract but they sure can multiply” slogan.  We draw a lot of positive attention as we travel around the state.  Special thank you to Top Sign and Graphics for their donation.

Speaking of  Thank yous,   a big thank you goes to Karin Hedglin of Cut Bank, for the beautiful quilt she specifically made for Spay Montana.  We will be selling raffle tickets around the state and the drawing will be held in February, 2010 at our annual Spayghetti dinner

Last spring,  Spay of the Falls (the Great Falls community committee) promised us  they would find another autoclave and donate it to Spay Montana.  Last weekend they fulfilled their promise and presented us with another autoclave.  It’s an “oldie but goody” but in good working order.  Another big thank you goes out to Val and the autoclave girls.

 Unfortunately we have witnessed this heart break twice in the past several months.  In December of 2008, Butte animal control and volunteers were caring for nearly 200 badly neglected, malnourished and unsocialized huskies.  Spay Montana was called upon to spay and neuter the dogs in December so they could begin the long adoption process.

We have seen so many hero’s and dedicated people through both  of these large rescues.   It was an honor for all of us to work with these two communities and be a part of the solution,  however our state lawmakers must take a step forward and do something  about a “companion animal hoarding bill”.    The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent over the past  seven years by cities and counties on  animal cruelty cases is just not acceptable.   There is also the human tragedy to consider  and you cannot put a price tag on that.   Hundreds of volunteer  hours as well as the heartbreak of caring for neglected and abused animals only to find that it will most likely repeat itself and the cycle will begin again.   You can make a difference, write the Governor and your state representatives, let them know that you support a  “companion animal hoarding bill”.   This is not  just an animal rights issue,  its a fiscal responsibility and human issue with tragic results  in many cases.