Jackie

Yes .

Please add to this  list;

Operacion Amor   -  spay/ neuter- Chapala Municipality  [ they  are on  Facebook   ]

operacion.amor@yahoo.com    or   Cameron Peters at  zo-onna@hotmail.com .

There have been  some recent news reports about the effectiveness of checking a person's   termperature as they de-board / board a plane. . The opinon at this  time, is that is is NOT an effective screening tool.   This is a very brief summary of those statememts: 

While the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has screened more than 30,000 passengers in the past month, not a single US coronavirus case has been caught by airport temperature checks, according to a CNN investigation .  

I understand  your feeling   of " more needs to be done  "..

It comes down to reality and economics ..   it costs money.

The medicines  for the surgery are not cheap .. suture material costs $, and  etc ...                                                                                                                                                 You also have to have the people volunteers, to inform people  about the clinics, staff  the clinics themselves, etc..

If you have a certain amount of   donated money, that equals a certain  number of surgeries that  can be done.  Hard cruel facts ...

There are two separate sterlization organizations  in place, one for each seperate municipality- Chapala and  Joco.                                                                                                                     

 For  Chapala is: Operacion Amor,   and for Joco is:  Tails of Mexico.   The only 'divison' for  this sterlization service  is the boundry of the municipality,  not the name  of  the city - township within  the municipality.  If you have been here for a while, you will see the difference of how things  looked in the cat and dogs populations as compared to a few years ago.

 These two  groups are  totally funded by donations and fund raising events, and staffed by volunteers and paid Vets who specialize in sterilzation surgeries, etc...  The programs  are limited by the amount of donation  funding,   which impacts / determines  how  many  sterlizations clinics can be  done as well  as how many   surgieries can be accomplished. The other factor is how many  people  volunteer   to  participate  in the programs.  There are educational components associated with each organization  - care and respect of pets, the need /purpose   of sterilzations, etc..    Those who have been here for a while, and involved  in the organizations in varying degrees have seen that over  time this educational portion of each organization   has shown  slow but positive increments of  success ... ... there have been more male dogs and cats bringing  brought into these clinics  for surgeries than is past years..

So yes, organize the feeding  program , but also help the groups that need and appreciate your financial support to continue  to do this needed service for  Mexican Nationals of limited financial means, who do love and  care about their pets , but  have limited physical access or financial access to a Vet for this  type of pet care.

I saw this  article, and  discussed it with a few people who are involved with animals rescue, sterilizations clinics, and etc.. thought it was a  noble idea..

However,   more than one person mentioned that  in past years about unknown SOBs  who have put out poison randomly ..[ they were not caught as far as I am aware ]  and this might give them a greater opportunity to carry out their hateful sadistic acts..  I am not being  negative in saying this or bringing this  up , but there   needs to be some kind of safeguards  for the protection of the dogs eating  at these feeding stations.

It has been interesting reading the comments about this new addition to Ajijic,.

The topic of no customer parking has been mention, but,  no one has addressed how are  the  many different product delivery trucks going to deal with Colon's narrow street . As it is you need a shoe-horn to get into a parking space, if you are lucky enough to find one in a radius of several blocks. including down at the malecon on a very busy day.  Stores  on the Carretera have a difficult time  getting things delivered, and   the maneuvering at the OXXO  that has parking there presents a problem  for delivery trucks and customer parking many times.  This should  be interesting.    

I am posting this  for someone else.. please contact that person, not me as the Op..

If you are  able and willing to help, please do so.. otherwise  please keep your personal opinions about the situation to yourself.. I do not know about the  person's  personal circumstances, nor do you , as they are personal to this  person.  I write this note  as this happens may times when a person asks for assistance,  and mainly gets criticized, etc.   rather than helpful  ideas or suggestions..                  I know most people are thoughful and kind hearted about another person's personal private circumstances, others not  so much.

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Hi folks,

Sent you a PM ...

Sent you a  PM .. did not see an e-mail address to  send you a note.

I  totally agree  with consulting your Vet about reccomendations about pet  food, as each animal  is unique and possibly with specific nutitrional medical needs and restrictions.

However,   it  does pay to be an educated consumer for your pet's food, as you are about  your own food. The first thing is to read the lablels of food items.  Knowing that the order is which they are listed is in the volume of that particular item in the food in the chain of ingredients.   Staying  aware of  new information that comes out in the news is also helpful.  There  has been a push by many  pet food companies  to sell  their new fad diet - grain free dog food. Yes, like human and pet food companies, they are in the business to sell you  their products , and both  industried thrive on fads.  There have been several new official  studies surrounding   grain free dog food, and some  cat foods also. Take the time and do some research yourself . Some valued studies have found a nutritional grain free dog food relationship to   to Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM).  - discuss this with your Vet.  As  for pet food labeling it helps to know what some of the ingredients they have listed and what they really mean.  These  are  examples of what you might see on labeling  :  By-products (for example, chicken by-products or beef by-products): clean non-rendered "parts", other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, blood, bone, fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. By-product meal is made of the waste material left over after the parts for human consumption have been removed .   By-product meal can contain things like feet, bones, heads,  feathers, beaks, etc. !    Chicken meal is made of only chicken muscle tissue, though the sources of that chicken can be questionable. Generic  by-product meals do not identify the source of the meat. Some companies use  vague and non-specific  names like :  Meat meal , Meat and bone meal , Meat by-product meal, or Animal by-product meal . This generic by product substace  can contain: Road kill , Dead zoo animals , Dead on arrival poultry , Diseased and dying livestock , slaughter  house  waste,  and euthanized pets from animal shelters .

I know this is more than you want to know..  but our pets are our kids, and we want to provide  them with the best food we can.     So  talk with your Vet,   let time go by on fads  foods to see if  in the long-run  what value [  or not ]   they provide, and    also read the pet food labels, and be an involved educated consumer.

For all who have been following the adventures of Mr Black Kitty - his Mom sent a note to let us know.  He arrived yesterday to  his new home in Canada with his new parents.   He was the perfect gentleman on the flight even  though the plane was delayed for a while. He was given   a Welcome  to Canada !    greeting upon his arrival  and compliments    to his  new parents for doing such a good deed. At this time,  he does not have a name decided upon.. a family  decision will be made soon.  His Mom wished to thank all who posted on the webboard and wished him well, and special thanks to Barb, Vet Memo and Jackie for the extra help in making this adventure have a happy beginning. 

On the poster that you   put up, include a photo and contact info ...  put posters up up near the area where he was found , in addition to Vets and groomers who might recognize him..

This might help.. not exactly - found  dog.. but the person will get the idea ...  my  Spanish is not wonderful, so used a computer translator.. hope this  helps ..

 Glad you took  him in  to keep him safe while you search for his owner.. if he could have found his way home on his own, he would be there .

He encontrado un perro pequeño.  ¿Este perro te pertenece?                 [  I have found a small dog.  Does this dog belong to you ? ]

I do not read the  board for topics the way that you described [  Some of us...search and read the board by using the topic "unread content". ] so I learned something - thank you.                  Possibly   the Moderator(s)  do not read it that  way  either - I don't know.  Maybe drop them a PM  to let them know what is occuring ??   Possibly  they do not know it is happening ??            I have several times  in  the past sent a PM to them,  when we have had puppy sales people posting their  wares on the board  , and they have addressed the situation.

A happy ending to the story  and a new beginning to a life  that started out rough. .. the little black kitten will go north with his newly found parents..

The little black kitten will be returing North with his  new found parents .. and the start of a new good life together.

A happy beginning for all concerned .. the little black kitten will be going North with his new parents this coming week..

I totally agree  with Xena , bring all the pet's health records.  You never know if that informaion has flowed down to the actual  people who are there when the pets come through Customs. Or how  that  person understands the rules, or what kind of a mood they are in, etc..

When I am meeting people coming into Guad airport with their pet, and I have always asked Vet Lena to  meet me there to avoid any sort of   'mis-underatndings'  that delays  the pet getting through Customs.  One time a dog had been chewing on the crate  door due to nervousnes [ I guess ] during the flight, the dog's gums  were a bit red and irritated,   and they were going to  hold up the dog in some kind of quarentine. Our  Vet had a spirited discussion with them about the  situation, and the dog left the airport without further delay or any kind of extra  fee needed to be paid.  I looked up the small Vet fee for coming to the  airport  as an investment  to  eliminated the nonsense / BS  that can occur.  And I make sure that the pet crate  is listed as 'baggage',    not cargo ..  one person coming in was told the crate  needed to be listed as 'cargo '  The flight was a late arrival , the Guad. Aduna was not open, the people came out through Customs,   but the  pet crate  went to a seperate building at the airport until the next morning -  the poor dog stayed in the crate  without water - food for more than 20 plus hours, until the dog got 'bailed out'  of the Aduna late the next morning because the  owners paid extra fees to move the process along..

Besides liking particular foods that only comes in a can, like Bushes' baked beans, etc..  having a supply of canned food, is a very practical thing.

If you have ever lived in an area or situation that a natural disaster ocurred  [ earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc ..]  occurred, or a ' man-made 'disaster ' [ ie. trucking strikes - yes that happens ]  you will know the value of having non-perishible foods on hand in your pantry.  I lived in CA  and near the Loma Pietra  [ good sized ] earthquake when it occurred.  Roads were destroyed,  some bridges  down,  massive power outages , many gas pumps not working in a large surrounding  area,  etc..  that meant no perisible food deliveries, no power to refrigerate , no going to the local grocey store or larger food stores,  etc..  Banks were  closed , no ATMs working - a good reason to keep some money in the household for these type of situations.         I am not a militant survivalist ,  I just try to be smart , plan ahead and try to be prepared . If you think it can not happen here.. just look across the lake to Mt Garcia, and know how this lake was created..  and it's 'cousin'   in Colima  who gets a bit pesky at times.. I was here  when that 'water'event'  hit SJC,  my canned food pantry provided food for many people  when the church  had a  feeding program for those who lost  their ability to feed themselves / family for a few days.                                                                                                                                                    I prefer to be the "ant" and not the 'grasshopper' , in time of these kind of situations.

I  do not know that there are " the  best"  pet charities.

There are two dog shelters: The Ranch  and Lucky Dog.  There is one cat shelter run by LFA with an associated pet food store,

There are two spay / neuter organizations   - one at each end of the lake,  due to two different municipalities  they must engage in their work . The   purpose of these two organizations  is to provide free spay/neuter services for those  Mexican Nationals  who may not have the financial  means for this and/ or have physical access to a Vet for these services.  They also do education at these  clinics about  respect for animals,  and also do vaccinations.   They are staffed by volunteers,  and have fund raisers and  accept donations as the surgical supplies are not inexpensive. Due to  their on-going work at lakeside there  really is less unwanted puppies and kittens  as to compared to years ago - I know this  from my 13 years of fostering kittens and puppies  that were found tossed in the garbage, or  worse, etc.. . And through education there has actually been an increase  of  male dogs and cats  being  brought to the clinics by their owners - that is also an improvement. Many Mexicans   really do love their pets, but due to economics, have to make decisions about their human family's  financial needs or  sterlization for their pets. These two organizations   do  take this burden off the 'bread-winner' in the family ,  and in general it helps the community at lakeside . 

As soon as I can get the current /accurate contact information for these two groups, I will add it to this  posting.

I will not engage in a 'debate' as to who is more deserving of these spay / neutering services.. an ex-pat living on a pension or a Mexican family whose bread-winner is earning 50 - 75 pesos / an hour, 5 and 1/2 days/week,  and supporting their family. The programs  were  set up for Mexican Nationals.  The belief is, if there is less unwanted kittens / puppies being born, it is a benefit to all involved who care about the pet over-population, including the local shelters .  Many of the volunteers who give their time to  these  s/p groups,  volunteer at both organizations when they have a sterlization clinic,, as well volunteering  at the two dog shelters.   I am not  naive to think this  will deal with the 'dumping' of dogs in particular,  but it will slow down the  unwanted births  / pet over-pupulation.  These two   group although seperated by official municipality lines,  they help each other with the same goal.

Chapala, East end of the Lake - Operacion  Amor :   Cameron Peters<zo-onna@hotmail.com>,

Jocotopec, West end of the lake:  Tails of Mexico -  Susan Watkins : <susan_watkins@outlook.com>    or  tailsofmexico@hotmail.com

Like Mt  Mama , I know Vivien, she has lived here for many years and very involved with dogs and she is not a novice or  amateur in this area of whether to take a dog  in or not....                she would not 'take in' a dog if it were not indicated.

She has checked out the found area, and there are  no   'lost' posters in the area... .   Vivien  has already put up 'found' posters as well  as checking local Vet  in hopes some Vet would recognize this dog.  What is of good cause for concern, this  dog has had recent surgery with sticthes intact and a potential for infection if she were out there on her own trying to survive...

Quite honestly,  it is a bit of a romatic notion that all lost dogs can find their way home, like in the Lassie movies.. Somedogs , as bright as  we think they are,  just can not do that, as much as we would hope that our lost dog would make a bee-line back home.. I had one get out.. lost for days.. even  though she had had walks around where she lived, once she was out on her own, her homing GPS  sklls were nil...she was terrified, running in a scattered way , trying to hide from unknown scary things, dealing with weather unprotected from rain/thunder/lightening,   and etc.. someone did find my girl, take her in and and because  she had a collar and ID tag on, the person called me and she returned home .. and for that  I was  and am thankful.

With no ID on this dog, it is a challenge to find it's owner, but Vivien is working very hard to make this re-union happen.

Vivien,

I  have made a few phones to Vet ..got   no's  from: Luis, Memo, Berenice, Pet Care in Riberas, and 'don't think  so'  from Pepe. and the person who answered the cell #  at the Ladron office was not in the office  when I spoke to her - would have to check  records tomorrow..  This may help you some from  driving around  tomorrow..

 but  possibly located the spay Vet. - . Hector Ramize Hernandez  [ 331  007  0524 ] . He said he has done a surgery on a female Shepperd. I explained  a search was on to find the dog's owner. as it was found but had no collar or ID tag... I asked him if he had records - info about the owner, he  said he did not .  I told him if the owner comes in to talk with him about the female surgery,  I asked him to  have the owner call The  Ranch,  as I did not have your phone number  - sorry did not think to say look at the webboard .   Good Luck.

I am sure you have already thought of this and are checking..  take her picture to local Vets   and see if they did the surgery and can direct you to her owner.

Thank you for caring about her, and trying to locate her owners.

Yes, it looks like the same individual.. different name.. a PM sent to Mod .

Part of the problem and more the solution.. people need to stop buying these puppies , as the shelters are full of pups and dogs in need of a home..

when the profit is removed, the 'breeder'  if that is the term, will get the idea.  

Quite  a while back at one of the Wednesday tianguis there was a man walking up and down the street holding up puppies for sale.  Someone said to him , which was then translated into Spanish for him , and themany of the  people standing around him  so he / they would understand what was being said:  Get a job and stop being a Pimp for your dog.  There was alot of laughter and applause , and he left and never came back on any other Wed. selling his puppies.. maybe this applies here. 

This  is an option you might explore...

There is a gentleman who lives locally, his name is  Alex Peterson who brings packages sent to him at a Laredo address and brings them to lakeside about once a month.

I have found his fees very reasonable.  this is his e- mail address: rapidpackman  at  gmail.com   .. substitute the 'at'  with a @ ..

That would be the second  leg of getting your books and  telescope  here. .

Check out sending it from your location to Alex at his Laredo, Texas  address  via   GreyHound  bus  - they do ship packages in the US .  They have a very good on-line system to figure out the cost of sending the package(s)  .. you would would need to have a guess for the dimensions of the package... and they will insure each  package ,up to $1,000  USD.. I do not believe  they are 'cheap' , maybe easonable compared to airline luggae - I don't know ..   but it might be an option for you ..

This  way you can figure out if you want to use this method,  air lines luggage   costs , or ?? 

PS .. if you can not get your small telescope sent down, contact me.. I have a small Tasco 20X-60X50mm  zoom telescope that  you can have, that belonged to my husband.