Louie and Brownie.

Our daughter, Zoe with Louie , the one eyed cat and Brownie , a little puppy that was rescued off the road, late at night. It was a very cold night and little Brownie probably would not have survived the night alone.
Brownie is a very cute little girl and we are looking for a home for her.
Louie is a kitten that Zoe picked up in the pouring rain, he had two other siblings . The two siblings had already lost their eyes to conjunctivitis. We had to put them down. Louie lost one eye but his other eye is doing very well. Anyone want a beautiful black and white, one eyed kitten ?

Little Brown puppy.

This puppy had been found by its owner in a plastic bag in the trash can.
The little girl brought it home but the family being very poor did not have enough money to feed it.
We saw the puppy, heard the story and donated food to the family to give to the puppy.
They are hoping that we can vaccinate the little puppy and will be able to continue giving him food until he is stronger.

Any donations towards the animal project, Hope for the Animals ....to help the animals in the highlands in Guatemala is very gratefully received!

It is just $20 US to spay and neuter a dog or cat so that this kind of suffering does not continue.

Mayan Families releases injured dog.

This big black, fluffy dog was released yesterday afternoon on the shores of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. He was injured last Saturday when a heavy pole fell down on him. We were afraid he had spinal injuries. He was unable to move.

But after receiving treatment from the vet. Miguel de Leon, and kept at the clinic for five days, he is now back moving, no longer appearing to be in pain, he has been neutered and we released him back where he was found.

We gave him a meal of dried dog food before leaving him where we had picked him up.

He has the feel of a dog that probably has a home somewhere. I hope he does. He is a lovely boy who was very happy to be free again.

Injured dog.

Saturday afternoon we received a call that there was an injured dog at the lakeside. He was unable to move. Carlos and Roberto from Mayan Families went down to pick him up.
We found out that he had been hit by a falling pole. We were concerned that he had spinal injuries .

After taking him to Dr. Miguel de Leon's veterinarian clinic, we found that he did not have any broken bones or permanent damage but was in a lot of pain and shock. We have had him at the vet . clinic since and he will be able to be released today.

We don't know if he has an owner but at least he will be released back on the street in better condition. He will be neutered and has been fed for the past few days.

His beautiful sad face speaks volumes about how hard life is on the street for a dog.

Andre.

Andre, a young male dog from San Andres was found on the street. Berta, who works for Mayan Families thought he had been hit in the eye. But Andre had an eye infection that is now caused a lot of damage to his eye.

We have been putting drops in his eyes getting him ready for his surgery. He will have to have the eye removed this coming week. We will also neuter him and vaccinate him. After that , unfortunately, we will have to put him back on the street. We just don't have any homes for him and we don't have the space to keep him.


Andre is not happy about being here and has been crying for days. He is a very mellow boy and we hope that he will be in much better shape when he leaves here.

We need just $50 US to be able to cover his medical needs.
Please help us to help him.

September spay and neuter clinic i

On the last Saturday of every month, we hold a spay and neuter clinic.
We do this at the clinic of Dr. Miguel de Leon , Clinic Mascota Zoo in Panajachel, Guatemala.
It is open to everyone to bring along their dog or cat to be spayed or neutered.
We have dogs and cats come from Panajachel but also the neighboring villages.
Animals arrive in all sorts of ways, carried in a flour bag, wrapped in towels, tied up in the back of pick ups.


For the September clinic we were very lucky to have Susan volunteer with us. Susan is visiting from the U.S. and she brought along her student, Marla who she sponsors through Mayan Families.

Marla wants to be a vet. when she grows up and this was a great experience for her.

This clinic we spayed and neutered 34 dogs and cats.

Each clinic is attended by last year students from University of San Carlos in Guatemala City.
They come to get hands on experience working in a clinic. It is a wonderful opportunity for the students and it is a great help for Dr. Miguel and Mayan Families.

In exchange for this opportunity they bring a big bag of dried dog food .
This dog food is then divided into small bags and we give each person who has brought an animal to be operated on, a bag to take home to help the dog recover its strength after the operation.

Some of the dogs are very emaciated and we have to send food home and ask the owner to feed the dog and then next month bring it back to be operated.

We also collect homeless dogs off the street, operate on them, vaccinate them and then return them to the street. The technique that is being used to spay and neuter is from the Mckee foundation in Costa Rica. It is very non invasive. The dogs need just one shot of antibiotics before they go home and they are usually perfectly fine.

This makes it so much easier to spay and neuter street dogs . The method we were using before , the animals had to have antibiotics for 10 days. Even if the dogs had owners it was very difficult to make sure that the owners would give the dogs their medications.

If you would like to sponsor a dog or cat to be spayed or neutered...it is $20 US , if you would like to include a vaccination, it is another $10 US.
If you would like to make a donation in honor of a beloved pet, we would be happy to put a photo and notice on our website.

Our next clinic is on October 31st.

Veterinarians and vet. techs are always welcome to come and volunteer.

Tripod ...the three legged dog.

Tripod is a dog that was hit by a vehicle and his front leg was damaged beyond repair.
We had to have his leg amputated and he spent a long time at the vet. clinic recuperating.
We had hoped to find a home for Tripod but unfortunately no-one ever wanted him.
He now lives on the street, every morning he is back at the vet. office and Dr. Miguel feeds him.
Mayan Families also feeds him. Roberto from Mayan Families is feeding him dried dog food.
I am always concerned that Tripod will not be able to move fast enough to move out of the way of vehicles on the road. So far ...he is doing o.k. but if anyone wants to adopt a very sweet boy, please think about him. He is neutered and vaccinated.

Blancita

Blancita was brought to us when she was about two months old. The owners wanted to spay her...which we did.....then we waited for them to come back. It took them three months but they finally came back today and took her to live in their village in Pena Blanca.

We hope Blancita will be happy living back in the village.

The family was very happy to see how big and strong she is now.

Sandy finds a home.

Sandy is one of 5 puppies that were found on the street.
We have kept her for several weeks, vaccinated her, she will be spayed in two weeks time .
Today she was lucky to find a new home.
This family has a house with a large garden and they have a labrador there but the dog is lonely so they have taken Sandy home to keep her company.

One of the five died shortly after arriving in our care.
One was very lucky and went to Canada.
Sandy found a home today .
There are two more little ones that need a home. One boy and one girl.

These are really sweet dogs!

Humane Ed. classes in Guatemala.

Every week , Helen , who is the director of the Hope for the Animals program , spends at least three days a week at the schools, talking to children, showing them videos from World Society Protection of Animals...which Mayan Families, Hope for the Animals...is a member.

These classes are so important to teach children respect for animals and along with that respect for human life.

These classes have a simple message but it is one that most of these children have never heard. It is that animals need ..and deserve to have, food, water, shelter and to be treated with affection and respect.

Helen talks to the children about using collars and leashes...which Mayan Families gives to dogs when they are brought into be spayed. We really appreciate any donations that will help us to be able to continue to give out collars. Otherwise dogs are tied up with rope or in some cases, wire. Just this week I saw a dog that had been tied with wire around its neck, the whole throat was lacerated and the dog was in terrible shape.


In these classes we also spread the word about bringing their dogs and cats to the monthly clinic to be spayed or neutered.

These clinics are free and we encourage people to make a donation if they are able to help with the costs.

To spay or neuter an animal it is $20 US , to also include a vaccination against distemper and parvo virus, it is $30. Mayan Families vaccinates each dog who comes to the clinic with a free rabies shot.

Two Cute Little Faces

This little puppy was dropped off at our door yesterday. She is only about three weeks old.Our daughter, Aleeya has become her surrogate mother. Our older daughter, Zoe called her Chocolat.Chocolat will be spayed, vaccinated and we hope we can find a loving home for her.Dogs can be shipped to the U.S, there is no quarrantine but the dogs do have to have all their vaccinations and paperwork.If you would like to have this cute puppy in your house, we would love to send her!Please consider sponsoring a dog to be spayed so that we can reduce the number of unwanted animals and the suffering that they endure.

The Guatemalan September Animal Clinic

These adorable faces below were also very anxious but they are now all doing well.
They are in a big fenced area that we have for puppies. We have homes for three of these little puppies when they are bigger. We need to spay and neuter them, there are four girls and one boy. There were two other puppies but we couldn't find them.

The mother dog was very worried about her puppies and were they were going.

We unfortunately, were not able to get the mother dog to spay. She is a street dog and doesn't trust people and was not going to let herself be captured.

This is the new community of Xecotoj. It is a housing community that was built by the govt. for people who lost their homes in Hurricane Stan in 2005.

Saturday 26th we had our monthly spay and neuter clinic to reduce the population of unwanted animals here in the Solola area of Guatemala.

Here Mayan Families employees are helping collect animals from houses that have asked to have their dogs spayed or neutered.
Jonathon below is a sponsored Mayan Families student who is in our skills program.
He is very involved with the animals and helps run the monthly spay and neuter clinics.
Here he is collecting unwanted puppies from Xecotoj. The mother dog had the puppies and they are now just running around the streets.

Maria is the mother of one of our sponsored students....Maria is a single mother who loves her two dogs but could never afford to have them spayed without the help of Mayan Families.
This is her second dog that she has had spayed and she is so happy that now she will not have a horde of male dogs coming into her yard and will not have puppies that she cannot afford to feed.

We had several cats come along to be operated. Some come in bags and some come in boxes!

Pedro who is the Mayan Families Tuk Tuk driver is a new convert to having an animal spayed. He brought his cousin's dog from San Marcos , a village on the lake, he then took him home and is caring for him for two days before the dog takes the boat trip back to the village. Pedro also adopted a cat this week.

This young girl brought her two puppies to be spayed and neutered.

This woman is a widow and now a single mother, she is so happy to have her dog spayed. She loves her dog but she could not afford to have this operation nor could she feed more puppies.

Rosa, who volunteers with Mayan Families for the animal project, Hope for the Animals, brought several widows with their dogs. Rosa talks to many people in the community and encourages them to spay and neuter their animals. Rosa also feeds many stray street dogs and brings them for medical care when needed. She recently brought a dog in that had been run over and was screaming in pain. Unfortunately, we had to put him down his back legs had been severely injured and he would not be able to walk again. If it had not been for Rosa, he probably would have laid in the street for several days in terrible pain before he died.

This other woman who is another animal lover, shared with us the horrific story of her neighbors who buried new born puppies alive. She talked to the young boy who had buried the puppies and tried to explain to him that this was not the right thing to do. The family has moved away from the village or else we would have sent Helen, our project manager to talk to them and explain that this kind of treatment of animals is against the law and that they could be fined. Admittedly, it is a very tiny fine but at least they will know that there could be some repurcussions