If you follow us on social media, you will have seen that our CEO Kaytie has recently completed a visit to the Philippines. It’s been nearly two years since her last visit, so catching up with the team and observing their efforts in the Philippines was of most importance. Kaytie has documented her visit to the Philippines in diary form, which is summarised below. Check it out to get a snippet into the busy life of our dedicated team, working hard to look after 100’s of dogs, be that rescues, strays or in clinic every week.
Wednesday 23rd October – Arrival In The Philippines, (left the UK on Monday 21st)
Following a delay in Abu Dhabi of 18 hours I arrived in Manila on the afternoon of Wednesday 23rd
October during a typhoon.
I met members of the team that had come down from the Treatment Centre for an evening of stray feeding with delivery driver Jeff. We had a quick supper and then headed out in two cars with dog food and feeding vessels. We then travelled to 7 different spots to feed stray dogs, finishing up at midnight. The rain from the incoming typhoon was a little impinging but the dogs still came out to Jeff’s calls. His dedication to feeding the strays in evident in their trust to come out to greet him, even in the pouring rain.
Thursday 24th October – Biyaya Hospital Visit
Together with Philippines Executive Director Suzanne and Centre Co-Ordinator Hearty, we headed to Biyaya Hospital, set up and owned by Rhina Ortiz. The hospital is impressive, very well equipped with 13 vets and a staff of over 150 with a busy private practice, as well as a low cost ‘Kapon’ (spay) centre close by and a stray programme which is connected to her shelter in Cavite.
Rina has lots of ideas of ways to expand in the future and projects that she wants to work on. It’s great to build relationships with other dedicated Centres in the Philippines as together we are all making a real difference in controlling the dog population in the Philippines.
Friday 25th October – Treatment Centre Visit
It was still raining when I arrived at the Treatment Centre where I was greeted by Hearty, Lanie (the housekeeper), Michael and Jimrell (our Kennelmates) who brought in rescue dogs Skinless, Kilay & Sunshine to see me, which was lovely. These rescues have been part of the IWCT family for sometime now, and I’ve been fortunate to have met them on several occasions.
The big delight was to finally meet Ellie, who I would never have recognised as the dog that was rescued in the spring, found on the side of the highway, seemingly awaiting his owner. His transformation is quite staggering, a lovely healthy coat, a good weight and absolutely no sign of the cherry eye which he came to us with. His personality is so warm and engaging and he likes nothing more than a belly rub or a cuddle on your lap, so heart warming. The team have clearly taken to him and he’s definitely become a house dog and Centre mascot.
On that note, the Centre looks great, having not seen it for nearly two years I’m very impressed by the upkeep. The gardens have matured and the bamboo is starting to grow really nicely around the edges of the site, which acts as protection to the winds as well as providing privacy.
During this visit, I discussed with Suzanne the plans for 2025 which include spay clinics, vaccination drives and educational talks in schools. As we’ve recently shared, funds are limited with less people giving at the moment. I’ve therefore disappointingly had to advise the team not to book any mobile clinics in, other than our monthly Tarlac City and annual Iloilo and Guimaras commitments. As it stands, we sadly cannot afford to run any more events away from our Centre. This is understandably frustrating for the team, who are so committed to serving the pets and their owners in need. They have however, been actively fundraising within the Philippines and reaching out to businesses to support us as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. I’m happy to say that initially, this has been well received. If we can raise more in the Philippines and more regular donations from the rest of the world, the future of our clinic schedule will be much more promising.
Saturday 26th October – Tarlac City Spay Clinic
I was collected at 8am and taken straight to the Tarlac City provincial vet office for our monthly
Tarlac City mobile clinic, supported by City Vet Doc Noel and his assistant Doc Gian (who is married to our volunteer vet Doc Elna).
Upon arrival the whole team were already there and busy setting up the operating tables in the Vet office.
It’s a newer building with high ceilings and air conditioning which is a nice environment for our vets to conduct surgery. The waiting area was already full and Doc Gian was speaking to waiting owners. Having greeted the team, Suzanne then began her briefing, using the opportunity to run a short education session regarding responsible pet ownership in terms of surgery, vaccinations. She also included essential things like feeding and walking dogs. I had the chance to thank the audience for their support and for following and promoting us on social media.
Just over 50 owners registered and the team performed their usual steady flow of surgeries between
9am and 2pm. Trainee vets Chelsea and Christan administered the pre-med and anaesthetic, before
handing the animals over to Michael and Jollo who shaved and administered iodine ahead of Nelson
then preparing them for surgery. Docs Roland, Alfred, Jen, Elna and Ashley were operating and Nelson was then transferring them to a recovery outside.
Doc Noel, representatives from the mayor’s office and I, discussed the importance of this partnership and reaffirmed that these clinics must continue for the good of the locals and welfare of their pets.
Sunday 27th October – Mall Visit
Back down to Manila today where Suzanne and I attended a pet friendly event in the garden of the mall at the Robinsons Magnolia, which included a number of stalls in a large area within the outside garden. The event saw owners bringing their dogs and taking part in a number of activities – fashion show, tail wagging competition and pet grooming to name a few. There were stalls selling dog food and other pet products, lots providing samples. There was a Vet consultation and Vaccination slot during the event, as well as a pet photobooth and pet blessing later on in the afternoon. As the event was in Quezon City, a relatively wealthy area of Manila, the attendance were mainly pure breeds with very few aspins. This wasn’t surprising, but it was positive to see such an event taking place for pets and the encouragement for people to own and carefully look after them.
Pawssion Project were in attendance and had a small adoption stand, at which they had about 3 or 4 dogs for people to meet, together with photos and biographies of a number of others who were available for
adoption. Pawssion have a thorough screening process for potential adopters and one we would adopt to if we had dogs who didn’t have adopters in place at the time of us accepting a rescue dog in need of rehabilitation.
Monday 28th October – Biyaya Shelter Visit
The Biyaya shelter is approx 20 mins South of Tagaytay, approx 90 mins South of Manila. We were greeted by a lot of very friendly dogs, mainly aspins and all of very similar size and colour, the white and brown that we see most commonly in the Philippines. The Shelter was set up by Rina two years ago and currently houses approx. 800 dogs. Unlike other shelters, Rina has a fairly solid rehoming
programme set up and has to date had over 400 successful adoptions. The site was a blank canvas and Rina has created a very impressive sanctuary, in which she has built platforms and atriums for the dogs to seek shade from the sun and shelter from the rain. She’s also put in bamboo pagodas and series of concrete pipes for the dogs to rest and play in. Approximately half of the dogs are free to roam the complex, but there are then large kennelled areas containing dogs according to a variety of criteria – puppies and young dogs, dogs recovering from Distemper, dogs suffering from malnutrition and in the centre is a large fenced grassy area for a group of larger dogs. All the dogs had been spayed or neutered.
Overall Rina has created a safe place with very happy dogs. She’s so focused on both Kapon (spay) and re-homing which will hopefully ensure she’s able to continue running the shelter to help a great number of dogs at any one time.
Tuesday 29th October – Treatment Centre Consultation Clinic
Doc Arris was the volunteer vet running today’s clinic at our Centre, with Hearty front of house on reception checking in the great number of dogs and cats coming for a free check up, vaccination, vitamin and de-wormer. These clinics are run weekly from 08:00am – 01:00pm. They don’t require such a large vet presence as our spay and neuter clinics and are a great way to catch up with owners, if for example their pet makes multiple visits for mange treatment. Having this regular and local presence has really made a difference, there are vey few stray or roaming dogs around our Centre compared to areas I have visited further South in the Philippines.
After the clinic I assisted the Kennelmates in the Enrichment Park with the dog socialisation. During my last visit, the team were reluctant to let Bantay near me, for fear he might bite. His rehabilitation has come on so much that they were happy for me to lead walk him around the grounds. He has become a very placid and obedient dog. Less can be said for one of the newer rescues, Cooper. His new found joie de vivre has led him to be labelled as rude and naughty! Quite simply, he just needs his energy channelling and with some tips from myself which I’ve used on my own exuberant rescue dog back home, Cooper was soon learning to “sit” and “wait” and was given rewards for his obedience. I’m confident Michael and Jimrell will be able to continue his education successfully.
Wednesday 30th October – Santiago Mobile Spay Clinic
Santiago, is a barangay about 30 mins from the Treatment Centre. A covered basketball court and small outbuilding was used for the mobile clinic which had been re-scheduled from last Friday due to the typhoon.
Upon arrival I was immediately struck by the rows of drying rice that lined almost the whole
covered area, the wet weather had meant that the rice farmers had been unable to dry their rice in
the usual way on the side of the road, an old practice that you still see in the more provincial areas
of the Philippines.
The team were already set up in the small outbuilding at the far end of the court, which just about
allowed for five operating tables and one prep tables, but it wasn’t as spacious as the Tarlac City Vet Office from our previous mobile clinic. Furthermore, the room didn’t have any aircon but the team had set up two fans for provide some respite from the 30+ heat.
The limited space in the operating theatre room also meant that the surgery prep and anaesthesia
injections were being done outside with trainee vets Chelsea and Christian and Hearty managing the
flow of traffic of owners and their pets. It’s definitely more challenging a prospect outside of the
Treatment Centre, not just the heat but in managing the whole process of registration, being called,
administering anaesthesia, transfer for surgery and then transfer to recovery. In recovery it was also
much harder to keep the animals there until they were properly awake and round from their
surgery, with owners often trying to lift their still sleeping pets and taking them home.
53 animals were fixed, a mix of spay and castration.
Conclusion from the visit to the Philippines
It’s clear the team do a great job with the resources available. They are dedicated and we are fortunate to have some fantastic trainee and newly qualified vets keen to work with us. Businesses are starting to make donations whether that be a monetary gift or a gift in kind of food or medical supplies or infrastructure such as gazebos for mobile events. What is more evident is the demand for our services. Our wait list is ever growing and will continue to do so, especially if we are to reduce the number of clinics we can afford to run. We would hate to turn away responsible pet owners wanting to do the right thing for their pet.
Please consider making a donation to secure the future of our clinics in 2025. Thank you.
