Papá Gato Animal Welfare Bocas Del Toro

18/07/2025

We were notified about a dog on Red Frog beach that had a fresh machete wound. When taking it in to be treated, we also found an older wound that turned out to be a bullet lodged in its face.

Animal cruelty is widespread here. There is little that can be done for justice with no idea who commited these terrible crimes. One of many reasons you should not allow a dog to roam free, you do not know what horrible humans they may cross paths with.

This is not an aggressive dog at all, these were not acts of someone defending themselves from an aggressive animal, they were just acts of terrible cruelty and hatred.

We need to keep educating the youth of Bocas, so one day the compassion exists so these incidents are not so common.

17/07/2025

We at Papá Gato want to extend our most sincere condolences to friends and family of Swan Richard’s. Before we even began she ran many spay and neuter clinics in Bocas, as SNIP Bocas, making a huge impact on the lives of countless animals. Anyone who helps animals is a hero to us and she will be sorely missed.

13/07/2025

12/07/2025

Interested in helping out? We need a foster home for this adorable puppy! She was left abandoned on the beach. She has been dewormed and treated for fleas and ticks and will get her vaccines Monday. Fostering is an amazing and rewarding way to help out animals in need here in Bocas, without having to make long term commitments to pet ownership.

12/07/2025

10/07/2025

We want to thank TASØ for a much needed donation of towels! TASØ operates several hotels here in Bocas, Tropical Suites, Bocas Paradise and Bambuda. We go through a lot of towels, the nature of our work is messy! TASØ has always been there to help anytime we have asked, we love our community relationships.

02/07/2025

A kittens eye infection journey in photos. This kitten was found blind with infection and lost and brought to us. With simple anti biotic treatment the infection cleared up and saved this kittens eyesight and he has already been claimed for adoption by the person who found him. Our non profit veterinary care made this possible, and that is made possible by the support of the community. This cat will have a normal happy life and be able to see thanks to your support.

30/06/2025

A huge thanks to Embark Pets for this huge donation of super nice harnesses! And a very special thanks to Gabriella Rezex for bringing them to us!

28/06/2025

One of our spay patients from two weeks ago unfortunately got infected with screw worms at the incision site. There is little we can do to prevent this when the animal lives in poor conditions and near livestock. Screwworms are an invasive species of fly whos larve do serious and potentially lethal damage to living tissue. While most fly larve eat dead tissue, these eat living tissue and will burrow or “screw” their way deep into an animal, hence their name. Any minor wound can pose a threat. The USA and several Latin American countries and making massive efforts to eradicate this problem, but for now it is a serious problem that we all too often see. This is the first time we have seen it from one of our own surgeries, our veterinarians take every precaution to have the the cleanest and smallest incisions possible for rapid healing. But when we found out about the case we of course jumped into action immediately to save this dog. A unique thing about our program is we are not a fly in and fly out spay program, we are here on site to to follow-up for weeks, months, as long as needed, to care for the animals in need here in Bocas.

24/06/2025

With protests causing supply chain issues, we cannot get nessisary items. Our weekly clinics will be closed until things return to normal in Bocas.

Still free to contact us about animals in need of help, in some cases we may still be able to. And of course always contact us about adoptions, we have a lot of animals in need of homes.