Putting the boys on the ‘bus’
It was like putting our children on the school bus for the first day of school. Only instead of a bus, the vehicle was a box truck, and the kids were our puppies, Skippy and Catawba.
They were on the “Hip-to-Snip Trip” to the Mountain View Humane Clinic in Christiansburg to get neutered.
Or, as one of our friends joked, to get “tutored.”
Catawba is glad to get out of the crate and back home. Meg Hibbert photo
I’m sure it was a learning experience. First of all, our “boys” had never been away from home before. And this was overnight. I noticed I wasn’t the only pet owner at the meeting place in the parking lot of the Salem Animal Shelter that morning who was getting misty eyed.
We all knew neutering and spaying was a good thing, though. It was just the thoughts of being separated from our furry children.
I was certain those other dogs – and one frightened kitty in a cute turquoise-and-yellow carrier that looked like Yogi Bear should be carrying it over his arm on the way to a picnic – would be telling our pups terrible stories about how they remembered being abandoned and winding up in a cage in a strange place, waiting for someone to choose them.
Although most of the animals that day were pets, the Hip-to-Snip-Trip also transports dogs and cats from the Roanoke Valley SPCA and the Salem Animal Shelter, as well as other shelters on other days, and this summer, will be adding a Roanoke-based spay-neuter program.
The Hip-to-Snip Trip is a cooperative venture of the Roanoke Valley SPCA, the Salem Animal Shelter and the Mountain View Humane, The Waldron-Ricci Spay Neuter Clinic.
This female daschund who was spayed and her owner are grateful to be reunited. Photo by Meg Hibbert
On a regular schedule, the van picks up pets to be neutered or spayed either at the SPCA or the Salem shelter parking lot, transports them to Christiansburg, and after the animals’ operations are over, they’ve had the immunizations owners asked for and they’ve been checked out, brings them back the next morning.
It’s the best bargain in town, as far as pet medical care is concerned. And there’s even a discount for Salem residents. The service isn’t meant to replace regular veterinary care, and the spay-neuter paperwork encourages pet owners to make arrangements with a veterinarian for future shots and other pet medical care.
The truck was provided by Berglund Automotive. The SPCA got a grant to add the $4,000 power lift on the back which raises and lowers crates to truck-bed level, saving volunteers’ backs. I’m sure the volunteer on duty that day was glad she didn’t have to lift the crate with our 90-pound giant puppy.
The next morning in the parking lot of the Salem Animal Shelter, pet owners waited anxiously, looking for the first glimpse of the truck returning with our furry family members.
Skippy and Catawba were definitely relieved to be out of those crates and back in our familiar-smelling Durango. And they even behaved – for a day or two.
For more information about the Hip-to-Snip Trip and low-cost spaying and neutering, see the Roanoke Valley SPCA website at www.rvspca.org/jump-aboard-thehip-to-snip-trip or call 540-339-9523 to arrange an appointment.
