Companion Animal Assistance Program

I am a member of a non-profit organization called the Companion Animal Assistance Program, CAAP for short.  We are dedicated to helping to reduce the numbers of unwanted and abandoned pets in our community by offering low-cost spay/neuter programs for those who need help in getting their pets sterilized. 

If you check our web site  www.caapok.org, you'll see that one of the ways we accomplish our mission is by offering "mobile clinics".   These are normally held four times a year at our county fair grounds on Saturdays.  We work with a veterinarian who has a mobile surgical unit that is housed in a large trailer which he pulls behind his pickup truck.  CAAP advertises, organizes and provides volunteers for the clinics. 

Our most recent clinic was held this past Saturday and I thought it would be nice to share some pictures and stories from it with you.

"Bessie"

Bessie is one of the dogs that was spayed at the clinic.  She was brought in by the father of an American soldier currently stationed in Afghanistan.  He said his daughter had found a litter of 5 puppies in the road, picked them up & found homes for 4 of them, keeping the "runt" Bessie.  His daughter who is 20 had enlisted, gone through boot camp and was part of a big deployment from this area earlier this year.  After he left, several of us conspired to have CAAP pick up the entire cost for the surgery.  When he came back to get Bessie in the afternoon, he said they had gotten some bad news.  The humvee his daughter was riding in ran over an IED and the humvee was split in two.  Fortunately, no one was killed, but his daughter was hit in the head by a big chunk of concrete.   They had talked to her and she will be okay.   When we handed him his check and said that we'd like to waive all fees for Bessie, in honor of his daughter's service to our country,  he was shocked and very appreciative.

"Cimarron Sisters"

Cushing is a small town about 30 miles from here.  Cushing has a pound with 6 bays.  It operates as a hold & kill facility, with the holding period being 72 hours.  The Cimarron Valley Humane Society in Cushing is a shelter without a building.  In other words, it is comprised solely of people that foster the dogs at their own homes.  They try to rescue as many from the pound as possible.  Right now there are only 3 people providing foster homes.  Even though they are a small organization have placed 135 dogs since May of last year!  Right now they have 17 that are all female puppies - labs, lab/mastiff, doberman, boxer, schnauzer, etc.  Normally, they are able to work through the Oklahoma State University Vet College to get their animals spayed, but the OSU program is currently unavailable for 12 weeks.  So, CAAP stepped in to help get the puppies fixed. The above picture shows 4 of these dogs.

These stories and many more like them make me happy to be a part of such a wonderful organization.  Virtually all of the animals we help were given to their owners, were adopted from shelters or were strays that someone took pity on and took into their home.  So, I often joke that my dedication to recycling does not stop at glass, paper and cans, but goes as far as recycled pets as well!