The cat doesn’t know it yet, and there’s no reason to tell her before the morning of. But on Saturday, September 19, a fair number of Speigletown’s cats and dogs are going for a short ride down Route 40 — because that’s the day Operation Snip brings a walk-in vaccine clinic to Troy, and twenty dollars a shot is the kind of price that fills a parking lot.
Here’s the whole errand: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 125 River Street — the Old Taylor Apartments parking lot. Rabies shots, $20. Distemper shots, $20. No appointment. You show up, you wait your turn, you drive home with a current pet and a piece of paper worth keeping.
About that piece of paper
This is the part that makes the trip worth it twice. Every dog in the Town of Schaghticoke has to be licensed through the Town Clerk, and the license requires proof of a current rabies vaccination. At a vet’s office, that one certificate can run several times what this clinic charges. Twenty dollars and a Saturday errand, and you walk into Town Hall with the paperwork the Clerk needs — the dog license application does the rest.
And around here, rabies isn’t a hypothetical. The county turns up rabid wildlife most years, and an unvaccinated pet that mixes it up with a raccoon or finds a bat in the living room faces quarantine rules that no family enjoys. The shot is the cheap chapter of that story. The other chapters aren’t.
The rules of the parking lot
Straight from the flyer, and every one of them exists because somebody once learned it the hard way:
- Dogs on a leash. Cats in carriers. A parking lot full of animals is not the place to trust everyone’s best behavior.
- Unruly dogs must be muzzled. You know if this is your dog.
- Bring past vaccine records if you can dig them out of the drawer — whether a rabies booster is good for one year or three can depend on proving the last one.
- Cash, PayPal, or Venmo.
The needles themselves are in professional hands: veterinary care comes from Upstate Spay/Neuter Services.
The folks holding the clipboard
Operation Snip is a small, all-volunteer 501(c)(3) out of Troy, and if you’ve never heard of them, the feral cats of Rensselaer County have. Their main line of work is trap-neuter-return — trapping colony cats, fixing and vaccinating them, returning the wild ones and finding homes for the friendly ones — patient, unglamorous work that keeps the stray population and the rabies risk down for everybody. A low-fee clinic for owned pets is the same mission with a shorter car ride. They’re at operationsnip.org and on Facebook, and they take volunteers and donations year-round.
Clip and save
Saturday, September 19 · 11 a.m.–3 p.m. · 125 River Street, Troy (Old Taylor Apartments lot) · $20 a shot · no appointment. About twenty minutes from Speigletown. Leash the dog, box the cat, raid the junk drawer for the old records, and bring a little patience — a good price draws a good line.
The cat will forgive you. Eventually.
Details from Operation Snip’s announcement; flyer image courtesy of Operation Snip. Confirm any changes on their Facebook page before you go. Licensing details from the Town Clerk’s published requirements.
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