SPCA serves up Annual Holiday Dinner
WHITEMARSH >> Christmas came early, as it always does, at the Montgomery County SPCA on Wednesday morning.
The Yuletide celebration didn’t arrive amid sugar plums and stockings hung by the chimney with care, but in the appetizing form of peas and carrots and ground beef.
The Annual Animals’ Holiday Dinner was cooked up as a special treat for all the furry residents who are waiting patiently for their forever homes, by board member Nona Ann “Cricket” Roberts, who has been preparing the same tried and true recipe for more than a decade.
But the tradition goes back much further than that, she said.
“This has been going on at the SPCA for over 60 years and it happens just once a year at Christmas,” said Roberts, who added that she continues the tradition because “I love the animals.”
Moments later a few early-bird diners cozied up to the table for a taste of their own version of this annual Christmas brunch.
For Candy and Cotton, the SPCA’s therapy bunnies, that meant raw carrots, hold the hamburger.
Board member Al Michell, taking on the role of “Santa Paws” for the day, held out the base of a thick carrot for Candy to nibble on.
“She’s not very cooperative,” he said.
Roberts explained that rabbits usually prefer the slimmer top end of the carrot, adding that the annual tradition includes all the animals, “not just the dogs. We have carrots for the horses and for the rabbits too.”
Feline residents are treated to canned cat food, she said, adding that the Holiday Dinner would also be served at the SPCA shelters in Perkiomenville and Abington.
All three facilities also offer holiday gift tables, loaded with stocking-stuffer ideas and gifts suited for under the trees of any animal lover, ranging from cozy doggie blankets to biscuit treats.
Donations for the holiday gift tables may be dropped off at any shelter during business hours.
Joining the festivities on Wednesday was SPCA mascot and therapy dog Teddy, of the cavachon breed, a mix of cavalier king Charles and bichon, noted the SPCA’s Ann Ronio.
“Teddy came into the shelter because he couldn’t use his hind legs, so his owners gave him up,” Ronio noted. “We said ‘we’re going to save him,’ so he went to an orthopedic surgeon, who fixed one leg. He needed three months of recuperation and then he operated on the other leg and Teddy needed another three months of recuperation. So, after six months we couldn’t let him go,” she added. “We were in need of a therapy dog so we put him through the training and now he goes in his carriage, so that people can be able to pet him, to nursing homes, hospitals and schools, and everyone just loves him.”
The Montgomery County SPCA, 19 E. Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, is open for adoptions Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday,
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 3 p.m.
For information, call 610-825-0111, or visit www.montgomerycountyspca.org.