Free cat and dog food

Free cat and dog food

Before rehoming your pet, you may want to consider a number of options if you're struggling to pay for dog and cat food. Animal shelters are realizing more and more that by thinking creatively, they can prevent adding to the overcrowding of shelters. There are more and more food programs available in a variety of settings to support you in keeping your dog or cat at home.

Why Pet Ownership Is Important

It's difficult enough to put food on the table when one's personal finances are in the dumps, let alone when there are several furry faces to feed. However, it's in these dire circumstances that the actual worth and value of animals become abundantly evident.

Dr. Ian Cook, a psychiatrist and the head of UCLA's Depression Research and Clinic Program, writes for Webmd.com.

People who suffer from depression might find great comfort in the unconditional love that pets provide. Taking care of a pet can contribute to your feeling of importance and worth. It will serve as a reminder that you are strong and capable of more than you may have imagined. A small improvement in perspective and mood could make a big difference for someone who is feeling very depressed. Seeking a substitute for parting with your pet will not only provide you a task, but it will also serve as a reminder of the compassion of people—a lesson we should all use occasionally, but particularly during difficult times.

Where to Look for Free Pet Food

You're not the only one looking for free pet food sources. In actuality, a large number of organizations have produced resources to assist in light of the problem. As an illustration:

• A pet food bank is maintained by certain animal shelters. Rather of signing a surrender form, devastated companion animal guardians who come to the shelter with the intention of surrendering their animal are handed an application for food subsistence.

• Meals on Wheels discovered that for some seniors, their pets are their only family members, and that when they were unable to buy pet food, some of their clients were feeding their pets during meals. Meals on Wheels launched the We All Love Our Pets (WALOP) program in 2006. Verify with your local Meals on Wheels organization as not all of them provide pet food.

• If you need assistance, the Humane Society of the United States has a list of national and local groups that provide low-cost spay/neuter services, free pet food, and short-term foster care.

• Feeding Pets of the Homeless provides resources for veterinarian care and food 
• sources. You can look for assistance in your area by using their website.

How to Ask for or Offer Assistance in Locating Pet Food

These ideas might help break the ice if you're not sure where to begin looking for or giving away free pet food.

• Find out whether the shelter where you live has a pet food bank. Offer to start one if you do not currently require one.

• Look up "pet food banks and meals on wheels programs in (your city)" using search engines. The positive things occurring in your own town could surprise you.

• Speak with your grocery store about preserving recently expired and dented pet food products and giving them to a shelter where you might be able to use them yourself.

• Inform everyone on social media that you are starting a food bank collection and are looking for donated food products that were originally meant for an animal that has passed away.

• Think about creating an online wish list and sharing it with friends, family, or on social media, filled with necessities for pets like food. You can create a public list using the tools on WishList.com and Amazon.com.