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Pets across Canada are going hungry. This doesn’t happen because people don’t love their pets. This happens because people experiencing homelessness and low income simply cannot afford to feed their pets. 

With the rising inflation, more people than ever are accessing food banks regularly. Yet most food banks do not provide pet food. Heartbreaking, at Animal Food Bank, we hear from people who choose to share their food with their pets and go hungry themselves. 

In fact, 65.7% of the clients we polled answered “yes” when asked “have our services prevented you from having to choose between feeding yourself or your pets?” We are glad we can help, but we are one organization and the problem requires much more resources and support for us to help everyone who needs it.

Pet food banks are not funded by the government. At the Animal Food Bank, we believe that they need to be, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure animals are fed and well cared for. And we need your help to put the pressure on government, donors, and charitable sector decision makers to change this.

Pet food is not a mandated service by food banks. They may, or may not provide it. If they do it may be done well or not done well. They, in our experience over the last two years, do not treat the pet as their client whereas we do.

Our entire mandate since our start in 2019 is keeping happy, loved pets with their guardians. Loving owners should not be separated from their pets simply because they do not have enough money. This financial strain reflects problems in our society and not the individual.

We believe in collaboration and want to work with government agencies to ensure that pets no longer go hungry.