NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sarah Langwitz is struggling to feed not only her two teenage daughters, but also the family’s cat and two dogs after her SNAP payments fell behind.
She says help is coming so far, with an Illinois nonprofit arranging for volunteers to give her grocery gift cards to buy food for herself and her pets last week. This is part of an effort to help struggling pet owners make the most of their money as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments continue. stay out late inside Government shutdown will be the longest On record.
“I don’t even make enough money to pay all my bills, let alone groceries,” said Lungwitz, 46, who works at an auto parts store. Lungwitz worries she will have to give up her cat Bambi and two dogs, Spike and Chloe.
of supreme court On Friday, it granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food assistance payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in more than six states have already received the funds. Uncertainty is putting a strain on shelters.
Although SNAP cannot be used for pet food, food assistance programs can help low-income households free up money to purchase kibble. It’s also common for owners to supplement or completely feed their animals with human food purchased using SNAP, said Stephanie Hicks, executive director of Care for Pets, a Rockford, Illinois, nonprofit that assisted Lungwitz and his colleagues. Some volunteers walked the grocery store aisles with struggling pet owners.
Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States) estimates that more than 20 million pets live in poverty with their families. Spokeswoman Kirsten Peake said one of the main reasons animals are surrendered to shelters is because of the financial burden.
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It’s still too early to tell if that’s actually happening, but organizations are collecting pet food as the shutdown leaves hundreds of thousands of furloughed workers without pay and shelters worry about a potential surge.
“When you have an influx of people into a difficult situation, there’s always a concern that there will be an increase in surrenders,” Peek said.
Find ways to make your pet food last longer
Concerns have led one shelter in Louisiana to consider diverting funds from veterinary care to purchase pet food. The SNAP delay comes at a particularly bad time for the Companion Animal Alliance in Baton Rouge. The shelter recently lost a donor and was forced to cancel its program, which distributes pet food to about 200 families each month.
“People are so panicked, for lack of a better word,” said Paula Shaw, the shelter’s director of care access, noting that because it was so common for SNAP recipients to feed their pets their own food, the shelter provided information on human food that owners could add to their pet food to make it last longer.
The offer to donate pet food and Venmo comes shortly after Charlie’s Angles Pet Initiative in Massachusetts put out a plea on Facebook last week. “We’re anticipating a surge in demand, at least in the short term,” said Kandi Finch, a groomer who named the nonprofit after her beloved pet.
More households using pet food pantries
That’s exactly what happened at New Leash on Life, a shelter in Lebanon, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. The number of families using the company’s pet food pantry jumped from 75 to 100 in previous years to 125 in October, executive director Angela Chapman said.
“We would rather help feed them than give them away,” she said.
In New Orleans, Zeus’ Rescues distributed twice as much pet food as usual in October, founder Michelle Cheramy said, calling it the highest demand in 20 years.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said, noting that some people are abandoning animals in shelter yards out of desperation.
Among those seeking help there Thursday was Katie Saari, who is unemployed due to health issues and struggling to set up an interview to receive SNAP benefits amid the shutdown. She was out of money and needed food for her two dogs.
“I want to feed them first because they are more important than me,” she says. “They’re my babies.”
Kim Bachman of Feeding Missouri, a coalition of food banks in the state, said she is aware of the problem and many food pantries also stock pet food on their shelves.
“We know that many people feed their pets before they feed themselves,” she says. “In some cases, it can be their emotional support animal.”
Lungwitz is also suffering from PTSD and severe depression. The psychiatrist told her to get a dog because she needed walks. That’s how she met Chihuahua. Her American bulldog, 80 pounds of “pure muscle,” provided reassurance to victims of domestic violence. She says it paid off, and she was able to take the plunge and go out into the community and find work.
But money is so tight that they sometimes ask for help from food banks, such as buying donuts from the food bank for their 17-year-old daughter’s birthday. “I’m struggling,” she said.
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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
