Bath Cats and Dogs Home, the animal welfare charity, has donated £500 worth of pet food to Bath Foodbank, run by Genesis Trust Bath.
The BCDH team donating food to Bath Foodbank | Photo courtesy of Bath Cats & Dogs Home
The donation aims to help pet owners in Bath and North East Somerset who are facing financial difficulties and struggling to provide food for their pets during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
The donation comprises 108kg of dog food and 27kg of cat food, which will be included in emergency food parcels for pet owners.
The donation is part of the RSPCA Pet Food Bank Partnership, a joint initiative by several charities that aims to direct pet food donations to existing food banks and community groups that distribute emergency food parcels.
Some funding from the partnership’s sponsors has been distributed to RSPCA branches, including Bath, to supply pet food to local food banks to help owners afford to keep their pets at home.
The cost-of-living crisis has left many pet owners struggling to afford food for themselves and their pets.
According to data analysts Kantar.com, grocery price inflation hit a high of 17.5% in March 2023.
In some cases, pet owners are turning to food banks for help or even giving their animals some of their own food.
Bath Foodbank, a Trussell Trust Foodbank, provides three-day emergency food parcels to local people in crisis and distributes over one tonne of food per week.
The foodbank depends entirely on voluntary contributions of food and funds. Last year, over 56,000 kilograms of food were issued by their three centres located at Manvers Street Baptist Church in Bath, The Lighthouse Centre in Twerton, and St Philip and St James’ Church in Odd Down.
This donation from Bath Cats and Dogs Home will help pet owners in the area who are struggling to make ends meet and ensure that pets are not going hungry during these difficult times.
Grainne Moher, Bath Foodbank Manager for the Genesis Trust said: “We are meeting more and more people needing to use the foodbank who also have pets to care for, particularly people finding themselves in this situation for the first time.
“We know that without the availability of pet food at our centres that many may use the food intended to feed themselves to feed their animals.
“We understand that pets are part of the family and need to be taken care of, and so we always try to provide for them too when preparing our food parcels.
“For some this could prevent them having to make the difficult decision to give up their pet.”
Rachel Jones, Chief Executive at Bath Cats and Dogs Home added: “We are really pleased to be able to make this donation to our wonderful local foodbank and to help get quality petfood directly to those pet owners who need it the most.
“In 2022 we took in 12% more dogs and cats than in 2021 largely as a result of people struggling to afford their pets, changing family circumstances or animal behaviour issues.
“We’d encourage anyone in the local area to contact us for information and advice if they are worried about being able to keep their pets. Our aim is to keep pets in their loving homes wherever possible.”
