Cost of living hits pet owners

Chloe with her two dogs Tynie and Nellie. Photo: Supplied.

The Pet Food Pantry, a non-profit organisation in the Bay of Plenty that assists those struggling with the cost of having an animal, is facing higher demand than ever before, according to its founder.

'It's really tough out there at the moment, people can't even afford basic vet treatments,” says founder Chloe Griffin.

She gives a ‘paw-up' in her spare time to pet owners facing hard times, due to her passion and love for ‘furry friends', and is feeding about 25 puppies on an average week.

'I recently organised about 111 boxes of pet food into 10 different rescues and pet foodbanks.

'Demand has gone up majorly. It's not that people don't want to feed their animal, it's the fact they are struggling with paying for kids, gas and rent already.”

Chloe says that she has used the last of the charity money she had raised to help a cat owner get a consultation at a local vet. 'I do it for the animal; we don't let people suffer, why would we let animals suffer?

'The good thing is the majority of people are pretty good nowadays. It is a lot better than a few years ago.”

Chloe says prior to the economic fallout of Covid-19, she saw 'a lot more neglect” with animals she was asked to help. 'There was a big lack of education with how to take care of animals, things like deworming, vaccinations and nutrition.

'Steadily over time the demand got greater this year. I think a lot of people find it hard to reach out.

'People often apologise for reaching out and it breaks my heart. I'd rather help them and prevent the animal suffering.”

Chloe says at one point she had to take a break due to frequently seeing neglected animals.

'I picked up four dead dogs off of the road in one year. I also found a dead puppy at Greerton Marist. I couldn't unsee the things I had seen, it really affected me.

'I started doing a few drops a month now to get back into it, I don't want it to get as bad as it was before.”

Chloe adds that on a busy week, she is feeding about 50 animals. 'I'm always forever emailing companies for kennels and desexing vouches too.

'I try to help as many people as I can, but with the price of gas at the moment I've been pretty limited.

'I do this by myself and a couple of girlfriends; I haven't made it a charity simply because I don't have the time.”

Chloe says that the animal owners she sees is a variety of ages, but mostly middle to low income.

'There's really no consistency. I get requests from people aged about 18 to 70. This week was mainly older people, but two weeks ago it was mainly people between 18 and 40.”

Although the demand has gone up, Chloe says the donations have 'died down” as a result of people struggling with living costs.

For more information about the work that Chloe is doing for the Bay of Plenty community, or to contribute to her funds for assisting struggling pet owners, visit: https://www.facebook.com/ThePetFoodPantry.

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