SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Ruff Haven Crisis Sheltering are seeing a record amount of demand for their pet food pantry. Earlier this week, they posted online that there was a surge in requests for pet food since January.
“I saw a news article that talked about the human food pantry seeing a similar increase since January,” said Kristina Pulsipher, the co-executive director for Ruff Haven. “It’s not unusual or surprising that what we see in pet food insecurity also aligns with human food insecurity. They’re one and the same a lot of the time.”
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The non-profit hosts a pet pantry pickup on the first and third Thursday of each month, with a request that people fill a form online to what they need in advance.
“Our goal is to keep pets and their people together and prevent them from ending up in an overburdened shelter when they already have loving families. There’s no reason for that to happen because they can’t afford food,” Pulsipher said.
She said they have about 300 requests for the pet food pantry in the weeks between one pickup and another, when their average is closer to 175. She said they also see many requests for their crisis prevention programwhich provides temporary care for dogs and cats.
Pulsipher said some of the reasons for this influx could stem from an increase in the cost of living, the end of COVID relief benefits, and higher prices affecting both human and pet food.
“We’re definitely seeing a trend with demand for pet food and other services due to rising costs of housing, food, gas, etc.,” he said.
Some of the things Pulsipher said they need the most are dry cat food and wet dog food. People can donate through Ruff Haven wish lists online or drop off donations at their site.
Ryan DeGrey, the Special Programs Coordinator with Animal Services of Salt Lake County, said they’ve also seen increased demand at their pet food pantry since January. Although the cost-of-living has factored into the overall increase over time, in the past few months, he said the holiday season may also play into it.
Salt Lake County Animal Services hosts Pet Crew Pantry pick-up one Saturday a month. They collect donations themselves location and in Humane Society of Utah. DeGrey said their shelter is most in need of donations of dry dog food.
Higher demand, he said, could make it difficult to know how much food they will need in these pick-ups.
So far this year, DeGrey said they have averaged 71 cars in their pet pantry line for pickup. Before January, he said they saw closer to 50 cars in monthly pickups.
“If you’re planning on giving away 40 to 50 bags of food and you’ve got 60 extra people coming out, then you have the potential where you might have to turn people away, and we don’t want to do that,” DeGrey said.
He shared that Salt Lake County Animal Services started the pantry four years ago to help people feed their pets so they could stay with them instead of being rehomed.
“It’s starting to look like we might have an upward trend starting in 2024,” he said. “… We’re still pretty early in the year, we’ll see what March brings.”
This month’s Pet Crew Pantry pickup is March 23. Learn more about how to donate to Salt Lake County Animal Services website.
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