PET AID

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting people and animals all over Scotland. We recently piloted our new initiative, Pet Aid, to support people and pets who are struggling.

Pet Aid provides essential food supplies for animals through a network of food banks across most of Scotland. So far, Pet Aid is available in 12 local authority areas in Scotland supporting a number of different foodbanks and charities.

Calls to our animal helpline to give up pets have more than trebled in 2022. Last year we received 194 calls from people looking to give up their dogs and this year it is already over 700. Many people don’t want to give up their animal, but feel they have no choice. This is why we introduced Pet Aid, to offer people who need a small hand some vital support.

Melanie Kiyani, from Strathmartine Community Larder, said, “The demand for pet food has increased hugely compared to previous years. The majority of our users have accessed Pet Aid, this is more than expected as we didn’t realise how much of an issue feeding pets had become.

“Lots of our users have mentioned that they are unsure how they are going to cope going forward due to the cost-ofliving crisis. I think that having access to Pet Aid has helped reduce this a little. “We have seen a huge demand in the need for both cat and dog food. There seems to be more people looking for cat food especially.

“Pet Aid helps us support our users by being able to give them a supply of pet food. Since the initiative was advertised we have had members of the public contact us with donations of pet

supplies, which are greatly appreciated by our users.

“Pet Aid helps our users by reducing some of the costs having pets incurs and our users are happy to have assistance with providing their pets with much needed supplies.

“They are grateful that there is some support available to them.

“Having spoken to people that use our service I think that if many of them didn’t have access to Pet Aid they would either choose to feed their pets before themselves or, if really struggling, would need to rehome their pets. If they got to this stage it would have a detrimental effect on their mental health.”

A key part of our 10-year strategy is to reduce unintentional cruelty by 50% by 2032. We aim to do this with initiatives like Pet Aid, by finding new ways to support pet owners.

We believe that nobody should have to give up their pet because they are unable to afford the items they need. We want to help keep people and animals together by preventing problems which may arise and prevent unintentional cruelty.

We will be working closely with foodbanks across Scotland during this pilot to figure out what people need, what animals need, and then we are keen to use this knowledge to expand the service further, making sure we reach all communities in Scotland.

We’re really proud to launch Pet Aid to reach as many people and animals as we can, keep them together, and avoid unnecessary abandonments.

If you need help or advice, you can call our animal helpline in confidence on 03000 999 999.