Keeping pets fed as food costs rise

Dallas—For families struggling to afford groceries, keeping a pet's food bowl full can mean stretching an already tight budget. PetSmart Charities is working with Feeding America to ease that strain, helping food banks provide pet food alongside groceries so families don't have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their pets.

PetSmart Charities commissioned a national survey of adults who own or care for pets, with additional sampling in four cities, including Dallas. To address pet food insecurity, PetSmart Charities is partnering with Feeding America.

During the height of the COVID pandemic, PetSmart Charities noticed that many Americans were suffering from food insecurity, according to Melisa Pratt, senior manager of community partnerships at PetSmart Charities.

"There were long lines of people standing waiting for food sometimes for the first time in their lives, and we haven't actually seen that go down," Pratt said. "In fact, this trend has gone up. With the high cost of groceries, we're still seeing people coming to food lines."

According to PetSmart Charities, about 30 million pets live in households facing food insecurity.

"We looked at the need in communities, and the Dallas market was one of the markets that we looked at," Pratt said. "One of the things that we found was, about 46 percent of those that were surveyed either knew someone or they themselves have had trouble affording pet food, which is why it makes these types of programs so critical and why support is needed to help those bridge that gap."

Pratt emphasized the direct link between human and animal hardship.

"We quickly figured out that if you have a family that is facing hunger, then you have a pet that is facing hunger," she said.

Pet and human food insecurity are closely linked, which is why PetSmart Charities collaborates with Feeding America to help families feed themselves and their pets. The partnership provides pet food for distribution alongside groceries through participating food banks.

"[We are providing pet food] so that people don't have to make a choice between feeding themselves or feeding their pet or their children, so that it hopefully can help free up resources to support putting money toward their rent or medicine or gas or other things they need," Pratt said.

PetSmart Charities announced that its support would help provide more than 44 million pet meals in 2026.

"We work very hard with a manufacturer who has the same values that we do and believes in this program," Pratt said.

Pratt said the food being donated is the same quality as the food sold in stores, rather than donations consisting only of broken bags or defective products.

"In fact, it's the same brand of food that I feed my own dogs," Pratt said.

The program currently provides food only for cats and dogs.

PetSmart Charities created Pet Hunger Awareness Day to spotlight pet food insecurity during Hunger Action Month. To mark this year's Pet Hunger Awareness Day, the organization arranged pet food distribution.

"I had about 65 truckloads of food that were available to food banks who participated and wanted to opt into the program," Pratt said. "Those went out all over the country, including Texas. We have worked intermittently with the food bank in Dallas."

PetSmart Charities covers the cost of producing and shipping the food.

To support PetSmart Charities, people can donate directly through its official website and at PetSmart stores.

"Those funds come 100 percent directly to PetSmart Charities, to put back into communities, and to support adoptions and helping pets find loving homes," Pratt said.

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