Pet food banks popping up in Tampa Bay to help financial burden for pet owners
Pet food banks popping up in Tampa Bay area
Owning a pet is a responsibility, and it doesn’t always come cheap. Vet bills, vaccinations, grooming, and food costs can all add up.
LARGO, Fla. – Cherry, a 12-year-old Labrador Retriever, loves car rides and to play fetch.
Her owner had to surrender her for financial reasons in December, and she has been at SPCA’s Largo shelter ever since.
Her story isn’t unique, Emily Bernhart, SPCA’s Mission Programs Manager, said. According to Bernhart, SPCA Tampa Bay has seen a sharp rise in economic-related pet surrenders since 2020, and they’re trying to make it easier for people to keep their pets.
“We believe that everybody should have the joy and be able to have the joy of having a pet,” Bernhart said.
The SPCA is expanding their pet food banks, which started after they partnered with a church in Pasadena in 2021.
“We thought we would try adding a pet food table next to the human food bank table so that people could kind of come to a one-stop shop,” Bernhart said. “It ended up being super successful. So, after the pilot program, we just kept rolling with it,” she said.
They have two other locations: on the Largo shelter’s campus and at Hope Villages of America in Clearwater. They hope to expand more across the Tampa Bay Area. The food banks are open Tuesdays or Thursdays depending on the location.
Bernhart said the number of families they serve has nearly doubled since 2022. She said they take donations, as long as they’re not opened or expired, on the Largo shelter’s campus. She said people can also make donations on the SPCA’s website.
“Once we started having the pet food bank, we got questions about ‘where do I get low-cost vaccines? How can I get my pet spayed and neutered? My pet has an injury. How can I get my animal seen by a veterinarian when I don’t have the funds or the resources to do so,’” she said.
“By having one type of help, we saw all the other types of help that are also needed in the community. So, we slowly have been doing other community assistance initiatives as well to help people with all aspects of animal care,” Bernhart said.
The SPCA started offering low cost and free vaccine clinics on its Largo campus. They offer $10 vaccines and $10 microchips and people on government assistance can get those services for free.
“Our goal is to prevent illnesses before they happen because that avoids more costs down the line,” Bernhart said.
It’s also partnering with a local pet groomer to offer its first low cost and free grooming clinic in a couple of weeks. The clinic is already full, but people can sign up for alerts about the next one on SPCA’s website.
Bernhart said they hope to have at least one of the clinics a month.
“One of the best parts of the job is watching the animals who are in the shelter go home and get adopted. I think that’s one of the best parts of being part of the animal shelter. So, by removing barriers to pet ownership, we can encourage more people to keep their animals in their homes, not surrender them to the shelter if they don’t have to, and then we can encourage more people to take on a new animal if they want to,” she said.
As for Cherry, she’s looking for her forever home and there are no fees right now to adopt her. Adoption fees overall right now are also half off for the summer.
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