Burnley and Pendle pet owners are struggling to feed their dogs and cats

Many people are finding it difficult to afford food for their dogs and cats, leading them to rely on the Burnley food bank for support.

Transcript

00:00So tell me how the food bank began helping people with the cost of caring for their pets.

00:06Yeah, so just after Covid we started to notice people were ordering food parcels

00:11and then feeding their pets with the food that we're giving through food parcels. So we went

00:16in contact with RSPCA just to see if we could support. We look really heavily on food and how

00:21we support humans but not really about pets. So we came together with RSPCA just after Covid

00:28and sort of nailed down a plan and really just if we pick up some pallets of food from them every

00:32week or every month we're able to support all the pets throughout Burnley and all through our

00:36parcels. And what are the reasons that people are struggling with the cost of, you know, pet food?

00:43I think it's cost of living. Food costs in general have gone through the roof so I think food costs

00:49as well and eyes and testicles and stuff and it's just so expensive. So if we can just do a little

00:54bit of support through families. I think people forget when you're doing a food parcel that

00:59it's just food but it's not. It's a lot of, you know, you've got your baby food as well as your

01:03pet. So it's really important that we look at the pet food and how we can support more often and

01:08but yeah it's a cost of living. That's just the way that we're sort of where we're living at the

01:12moment. Last year we supported around 500 dogs and we've supported, yeah, a lot of people with cats

01:19and other pets as well. So yeah we are finding there's a lot of people that are in need of pet

01:25food at the minute. And how is the, how is downtown coping with the demand? So we're coping fairly

01:33well due to the partnership with the RSPCA. We get regular donations from them which we're really

01:38grateful for. We are in need of more wet dog food and more carrier bags as well to put the dog food

01:47in. But generally we cope very well so we do have pet food available if anyone needs it.

01:53And what's sort of the feedback from pet owners, you know, about the help that you're providing them?

01:59They're so thankful because it just means they're not having to worry about any of the bills. I know

02:03that obviously they can phone in and they can get vouchers. They work with the Building Together

02:07team and it just means at that cost and they don't have to worry about it. Then they can focus on the

02:12food and obviously we can give them support. But for them it's a godsend really. But sometimes

02:17people will express that the reason that they're struggling is because of high vet bills. So in

02:23that instance we were able to ring the RSPCA and ask for a voucher. And in my experience ringing

02:29them they've always been really quick and I'm really happy to provide that. So those vouchers

02:35are around £100 towards the cost of treatment which is really really helpful for people. So

02:40people have really appreciated that. It's been so important for us to keep that partnership going

02:46especially with the food bank and for Building Together. We wouldn't be anywhere we are without

02:50the partnerships through RSPCA. But yeah in terms of the donations just if you can donate we're

02:57crying out for still wet pet food even though we're getting it from RSPCA, the wet dog food

03:02and carrier bags as well just so we can start decanting a lot of the bigger biscuits into bags.