As more people face food insecurity due to federal cuts and inflation, many pet owners are struggling to feed their animals.
Because of the uptick in need, shelters in North Texas have increased their pet pantry efforts or have added a pet pantry as part of their services.
Gillian Robles is the director of the Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender (PASS) program at Dallas Pets Alive, which merged with the Dallas Humane Society in January. She said the rescue started its emergency pet pantry in early October, when the federal government shutdown and SNAP benefits were cut, leaving many families forced to make difficult decisions
"People are out of their benefits for just a few weeks or a month or two,” Robles said, “so we wanted to make sure they weren’t having to make a permanent decision because of a temporary situation.”
About 14% of U.S. households reported food insecurity on average between January and October, up from 12.7% in 2024, according to the latest data from Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability.
“We wanted to fill that gap because a lot of our clients and then also our partners like veterinary clinics and other shelters were seeing an increase in people needing to surrender their pets just because they couldn't afford to feed them,” Robles said.
She said this is the first time the organization has made a concentrated food pantry effort. In the last couple of weeks, they have helped at least 50 families and expect to help more as word gets out. They offer the pet food pantry Monday through Friday, 12-5 p.m. Although the pantry service will end at the end of the year, the PASS program will continue to offer assistance.
Meanwhile, Dallas Animal Services reports it has seen more clients than usual at its usual drive-through pet food pantry, held on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month.
DAS recently had its biggest pet food pantry turnout yet, according to a post on social media, with 66 households served — that’s 174 dogs and 135 cats.
Other shelters offering pet food pantries include the SPCA of Texas, Operation Kindness, North Texas Food Bank and Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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