Pets in Poverty: Local Vet Clinic Helps Feed Furry Friends

An Urbandale veterinary clinic just turned over more than 500 pound of pet food and supplies to the Pet Project Midwest, a regional effort that helps people better care for their pets and avoid relinquishing them to a shelter when they’re going through tough economic times.

West Side Veterinary Clinic became a drop-off location – along with Petco stores across the metro – for the pet-food pantry last fall. Yuletide campaigns to restock food pantry shelves had already appealed to clinic co-owner Jeannie Janssen’s holiday spirit and she planned for the clinic to participate, but that didn’t seem enough.

If people can’t feed themselves, Janssen reasoned, they probably can’t feed their pets, either.

“You know the food thing’s going to happen, but there are pets out there that probably need food as well,” she said.

That’s a significant number: Around 47 million Americans, or roughly 15 percent of the population, receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, NBC News reported in November.

That puts pets in poverty, too. Janssen said the clinic staff had already decided to collect pet food and supplies, but didn’t know the best network for distributing them, when they learned of Pet Project Midwest.

So Janssen and her husband, Dr. David Janssen, put a blue Pet Project Midwest collection barrel in their clinic at 3035 86th St. late last fall and found it quickly filling.

“Our clients were very receptive – awesome," a testament, Jeannie Janssen said, toa bond between pets and humans that is undeniably like family.

“We can see these animals love their people,” she said. “It’s kind of nice to see that we can help them stay with their owners.”

Pet Project Midwest Feeds About 600 Pets

The donations collected by the West Side Veterinary Clinic help Pet Project Midwest’s Pet Pantry serve about 600 animals annually, the majority cats and dogs, but also birds and hamsters.

“To go through something as traumatic as the loss of your job and then to have to worry about how you are going to feed your animal, that’s added stress they don’t need.” – Heather Wilkerson, Pet Project Midwest

The Des Moines-based non-profit was founded in 2010 and is run by a non-salaried board of directors. Funded by donations, corporate sponsorships and grants, the Pet Project Midwest’s aim with The Pet Pantry is to reduce the number of pets that are surrendered to shelters because their owners can no longer afford to feed them.

“Most of the people currently serving are people that have lost their jobs. going through a hard time with a bad economy and things like that,” said Heather Wilkerson, marketing co-chair and a member of Pet Project Midwest’s board of directors.

“We get people coming in all the time with tears in their eyes saying they don’t know what they would do without their pets,” she said. “To go through something as traumatic as the loss of your job and then to have to worry about how you are going to feed your animal, that’s added stress they don’t need.”

Most clients need assistance only for a few months, “then turn into our biggest supporters and most loyal volunteers,” Wilkerson said.

How to Give

The amount of food and supplies, including some basic non-prescription medicines, on hand varies from month-to-month at Pet Project Midwest’s at 701 E. Second St., Des Moines, but corporate and other charitable  donations are a constant.

“Hy-Vee does about three pallets a month of food,” Wilkerson said. “ARL (Animal rescue League of Iowa) recently helped us out after they got 38 pallets from Purina – they gave us 33.”

The current supply will supply dog clients throughout the summer months, Wilkerson said, but noted “that’s out of the ordinary.”

More donations are always needed, especially cat litter.

“We try to give out bags of litter when give out cat food,” Wilkerson said. “People are less willing to donate since it’s not something an animal technically need to survive. We also accept treats, toys and things like that.”

The only restriction on the litter is that clumping type be avoided because that type is hard on cats’ tender paws.

Apply for assistance online at www.thepetprojectmidwest.org or stop by the office at 701 E. Second St., Des Moines. Office hours are 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. For emergency assistance, send an email  to kim@thepetprojectmidwest.org.

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