Pet food banks in Falkirk and Bo'ness area in crisis as donations drop off

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home works with over 80 pet food bank providers across east and central Scotland – including branches in Falkirk and Bo’ness – to provide meals to pet owners who would otherwise not be able to afford to feed their beloved pets and possible have to give them up.

Twenty volunteers collect, organise and distribute donations to pet food bank locations across Scotland each week.

The organisation states it was able to fulfil over 75 per cent of pet food requests it received in 2023, but that number has dropped to less than 50 per cent since February this year.

It states it is now struggling to support the food banks with even the basic amount of cat and dog food they require to support families in desperate need.

Jamie Simpson, director of people and services at Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home, said: “We rely solely on donations to provide food supplies and with the cost-of-living crisis, demand is increasing.

"We are now at a point in which our foodbank donations are critically low but demand for help is at a record high, so we are asking anyone who can to support us with a donation of dog or cat food, to help pet owners in need in the community and keep pets in loving homes.”

The demand for pet food bank support is growing so rapidly it is currently outstripping supply.

Last year the organisation provided 671,000 pet meals in total through emergency food packs accessed directly through the home or through food banks – a 104 per cent increase on the number of meals provided in 2022.

In April this year alone the home supplied 1144 dogs with one week’s worth of dog food and 2124 cats were supported with one week’s worth of cat food.

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home is now looking for local pet food stores or business to help with donations or if people can run pet food drives at their place of work or community group.

People can e-mail [email protected] for more details.