Owners struggling to feed pets

Some are surrendering their animals or going without food themselves

Some pet owners are being forced to choose between feeding themselves or their animals, as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.

There has been an increasing number of dogs being surrendered to rescues — which are already at capacity — as owners find they cannot afford food or vet bills.

Tyra Basilicata opened the Wellington Dog Food Bank just before Christmas and the demand has been overwhelming. She has given more than 700kg of food to more than 200 dogs since January 1.

“I started out taking individual orders from people, then dropping food to their home,” Basilicata said.

“It became pretty apparent, pretty quickly, that I was not going to be able to keep that up. I decided to go to a mobile service, which basically involves me taking all the food that I have, loading it into the back of the car, and driving to certain areas for people to come to me.”

Basilicata said a lot of her clients worked fulltime. “They’re still struggling. A lot of clients are feeding their dog instead of themselves.”

Nicole Doriguzzi and Vicky Hayward, who are behind Ellie’s Canine Rescue and Rehome, have had a huge number of people asking for help, and it has risen every year since they opened in 2019.

They rescued and rehomed 302 dogs in 2022, 518 in 2023, and were expecting to save even more this year.

“People are finding that they are unable to afford food, or vet bills, or desexing,” Doriguzzi said.

Helena Clark and Johanna Rush started Chance 4 Change in November, and have already taken in 54 dogs across the Wellington region since then.

One dog they rescued was being fed Weetbix and milk because its owner could not afford to buy dog food.

“Unfortunately, with New Zealand’s cost of living crisis, and also the fact that a lot of . . . rental properties aren’t always keen to have dogs . . . we’re finding a lot of dogs being surrendered to rescues,” Clark said.

“We’re also, unfortunately, seeing them on places like Facebook being given away for free.”

The Government has announced changes to tenancy laws that would see a two-week pet bond and obligations for tenants to pay for damage their animals cause in a bid to make it easier to find a rental as a dog owner. But the changes still require the landlord’s consent, and will not be implemented until the end of next year.

Clark and Rush said they were going to start an education programme in the next couple of months to reduce the number of unwanted, neglected and abused dogs.

“We are very big believers, if we don’t educate from the bottom up — from our children — then we’re never going to break the cycle of neglect and abuse in this country,” Clark said.

“We are slowly putting together a group of certified therapy dogs that’ll come into schools and teach children about things like dog safety as well as how to care for animals.

“And we’re going to emphasise with that, the importance of vaccinating and desexing,” Rush said.