Some argue food stamps should cover pet chow

Edward Johnston Jr. would rather give his dinner to his dog than watch the dog go hungry. That is why the 59-year-old Mississippi man is petitioning the Department of Agriculture to let him use food stamps on kibble and pet treats.

Pets are part of the family, Johnston argued, and families should not have to break up when they hit what he calls a "financial rough patch." He is asking that the federal government modify food-stamp rules to make it easier for low-income people like him to buy food for their pets.

The petition has little chance of succeeding, experts say, given the political and logistical challenges of changing food stamps, otherwise known as SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But it has attracted the attention of nearly 80,000 signers on the popular petition site Care2, as well as a number of animal-welfare organizations.

These groups say that allowing SNAP to be used for pet food could potentially keep tens of thousands of animals out of shelters and prevent low-income people from cutting their pets' meals.

"It's potentially gamechanging," said Matt Bershadker, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "I think we should get behind this in a big way."

Advocates say a foodstamp program that includes pet food would address a little-discussed gap in the social safety net: Currently, there is no federal program that helps low-income people care for their pets.

That population is a large one. According to the National Pet Owners Survey, a poll commissioned by the American Pet Products Association, an industry group, 14 percent of all pet-owning households make less than $25,000 per year. That's roughly the poverty level for a family of four.