In a new national trend, free pet food is delivered to seniors, who often are Meals on Wheels clients.
By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
Published June 3, 2003
TAMPA - Fay Young loves her guide dog Petey. The 3-year-old black lab gets her outdoors, shares her bed and never complains.
"Animals are wonderful - having someone to hug and to care about," Young said. "They are always there for you. I've been a dog person all my life."
Single, 65, blind and poor, Young has few means to pamper her four-legged companion. For example, she can't afford a professional clipping for Petey's lengthening toenails.
The food bowl is a different story. There, Petey goes first-class, as her ample, Purina-blessed midsection can attest.
That's because Young gets free pet food from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, a huge bag delivered every month. It's part of a nationwide pet food movement that recognizes an important symbiosis between needy seniors and their pets.
Study after study shows that animals can be powerful tonics late in life. Blood pressure drops when a purring Snowball or Midnight deigns to grace a lap. Loneliness and depression soften when ever-enthusiastic Prince or Max begs for a walk. Arthritic hands almost always enjoy contact with warm, soft fur.
"If you are a 90-year-old widow, and maybe you don't have family or friends near you, your cat or dog gives you reason to get out of bed every morning," said Gary Willoughby, who runs a Lee County Meals on Wheels program that delivers free pet food along with the human variety.
Seminole County retiree Jacqueline Kiggins puts it more succinctly: "Without my cats, I'd be talking to the doorknob."
By the same token, animals need attentive owners. Less fortunate members of their species end up in pounds and shelters, teetering between adoption and euthanasia. Free pet food for the elderly helps keep them in homes.
Some of Lee County's Meals on Wheels volunteers "don't care that much about seniors, they are just animal nuts," said Willoughby, who, with two dogs and three cats, counts himself among the nuts.
"A lot of them didn't want to volunteer" before the county started its pet food deliveries. "Now, they are my best friends. I don't care why they donate or give their time, just that they do."
Meals on Wheels, the federal nutrition program, provides the foundation for many pet food programs by identifying needy seniors and offering a ready-made network of deliverers. Many Meals on Wheels recipients have difficulty shopping for pet food or anything else. Others simply can't afford store brand food, much less Iams.
Lee County Meals on Wheels started delivering pet food after volunteers noticed plates of partially eaten baked chicken or meatloaf left out on stoops. The meal recipient obviously was sharing the government's bounty with Tigger, which wasn't helping anyone. The Older Americans Act, which funds Meals on Wheels, doesn't recognize the therapeutic value of Friskies. So pet food programs around the country enlist private donors.
Fort Lauderdale calls its program Meals for Pets. In Fort Worth, it's Kibbles and Catnip. Orlando called it Chow on Wheels - before Purina suggested that any use of the word "chow" was a copyright infringement. Now Orlando seniors are served by Pet Food Xpress.
Like many areas, Hillsborough County relies on a collaboration between Meals on Wheels people and local animal advocates. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay collects food and delivers it to 150 older people on the first Saturday of every month. Referrals come from the county's Aging Services department, which delivers at-home meals, and a private, nonprofit Meals on Wheels agency.
"This is part of our No More Homeless Pets initiative," said Humane Society director Linda Baker. "Our goal is to keep owners in their homes. We will also spay or neuter animals of Meals on Wheels recipients."
The Humane Society sometimes has extra kitty litter or pet toys that people have donated, so Meals on Wheels recipients occasionally get a surprise.
"Luckily we have enough (food) to handle all the requests so far," Baker saysid, "But we are currently seeking more donors."
Pinellas County's Humane Society and SPCA occasionally give away free food when they encounter people in need. But they have no tie-in with Meals on Wheels.
"We can't use federal or state funds for this and, right now, we don't have the volunteer base that could assist us in taking on a new program," said Denise Doman, nutrition director for Neighborly Senior Services, which runs Pinellas Meals on Wheels.
Certainly, all social programs have their limits. Orlando's Pet Food Xpress delivers about 14 tons of free food a year but draws the line at cat people who would like to feed every passing stray.
