Food inflation forcing Calgarians to surrender pets
Pet food inflation is forcing some owners to surrender their pets while animal rescue societies in Calgary, and Alberta, are feeling the strain.
“Animal welfare is in crisis right now,” said Deanna Thompson Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS) executive director. “It has been extraordinarily busy, I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I have to say it’s probably the worst year I’ve seen.”
Thompson says the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society on average has 500 animals in care – in the middle of last week they totaled 813 animals in care.
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Medical bills, pet housing and the increase in pet food prices are some of the main problems.
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At the Calgary Humane Society, numbers show that in the past year there’s been a significant increase in pet food costs.
“Our food costs have doubled since this time last year, so we are seen, let’s say this time last year our food cost $60,000 now they are a $135,000,” said Lisa Olund, associate director of health services at the Calgary Humane Society.
According to the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, in 2022 the annual average cost of caring for a dog is approximately $3,700, while the cost for cats at approximately $2,500.
The executive director at the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society says they’ve also seen a big jump in prices from 2022 to 2023, making their job more challenging.
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“Definitely food — food and supplements is the biggest increase and you know it’s kind of a juggling, a fine juggling act when work feeding a lot of fresh food and produce to our patients,” said Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society executive director Beki Hunt.
With the majority of the funds for pet rescue societies coming from donations, there are some struggling to make ends meet.
“We are really in a tight position financially, at this time of the year it’s normally a lot better and we are off budget by almost a $500,000 in donations that we expected to come in but just haven’t,” said Thompson.
Mordor Intelligence market analysis shows the Canadian pet food market is projected to register an annual growth rate of 6.8 per cent in the next five years.
