The Numbers are in! 846 pounds!

Clinic Kitty Moe Posing Atop the Pile

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to our annual Pet Food for the Food Shelf drive this year.  If you were in during the month of March, you will have seen the gigantic pile of pet food, for all species,  donated by the community as part of March FoodShare month.  Clinic kitty Moe got into the habit of posing atop the pile and demonstrated considerable interest in sniffing all the different kinds.   We eventually loaded it into staff vehicles and delivered it to the Valley Outreach Food Shelf in Stillwater, which weighed us in at 846 pounds of pet food.   The Food Shelf is grateful;  they know, as we do, that feeding a beloved companion animal is an important part of many people's lives.   Thank you very much;  next year we may have to add on a room to hold the donations!

Pet Food is Piling Up!

Official clinic greeter Kitty Moe enjoys perching on the pet food!

It's only been one week since we announced that we would again be collecting pet food for the Valley Outreach Food Shelf, and already our consultation room has more than 300 pounds stacked in a rapidly-overflowing corner.    Thank you so much for your generosity!   Dr. Baillie reports that, after the Pioneer Press picked up our announcement on March 8,  calls and drop-ins began to increase from all over the east metro.   "Bags of dog and cat food are coming in, and some bird food as well", said Dr. Baillie.  "At this rate, we'll have to make two trips to the food shelf.  Last year's total was 650 pounds of food, and it looks like we'll exceed that this year."   The clinic will accept donations through the end of March FoodShare month; any brand, any size, for any kind of pet.

See www.cedarpetclinic.com for business hours.  

CEDAR PARTNERS WITH VALLEY OUTREACH TO COLLECT PET FOOD FOR FOOD SHELF

During the month of March, we are partnering with Valley Outreach in Stillwater to collect pet food as part of their special FoodShare month-long drive. Details on how to donate are on our homepage, and here’s a little background information. The genesis of the idea came from our participation in 2005 in a pet supply collection organized by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Local newspaper readers might remember this photo celebrating that effort. Our partnership with Valley Outreach is based on their concern about some clients who have needed to give up their beloved pets because of the expense of buying pet food. “Pet food is something people don’t always think about donating”, says Kate Krisik, the Executive Director at Valley Outreach. “It’s difficult for us to keep it in stock. We’re grateful to Cedar Pet Clinic Lake Elmo for the help in gathering up donations.”

National Public Radio aired a story… two years ago… called The Recession and Pets: Hard Times for Snoopy. Here’s a digest:

“Because of the economic downturn, Americans are being ousted from their homes and, in many cases, forced to give up their pets for adoption.

“Take, for instance, Snoopy, a 7-year-old Labrador-shepherd mix, and Sheba, a 5-year-old blue heeler mix. Their owner, Edward Jones, 43, was recently evicted from his rental house in Lakeview, Ore.

“For the past seven years, Jones has had steady construction work pouring concrete. When the economy turned sour, he lost his job, then his $400-a-month home. "I couldn't make the rent. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it," Jones says. Finally the landlord tossed Jones — and his two dogs — out on the street.

“As stopgap lodging, Jones found a subsidized room at a local motel. But dogs are not allowed there. So, with tears in his eyes, Jones put Snoopy and Sheba in the back of his Jeep pickup, drove to the Oregon Outback Humane Society and gave his dogs up for adoption. "Hopefully," he says, choking back emotion, "they'll find a good home."

"The toll on pets is just as big as on people," says Dawn Lauer of the Humane Society of the United States. "We are seeing many more pets relinquished to shelters or abandoned because of the recession."