Every year an estimated 30 million pets face hunger in the United States. Luckily, efforts to lower this number are being made by initiatives like PetSmart Charities. President of PetSmart Charities Aimee Gilbreath joined Studio 512 to help us learn more about this important topic.

What is something that people may be surprised to learn about pet hunger?

“Most folks are used to hearing about families struggling with food insecurity. A majority of households have a pet, so if they are struggling to feed themselves, they are probably also struggling to feed their pet. 1 in 6 people needed some kind of food assistance in 2022, which is how you get millions of pets also needing help.”

What are some other impacts of pet hunger?

“People are willing to go to extraordinary measures to feed their pets, and we did a survey that found that 83% of pet owners said that they would forgo their own food to make sure that their pet was fed. That’s not a choice we want people to have to make. We also don’t want them to have to make the even more heartbreaking choice of giving their pet up to an already over-crowded shelter.”

You can participate in the #DinnerDanceForPets challenge on Instagram to help raise money. Go to PetSmartCharities.org to learn more about this initiative and their other programs.

This segment is paid for by PetSmart Charities and is intended as an advertisement. Opinions expressed by the guest(s) on this program are solely those of the guest(s) and are not endorsed by this television station.