What To Do If You Can't Afford Dog Food

Every year, thousands of animals are surrendered to Volusia County shelters, and voluntarily given up by owners who can no longer care for or feed them. While some of these situations are dire and involve permanent changes in situation, others are related to temporary situations such as a lost job, an emergency, natural disaster, or a medical emergency. Owners face unemployment, home foreclosure, evictions, and other financial hardships, and many of them make keeping a pet seem impossible. Despite that, keeping dogs out of the shelter is important, and you can look for resources to help you with temporary care, including free dog food donated for that purpose.

Why Keep Dogs Out of Shelters? 
Many pet owners go to surrender their dogs to local shelters in order to provide for the short or long-term care of the animal. While this is well intentioned, many shelters are already overburdened, and there are more animals up for adoption than there are families who want to adopt. In fact, the Halifax Humane Society took in 3,589 dogs in 2015 alone, and only adopted out about 38% of them. In the same year, Orange County Animal Services took in 20,750 animals (including owner surrenders and strays), and only adopted out 6,188 of them. If you love or care for your dog, you want the best for it, and that should mean striving to keep your dog out of shelters. Luckily, there are a lot of options right in Volusia county, even if you can't afford dog food.

Apply to the Volusia County Dog Food Bank
Sophie's Circle is the only dog food bank pantry operating in Volusia county and we work to distribute dog food to all breeds for owners in need. Dog food donations ensure that pet owners facing temporary hardship can continue to live with their beloved pet, and simultaneously keep the animal out of the shelter system. We've distributed thousands of pounds of dog food to pet owners in need, and we will continue to do so. To apply, collect proof of your low income status, and proof that your dog is spayed or neutered and visit one of the distribution locations on distribution day.

Distribution Locations:

Port Orange
Grace Episcopal Church
4110 S. Ridgewood Avenue,
Port Orange, Florida 32127
first Monday of each month from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

New Smyrna Beach
312 Julia Street
every Tuesday from 8:30 AM -11:00 AM
Requesting help from our dog food bank for temporary help for your dog is more affordable for shelters than surrendering your dog. The SPCA estimates that average costs for a surrendered dog for the shelter amount to $300. Sophie's Circle distributes primarily donated food to this extent to help keep dogs with their families and reduce the burden on shelters.

Foster Your Dog
If you can't afford dog food, you can request that friends or family members foster the dog for a temporary period until you are back on your feet. Requests for temporary homes are typically accepted more often than requests for rehoming, because many people are willing to provide temporary care in the event of an emergency. Most shelters do not have the resources to provide temporary foster homes for non-shelter dogs, as this can take away from resources used to prevent euthanization of existing shelter dogs.

Surrendering Your Dog
If you are unable to care for your dog for the long term and do not have any resources that you can use to care for the animal in the future, finding a new home may be your best option. Consider trying to rehome your dog via friends and family for as long as you can before taking the dog to a local no-kill shelter.

Rehoming Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/229948157185227/412868865559821
https://www.facebook.com/groups/863PETSandSTUFF/878155658892966
https://www.petfinder.com/
http://www.petharbor.com/