Food Stamps for Pets

I just learned about this program this morning; it was on my Yahoo news page.  Pet Food Stamps is a donation-based program.  It was set up two weeks ago, out of New York City by a man named Marc Okon.  He says he has already received 12,000 applications.

To be clear, this program uses no government money.  It is based on donations.  To apply for assistance, you must be below the poverty level or receiving food stamps.  Recipients are sent pet food from a retailer, PetFoodDirect.

It seems to me this could help a lot of people who can't afford to keep their pets.  I'm not sure, but I assume you can't buy pet food with regular food stamps.

While I'm here, I thought I would mention another charity for animals:

We have a small colony of feral cats that came up from a ravine behind the houses in our neighborhood.  We started feeding them so now they all hang out in our yard and the yard next door.  Over the years we have trapped a dozen of them and taken them to be spayed/neutered.  The clinic where we took them in Cincinnati had a grant from PetSmart specifically for spaying or neutering feral cats.  We paid $15.00 per cat, and PetSmart paid the rest.

I appreciated the savings, so every time I go to PetSmart I put a dollar in their donation box.