Dog food for the food bank

[macaroniplease]

My dog has decided she doesn’t like a particular brand of dog food, leaving me with several unopened tins. Rather than throw them away, I thought I’d put them in the food bank collection at Tesco.

As I was doing this, an elderly woman came over and told me off, saying that food banks were for people, not dogs, and that I shouldn’t be putting pet food in there.

I was a bit taken aback. Surely people who are struggling to afford food might also be struggling to feed their pets? I thought I was doing something quite nice!

I didn’t argue with her but it’s been bothering me since.

AIBU? Is donating dog food to a food bank actually a bad thing?

Why on Earth are you giving a second thought to this nosey old boot? My local foodbank asks for pet food donations and I have no problem obliging.

It depends on the food bank. One near us does not do pet food, however there is a pet rescue that they pass it on to, and they're very clear about it, one does pet food, and the other doesn't and specifically says they don't want it.

The only thing is, a good idea to make sure it is clearly pet food. We once had these posh looking ready meals donated with names like "Luxurious Lamb Hot Pot". Thankfully someone had a dog and recognised them as dog food or else they'd probably have done out in a food parcel... Apparently you normally bought it in a big box, with a couple of dozen of the meals and instructions on the box. On the individual packets there was no mention of it being pet food.

This, i used to volunteer at a community food bank we had donations of pet food most weeks and a monthly donation from a pet shop, you did nothing wrong.

Giving pet food to a food bank is a lovely thing to do.

Our local food bank takes it food. They stopped for a while, but found that people were feeding their pets the human food first, and going without themselves. So they started giving out pet food again to prevent the humans going hungry.

For some people their only joy is their pet. If they fall on hard times and can’t afford to feed themselves they are very unlikely to abandon their pet. If they can use a foodbank for themselves then they are likely to use that food to feed their pet. I would much rather that food donated for a human is consumed by a human and that anyone wishing to donate pet food does so. The woman was giving an opinion not a statement of fact. Foodbanks that don’t accept pet food pass it on to others that do.

OP ignore the idiots, they are the same individuals that say foodbanks don’t/shouldn’t accept sanitary products or toiletries.

The food bank I volunteered for had both dog and cat food.

Why do you care what she says? Tell her the facts and just leave it there. She’s a twat.

So poor people aren't allowed pets? But having lots of kids is fine, is her argument?
Not a nice person. Anyone could end up struggling, and no one should be judging. Keep donating!

People regularly say on surveys they would cut back on their own spending before cutting back on their pets, so I don’t think it’s a problem at all. She’s probably annoyed thinking you bought it especially, rather than giving left over cans, and thinks if you’re spending money on a donation you should probably by for the people….probably also the sort of person who thinks you should be only donating corned beef, porridge or pasta; and orange squash or a packet of biscuits is an unnecessary luxury

Yes this is really important - they don't all take it. Many do, but others have operational limits.

ignore her. If they take dog good they take it. Does she think there’s a limit to what the food bank will take it that you would put human food in it instead?

She's an idiot, to put it bluntly. Of course there are people who would be grateful for help feeding their pets when they're struggling to feed themselves and their families. If the food bank doesn't want dog food, I'd assume they'd make that clear.