Cost of Living: Cardiff pet foodbank finds demand escalating

A man who is struggling with the cost of living crisis has said: "I feed my dog before I feed myself."

Steve Roberts said when it comes to eating, his 13-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Snoop "takes priority".

He is a user of Pet Food Bank Service, a south Wales charity that said it had seen a 700% increase in hits on its website last month.

Founder Debi Emmett said: "At the moment people are feeding their pets rice."

Steve said the pet foodbank was important to him and Snoop.

"Trying to feed the both of us is hard," he said. "I have gone without in order to feed him first, it takes priority.

"He can't go and get food himself he can't ask for food."

Debi started delivering food for needy pet owners four years ago when the 'heating or eating' fuel poverty situation was beginning to affect more people across the country.

She said demand has escalated dramatically from January onwards.

"We've had a massive rise in demand in pet food... from hundreds of meals to thousands of meals," she said. "Last month, hits to our website went up by 700%, that's people looking for help with pet food.

"We're getting calls from all over Wales and in England as well... asking us to send them food, asking for vouchers for things like that."

Debi, who is based in Cardiff, has set up a number of donation points across the city, in supermarkets or doggie day care centres and vets' surgeries, where people can leave a bag of dog or cat food, or any treats.

She collects the food in her van, sorts the wet and dry mixtures at home, stores it, and then delivers it to the 12 food banks, or outlets, across south Wales - from Newport to Swansea.

She does the charity work on her own as well as being a full-time carer for her mum.

She said she needs more support, space and money to help those that need it most.

"I'm struggling to get everything done on my own at the moment, so we're looking to raise funds for a warehouse so that we can have volunteers in to help out that way," she said.

"I have people ready to offer to volunteer but because the Pet Food Bank service is based at my house I can't have people running around in the front and back garden."

Hers is the only pet foodbank in a 50-mile radius.

"I cover the whole of south Wales, there are a few others in Wales, but we pop up first on Google so everyone comes to us to ask if there's one in their area."

One food outlet she delivers to is the Llanrumney hall community trust, in Cardiff.

Catherine Pargeter is the community engagement manager there.

She said she has also noticed this rapid rise in demand due to the cost of living crisis.

"There's been I would say a 50% increase in people picking up pet food, a lot more people have pets these days but now with the current climate with the bills going up a lot of people are struggling to keep their pets fed."