Why Everett Animal Shelter Asks Public to Donate Dog Food

Can you help out with a donation of canned dog food?

My Everett News received a couple of inquiries regarding the recent post about the Everett Animal Shelter asking the public to donate dog food. People expressed concern about the city asking the public to donate to something taxpayers are already shelling out for. I put the question to Everett Animal Shelter manager Shannon Delgado. Here’s her response…

This call out is just for canned dog food. With reference to our food, when we get low we do a call out to the public first before purchasing the food, this way we can use those budgeted funds on other necessities that are more specialized for the animals i.e. animals with intestinal sensitivity, kidney issues, diabetic, thyroid etc. The public is always very generous and if we are specific on what we need, they deliver!

The amount of food we go through in a week, month and year completely depends on what our animal inventory is like. For example if we take in a group of animals from a hoarding situation, our food needs will go up extensively. I can do a “ballpark” estimate, take a 40lb bag of dog food that is fed to a large size dog (lab, rott, shep), that dog requires on average 3 cups of food per day. There are approximately 75 cups of dog food in a 40lb bag of food. So 3 cups of food per day x 30 days = 90 cups of food for one month. We would then need to have 2 1/4th (for easy math) bags of dog food to feed one large dog for a month. On average over a year’s period of time we can house up to 245 dogs per month and their average length of stay is 4 days.

On average we get donated food from the public throughout the year, however when we are low are have a specialty we need, we always ask the public before spending tax dollars!

Editor’s personal note: I really appreciate the detailed, yet easy to understand explanation, that Ms. Delgado provided. From my dealings with the shelter, Everett’s animal population is in fantastic hands and I’d like to urge you to donate to the shelter. Also if as you read My Everett News and you have questions that arise from a story, please ask and we’ll try to find an answer for you. Leland Dart