Many people can spend Thanksgiving eating and drinking with the people they love the most, but homeless animals aren’t so lucky – especially after a pandemic and slowing economy have plagued shelters. become more overloaded and understaffed than ever.
The situation is particularly dire for dogs and cats in some parts of the country, including Louisiana, where shelters are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Ida. This leaves fewer resources to help dogs like Hildie, a starving man who is injured at Louisiana’s Iberville Parish Animal Shelter in dire need of food and medical care.
The emaciated old dog was in terrible shape, with broken, worn teeth, showing signs of over-mating and was suffering from a serious heartworm disease. Heartworm disease is very common in the South – especially in Louisiana, which leads the country in infection rates – but Hildie’s case was so severe that the sick large dog was constantly coughing.
But even as Hildie demanded urgent attention, the senior stray was just one of many displaced animals that flooded the Louisiana shelter in the wake of Hurricane Ida. This prompted the Greater Good charity to urgently deliver high-quality pet food to an emergency shelter, providing Hildie with the nutrition she needed to begin her long-term recovery.
“Hildie has never been in danger of not having the highest quality nutrition to help her further recovery,” grateful shelter workers told Greater Good Charity. “That donation has also given many people who got lost and surrendered some of the best food they’ve had in their entire lives.”
Hildie is currently recovering in foster care with the director of the shelter, where she will stay until she is healthy enough to be adopted. But while this little Lousiana narrowly escaped her grim fate, there are millions of other starving pets who can enjoy a delicious meal this holiday season.
Hildie’s heartbreaking plight inspired the Animal Rescue Website in partnership with Charity and Wag Greater Good! To celebrate Thanksgiving, a global donation is held annually on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
In honor of Tuesday, November 30, 2021, we will be hosting a pet food drive for hungry shelter animals, which are especially vulnerable as winter draws to a close.
Our goal is to provide 3 million food for hungry shelter pets, and to help animals like Hildie who wouldn’t be able to be healthy, happy, raiseable pets without quality pet food —- and by helping cash-strapped shelters meet their biggest expenses.
But we could not have provided all of these meals without your support, which is even more important during this difficult year. You can donate $25 for Help us deliver 500 meals feed hungry pets? Your donation will help us deliver quality food to the animals that need shelter most. Donate today!
