Food or Fido: The Impossible Choice Shutdown Victims Face

By Pussy Galore

When we think of disasters, we picture hurricanes, earthquakes, fires—sudden catastrophes that make the evening news. But right now, America is experiencing a different kind of disaster, one that is still unfolding in slow motion: the painful aftermath of the longest government shutdown on record. And while the human toll dominates headlines, there's another crisis quietly devastating families across the country.

Animal shelters are drowning in pet surrenders.

When federal workers don't get paychecks and SNAP benefits arrive late or not at all, families face impossible choices. Sarah Lungwitz, a 46-year-old auto parts store worker, captured it perfectly when she told reporters she'd been terrified of having to surrender her cat Bambi and her two dogs, Spike and Chloe. "I don't even make enough money for all my bills, let alone groceries," she said.

Every human disaster is also an animal disaster. We just don't see their stories on the evening news.

I learned this firsthand on September 11th, 2001. That morning, I'd left my two cats in my 20th-floor apartment four blocks from the World Trade Center and headed to work like any other Tuesday. By afternoon, my neighborhood was a disaster zone, and I was one of thousands of pet owners locked out of lower Manhattan, sick with worry about the animals we'd left behind.

It took me four days to get back to my cats. When PETA and the ASPCA set up an emergency hotline for pet owners in the area, I've never dialed a phone number faster. Three days later, they called us back with a plan. We'd meet at Chelsea Piers, where volunteers would escort us by zone into the restricted area around Ground Zero.

Those volunteers walked us through devastation, past armed guards and unstable buildings, because they understood something fundamental: those weren't just pets we were rescuing. They were family members. They were the reason some of us had to keep going.

I walked more than three-and-a-half miles from Chelsea Piers to my building on Cliff Street, carrying fifteen pounds of food, water, and clean litter. The power was out, so I hauled it all up twenty flights of stairs in the dark with only a flashlight. My cats hadn't eaten since Tuesday morning. Their water was gone. They were traumatized but alive.

The difference between that sudden disaster and today's slow-moving catastrophe is time. On 9/11, the crisis was immediate but finite. This shutdown grinds on, week after week, forcing families to make heartbreaking calculations: medicine or pet food? Rent or vet bills?

The numbers tell the story. New Leash on Life shelter in Tennessee reports that usage of their pet food pantry jumped from serving 75-100 families to 125 in October alone. Zeus' Rescues in New Orleans gave out a ton of pet food last month—double their normal amount. The founder says it's the highest demand she's seen in 20 years, with desperate people dumping animals in the shelter's yard.

"People are exceptionally panicked," says Paula Shaw from Companion Animal Alliance in Baton Rouge. Her shelter had to halt a program that provided pet food to 200 families monthly after losing a donor—catastrophic timing.

Here's what many don't realize: when you help animals during disasters, you help people too. The elderly man who won't leave for a shelter because they don't take pets. The child whose cat is the only stable thing in their chaotic life. The veteran whose service dog is their lifeline. Keep these animals fed and safe, and you keep families together.

Right now, across America, there are families sharing their last can of tuna with their cats. Parents skipping meals so their kids' beloved dog doesn't go hungry. People who've lost everything except the furry friend who still greets them with unconditional love.

Here's how you can help right now:

• Local pet food banks: Many human food pantries now stock pet food. Check with your local food bank about donating

• ASPCA Emergency Grant Program: Helps shelters meet increased demand during crises

• Humane Society's Pets for Life: Provides resources in underserved communities

• Care for Pets (Illinois) and similar local nonprofits: Many organize grocery gift cards for struggling families

• Your local shelter: Call and ask what they need most—often it's foster families to ease overcrowding

Even small actions matter. A $10 bag of pet food might keep a family together. Fostering one dog for a month might save someone from choosing between their pet and their home.

When we help animals in disasters—sudden or slow-moving—we're not just saving pets. We're preserving the bonds that help humans survive their darkest hours. Sometimes the love between a person and their animal is the only light left to guide them through.