Lubbock Meals on Wheels asking for volunteers to take furry friends to their vet appointments

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock Meals on Wheels started the pet program in 1999, when they realized many of their homebound clients were not able to get out of the house to get food for their furry friends.

“They were feeding a portion of their meal to their pets, which obviously wasn’t the purpose of our program and not healthy for their animal,” Executive Director of Lubbock Meals on Wheels, Lisa Gilliland, said.

Since the pet program started, Meals on Wheels sends dog and cat food to homes on their route every other week; it feeds more than 400 pets a year.

“We all know the value of our pets as far as being our companions; it’s even more so for someone that’s homebound and otherwise alone,” Lisa Gilliland said.

Meals on Wheels has also partnered with the Texas Veterinary Medical Foundation to start a wellness program.

“We had done veterinary care on our own, but...that is very expensive, so they stepped up last year and covered wellness exams, vaccinations and preventatives,” Gilliland said.

Since most of those pet parents can’t drive or leave their house, there is no way to get them to their much-needed vet appointments. That’s where volunteers are needed. Not only can volunteers transport food, but they could also pack food, transport dogs or cats to their vet appointments, or even just answer phones at the desk to help out. Sometimes pets are the only company Meals on Wheels recipients have between visits from volunteers, so it’s important to keep them safe and healthy.

“This way their animal can be healthy and stay with them,” Gilliland said.

Donations of cat or dog food are accepted any time and all recipient food donations are separate from pet food and wellness donations, if you are interested in donating you can click here.

If you are interesting in volunteering, you can click here.

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