This week, I stopped at Elgin Animal Hospital to check their Caring Pet Cupboard donation bin. There was an unopened bag of cat kibble in it, high-quality food 
sold by the clinic. There’s usually a bag or two of it in the bin and it’s not past its expiry date. It’s always that same kind. It didn’t seem likely it was excess stock the clinic wanted to clear out. Being unopened, it likely didn’t come from someone whose cat didn’t like it or had passed away. It being there with such regularity made me wonder where it came from, but I’d never asked.
The other day, the receptionist looked at it in my hands and smiled, “Mrs. [--] was in.” She explained when she saw my puzzlement. “That food comes from her.” All the way home, I felt good knowing there’s a lady out there who makes a point of coming in and buying a bag, sometimes two, of this food for other people’s cats. She’s probably got cats of her own to feed. With rebagging one of her bags, she’s also feeding 8 other cats for a week.
Last Wednesday Feb. 1st was “Random Act of Kindness Day” here in St. Thomas/Elgin. It was designated in honour of the late Laurie Houston. Her family had suggested that everyone do what she had done throughout her life: something nice for someone else – just because.
In the past year, with the Caring Pet Cupboard, we’ve been seeing a lot of those acts from kind people. The lady who buys the cat food for our bin at Elgin Animal Hospital is one. The lady who always buys a couple extra cans of cat food “for the poor cats” at Pet Valu is another. She buys in bulk, they told me, for her own cats and the neighbourhood strays and ferals. But she always puts a few cans in our bin. The kids who buy a box of dog treats when they come to the pet store with their mother to buy food for their own dog.
The people who think of our bins or the animal shelter when their pet passes away. Partial bags of special diet food along with cat toys never played with, geriatric care dog food. Sometimes you can piece the story together just from the kind of food. I want to give those people my condolences on their loss, but I don’t know who they are. But I thank them. Another cat or dog with kidney problems or diabetes is going to have the special food they need because of the thoughtfulness of those bereaved people.
The stores who give us their unsold or extra food and supplies: “It’s better than just throwing it out,” they say. The pet food companies that take their corporate citizen role seriously and make donations of food to us and to animal shelters. Department stores that donate pet food directly to the food banks.
From the small bag of kibble you hoped would tempt finicky Fluffy but didn’t, the extra can you bought for the donation bin, all the way to skids of food straight from the manufacturer, it’s added up. In this past year over 5 tons of kibble, nearly 600 cans and lots of treats have gone to people who need help providing food for their pets and to rescue groups. Random or not, all these are acts of kindness. Thank you.
