Wheeling for Pets

The program Meals on Wheels/Pets Eat Too was launched last month with 30,000 pounds of pet food. It's being run under the auspices of the Department of Human Assistance senior nutrition program.

The goal, said Jayna Karpinski-Costa, a Citrus Heights, Calif., city councilwoman and licensed veterinarian, is to ensure that no senior, or pet, goes to bed hungry.

Last month a semitrailer truck carrying the donated pet food pulled into Citrus Heights' city government complex.

Twenty pallets of dry food were unloaded, with the help of Karpinski-Costa's husband, Ted Costa, and stacked in a Police Department storage site.

She had helped arrange the donation from Royal Canin pet food company and the Banfield pet hospital chain.

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This is further evidence that pets have assumed a position of inordinate importance in our society and it's probably no coincidence that this arrangement is taking place in childless California, but (i) it's a nice story, (ii) it helps elderly people sustain their pets, which are sometimes their primary source of companionship, and (iii) the dog food was donated by private parties.