Looking for ways to spoil stray dogs? The ‘Xmas Box Lunch’ is perfect!

One thing many people forget about during the Christmas period is stray animals who often roam the streets hungry and cold. While not many can afford to make a huge impact on these animals’ lives, one woman has come up with a small way to make a difference. Claudine Matthews has come up wth the ‘Xmas Box Lunch’, a small box of treats for stray dogs and cats.

Here’s how you can help stray dogs this festive

There are millions of stray dogs and cats roaming the streets of South Africa every day trying to find something to eat. This fact becomes a little sadder when you consider it’s Christmas time and many people and their animals are eating way more than they need.

Claudine Matthews from Boksburg realised this sad truth and sat down to find ways to make Christmas better for poor strays. And so, six years ago, the Xmas Lunch Box was born.

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The concept behind the box is pretty simple and quite inexpensive. All it takes is an old ice cream tub, some dog food, and one or two treats. If you would like to feed cats, you can simply replace the dog food with cat food.

“I didn’t have any means to celebrate Christmas, as one traditionally does. In fact, I had NOTHING.

Poor animals need love too

“I decided to call for donations of a very simple/ inexpensive meal pack which I could go and hand out to hungry dogs across all informal settlements in the Boksburg/ Benoni surrounds over the Christmas period and on Christmas day,” said Claudine in a Good Things Guy article.

And now Claudine takes a drive around local townships and gives the boxes to all the stray dogs she comes across.

“Over this period it has become my tradition to hand out these box lunches to every single dog I come across in the settlements… or strays along any roadside, whether they are officially part of my regular outreach project or not.”

She also goes on to encourage people to offer their help to animal shelters as much as they can. This is especially important during the festive season when cases of animal neglect and abuse are high.

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