Every day at 11 a.m., Glenn Smith receives a hot meal from Skagit Senior Services through the Meals on Wheels program.

He signed up in April after he had a heart attack and found it difficult to cook for himself, losing 40 pounds along the way. Although he appreciates the timely meals — which he said reminds him to take his medication every day — Smith has more than one mouth to feed at his trailer home in south Mount Vernon.

It is a mouth that he would feed before feeding himself if it came to that, which is why Meals on Wheels has added pet food to many of its deliveries to residents over age 60.

Grace, a 5-year-old mix of German shepherd and Rottweiler, sat quietly and attentively at his side, conveniently next to an open air conditioning vent Thursday afternoon.

She may be a dog, but she’s Smith’s closest companion.

“She’s about the friendliest dog I’ve ever seen,” Smith said. “She’s certainly not an attack dog.”

Smith, 67, is one of 200 Meals on Wheels recipients in the county, about half of whom own a cat or a dog. This month Senior Services delivered one-time pet food donations to the seniors.

Senior Services started informing the pet owners of the program. Many opted out simply because their pets had special dietary needs, but many, like Smith, were glad to get a little extra help even as a one-time donation.

The food is collected by the Banfield Pet Hospital, which donated time to collect the food and deliver it to Senior Services. Individual animal lovers donated food or money to the program, and Petsmart in Burlington donated food, including dented cans of cat food and torn bags of dry dog food that would otherwise be thrown away.

Senior Services Nutritional Coordinator Jodi Fraser said she hoped the program would prevent seniors from sharing their hot meals with pets, depriving themselves of nutrition. She said national studies conducted by the Meals on Wheels program found that 40 percent of meal recipients shared or gave their entire meals to pets.

“That’s kind of heartbreaking,” said Heather Dooley of Banfield Pet Hospital. “That’s why we started collecting food for them.”

Fraser said it’s not surprising, given high gas prices. And Senior Services helps a group of seniors who struggle to pay for basic necessities.

“With the economy the way it is ... they can barely pay their power bill let alone buy food,” Fraser said. “A lot of people will go without so their pets can have food.”

It’s a sentiment Smith shares. He said he’s been able to feed Grace without too much trouble yet, but said his pet comes first in his mind.

“I’d probably go without food myself to get her fed,” Smith said. “She’s sure been a faithful companion and pet.”

Fraser said the program has run into a few hitches already. There’s plenty of dog food to go around, but they’re low on cat food. Of the 100 residents receiving pet food, she said there are around 150 cats in those homes.

Just a few weeks into deliveries, the group ran out of cat food. Fraser said she’s received a few food monetary donations, but she hoped to head out one more time at the end of the summer with another donation delivery. She’ll be able to help the dogs, she said, but she’s not sure about the cats.

As they wrap up the first run of deliveries, they’re looking to continue the program in December and next summer, and in an ideal world, Fraser would establish a long-term program to prevent seniors from handing their food over to their pets.

“This is something I would love to do year-round,” Fraser said. “I’m a little worried with the way the economy is going that it may not be an option.”

* Aaron Burkhalter can be reached at 360-416-2141 or .