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Roswitha Porath combs, strokes and mothers her two dogs Charlie and Lulu as if they were her children. "I don't have anyone else," says the pensioner from Hennef. Because she lives on basic welfare, it is difficult to make social contacts: she doesn't have the money to join a club or just go out. And she spends everything that is left over on her dogs. Olivia Strelow lives in Eitorf with her cat Pitti Pedro. As a foreign language correspondent, she once earned a good living and traveled a lot around the world. But an illness threw her off track in her mid-40s - today she just about makes ends meet. Give away her cat to save money? She would rather go without her own food. Hans-Josef Dresen knows dozens of such people. He organizes a pet food bank in the Rhein-Sieg district. The first pet food bank in Germany was founded in 2006. There are now around 20 such associations in North Rhine-Westphalia alone. And demand is growing. ______ A film for Unterwegs im Westen by Jörg Stolpe. This film was produced in 2019. All statements and facts correspond to the status at that time and have not been updated since then. Other documentaries on the topic: • Living Extraordinarily