Morrisons has today announced it will be donating over half a million meals to local pet rescue centres to help feed the nation's cats and dogs - after demand for pet food surged during lockdown.

It comes as major UK supermarkets warned they were experiencing shortages of cat and dog food, following last year's unprecedented rise in pet ownership.

With millions more cats and dogs to feed in households up and down the UK, the need for pet food has dramatically increased.

READ MORE: Supermarkets warn over national shortages of pet food

In response to the increase in demand, Morrisons has responded by setting aside half a million meals in an effort to support local animal shelters.

Its network of ‘’Community Champions’ will work closely with their local shelters to distribute the meals up and down the UK.

The Herald:

Faye Atkins, Pet Food Buyer at Morrisons said: “Throughout the pandemic, our focus has been on feeding the nation, so it only felt right to support those pets who may not have found their forever home just yet as well.

"We hope this donation will go some way to supporting the many shelters doing a fantastic job looking after some of our most vulnerable animals”.

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Earlier this week the supermarket giant announced it was working closely with its suppliers to invest in increasing their capacity, and told customers that while there was not 100% availability in stores, there remained "plenty of stock".

Sainsbury's also revealed it was seeing an increased demand for pet food pouches, but said it was "working hard to maintain stock levels."

Likewise, Tesco said branded cat food pouches were experiencing "particularly strong demand" but said it has been working closely with suppliers to meet customer needs.