Getting free or discount cat food?

Hello all,

I am wondering if anyone has experience with setting up an arrangement with a local store that you would like to take their old/expired cat food. I would like some help feeding a colony of feral cats and am wondering if I can approach my local Walmart (no local PetSmart or Petco here) or grocery store.

Has anyone had luck with this or other sources of cat food? If so, how did you phrase your request and how much explaining did you do? Did you just call up the manager on the phone and blurt out your story?

Looking for any tips. Thanks.

We get a LOT of donated food at our Humane Society. Since we feed the fosters nothing but Science Diet, everything else is donated to folks that take care of feral colonies.

We get broken bags from Walmart and grocery stores. We also just got about 1000 pounds from the local animal control (that was a joy lugging that load!).

So I guess some places to start are Humane Societies, Animal Control, grocery stores or discount stores. It helps to be affilated with an organization when you ask for donations or discounts.

And if you go to a store, just blurt out what you are asking for and why. I can tell you that Walmart has been the hardest to work with - they want an application filled out and they get back to you sometimes as late as 30 days later if at all. Suggest you hit stores that you frequent where they know your face - they are usually more sympathetic if you are a regular customer.

Don't be afraid to ask!! If you never ask, the answer will always be no.

I get bags dropped off every so often from the kind folks in town. I also have contacted most of the cat food companies and asked them for help, only to be told I need to be a 501 Non Profit in order to qualify. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained right?

If you find anyone, let me know, please.

I've worked on several food drives for the local food bank. I can tell you from experience, don't call. The managers of the stores will be more willing to cooperate if you go into ask. Its also harder to say no to someone's face.