Donating to Local Humane Society/TNR Groups for the Holidays

[kittymomma1122]

Is anyone donating/volunteering with local groups over the holidays? Does anyone have any good ideas for something special over the holidays?

We donate wet foods to our Humane Society and build Feral Cat Shelters for our TNR group.

There are so many sweet beautiful animals out there without homes.  When we donated a case of food today and a big cat tried to crawl in my purse and go home with me. They had a beautiful bi-colon Persian. I mainly have a special place in my heart for black cats. So sad to leave them behind, but I have to keep a balance where all of my cats get the best food and vetting possible.

 

[Kat0121]

 
Is anyone donating/volunteering with local groups over the holidays? Does anyone have any good ideas for something special over the holidays?

We donate wet foods to our Humane Society and build Feral Cat Shelters for our TNR group.

There are so many sweet beautiful animals out there without homes.  When we donated a case of food today and a big cat tried to crawl in my purse and go home with me. They had a beautiful bi-colon Persian. I mainly have a special place in my heart for black cats. So sad to leave them behind, but I have to keep a balance where all of my cats get the best food and vetting possible.

My local Humane Society has a thrift store here in town and I always go through my things every year around this time and donate anything I am getting rid of to them to sell to help support the animals. 

 

[ondine]

I support a local sanctuary as best I can.  I do their newsletter and buy the stamps for the mailings.  When I have the money, I'll buy them a gift card from the local grocery - they give her a great deal on food and litter.

I've constructed more than 200 houses for our local TNR efforts but have finally had to quit - arthritis in my hands.  But I figure there are 200+ kitties out there who are warm and dry this winter, so ...

I confess I am too soft to actually volunteer at the shelter.  It just breaks my heart too much.  I think whatever you do makes a difference.

 

[kittymomma1122]

@ Kat0121 the thrift store is a great idea! We do not have one of those here. @ Ondine the newsletter is great!! Media is how they get homes! I also am a marshmallow for cats and I wish I could take them all home. I was thinking of adoption packages. Working with my vet for discounts for first visit, local pet stores for coupon booklets and I can make fleece pet beds. Win Win, someone gets a great pet and local businesses get new customers.

 

[ondine]

That's a great idea! People can contribute what they can and every contribution makes the package better.

 

[jcat]

I was thinking of adoption packages. Working with my vet for discounts for first visit, local pet stores for coupon booklets and I can make fleece pet beds. Win Win, someone gets a great pet and local businesses get new customers.

My local Humane Society has a thrift store here in town and I always go through my things every year around this time and donate anything I am getting rid of to them to sell to help support the animals. 

I support a local sanctuary as best I can.  I do their newsletter and buy the stamps for the mailings.  When I have the money, I'll buy them a gift card from the local grocery - they give her a great deal on food and litter.

I've constructed more than 200 houses for our local TNR efforts but have finally had to quit - arthritis in my hands.  But I figure there are 200+ kitties out there who are warm and dry this winter, so ...

These are great ideas! I work at our local (no-kill, all-volunteer) shelter, and this topic is frequently discussed.

In general, the best bet is to call or email the shelter/rescue and ask what's needed. Ours is inundated with donated beds, cat trees, litter boxes and carriers, many of them brand new. We're really running out of storage space for all the extras. What's usually needed is cleaning supplies - brooms, mops, dust pans and brushes, plastic bags for the used litter containers, paper towels, terrycloth towels, dish, laundry, and dishwasher detergent, hand sanitizer, etc.. The number of food bowls/dishes used every day is mind-boggling, but that's another thing where there are certain requirements, namely that they easily fit in the dishwasher and are made of glass or china (due to possible allergies). Metal dishes aren't used simply because the kittens and ferals tip them.

Large food or litter donations are "iffy". Someone recently donated several cases of a supermarket brand of canned and dry food that none of the cats, including the (semi-) ferals and kittens, will touch. Another well-known brand that is often donated is only fed in a pinch because it gives many cats diarrhea. About two-thirds of the cats don't like canned food with gravy. The shelter (currently 72 cats, with another and two puppies on their way this coming week) uses so much food and litter that its best option is to buy huge quantities to take advantage of bulk discounts. With so many cats, biodegradable/compostable litter is an absolute must, so many of the brands or types people donate aren't used. A few cans of a particularly palatable food your cats won't eat, on the other hand, might be just what the shelter needs to feed an ill cat.

Cash donations are a greater help, also because of the vet bills (roughly €8,000 for October alone - that's just under $10,000!). The shelter only gets a few hundred annually from the town in exchange for taking in stray pets, so financial help is urgently needed. Even ordering your litter or food through the shelter might help, because perhaps it can pocket the difference between the bulk/wholesale prices and the regular retail prices.

Appliances like washers, dryers and dishwashers wear out quickly at a shelter because they're running all day every day. If you're replacing an old one that's still serviceable, please call your local shelter and ask whether they can make use of it.

Our shelter has a large number of unadoptable cats, mainly ferals whose colonies were destroyed due to construction or unsocialized victims of hoarders. They have a very large outdoor enclosure, a large shelter in the enclosure and access to a heated room in the main building. Most of them will spend a decade or more at the shelter, so it's a huge help when people "sponsor" one (cover food and vet costs for a year).

Every shelter has its individual needs. Ours is cageless (except in the quarantine section), has cat rooms with catios, and can only handle a very limited number of dogs, so its needs differ from those of, for example, a large, publicly financed urban or county shelter where pets are kenneled.

 

[fhicat]

In general, the best bet is to call or email the shelter/rescue and ask what's needed.  

Best advice for donating! Our shelter is always in dire need of wet food and clean towels, but our cats have specific brands of wet food that they like, so donating some kind of other wet food just ends up going to waste.

 

[kittymomma1122]

That is great advice.  Our shelter posts a needs list on their website, facebook and in its newsletter.  They want pate type canned food, I always get a case of the better brands. I use my Pet Perks coupons that I get from purchasing my personal cat supplies. I never buy dry food, our shelter is funded by Science Diet and get it all on a grant. They have a full time vet at the Humane Society, the only animals that go out need specialist. They do special postings for donations to the animals that need those services. I am always in shock when people think the shelter makes any money on the adoption fees. Our shelter adoption fee is $85 dollars.  My oldest cat was a stray, I vetted and neutered him with my private vet. Shots, testing and neuter is separate trips cost me well over $400. They are tested, wormed, vaccinated, microchiped, and neuter/spayd for $85, not to mention the food they were fed. What a bargain!!!!

 

[jcat]

That is great advice.  Our shelter posts a needs list on their website, facebook and in its newsletter.  They want pate type canned food, I always get a case of the better brands. I use my Pet Perks coupons that I get from purchasing my personal cat supplies. I never buy dry food, our shelter is funded by Science Diet and get it all on a grant. They have a full time vet at the Humane Society, the only animals that go out need specialist. They do special postings for donations to the animals that need those services. I am always in shock when people think the shelter makes any money on the adoption fees. Our shelter adoption fee is $85 dollars.  My oldest cat was a stray, I vetted and neutered him with my private vet. Shots, testing and neuter is separate trips cost me well over $400. They are tested, wormed, vaccinated, microchiped, and neuter/spayd for $85, not to mention the food they were fed. What a bargain!!!!

The "needs list" is something people should definitely look for. I'm amazed at people's reactions to the adoption fees, too. Our last cat was from a rescue with extremely limited funds and hadn't had any shots. At ten weeks he was unneutered and not microchipped. All the necessary "vetting" added up to several hundred, not to mention multiple vet visits. Our current cat was fully vaccinated, microchipped and neutered - for an adoption fee of €90 ($112). Even twice that amount would have been a real bargain.

 

[Kat0121]

 
That is great advice.  Our shelter posts a needs list on their website, facebook and in its newsletter.  They want pate type canned food, I always get a case of the better brands. I use my Pet Perks coupons that I get from purchasing my personal cat supplies. I never buy dry food, our shelter is funded by Science Diet and get it all on a grant. They have a full time vet at the Humane Society, the only animals that go out need specialist. They do special postings for donations to the animals that need those services. I am always in shock when people think the shelter makes any money on the adoption fees. Our shelter adoption fee is $85 dollars.  My oldest cat was a stray, I vetted and neutered him with my private vet. Shots, testing and neuter is separate trips cost me well over $400. They are tested, wormed, vaccinated, microchiped, and neuter/spayd for $85, not to mention the food they were fed. What a bargain!!!!

My local Humane Society is also funded by Science Diet ( all they get is the dry) and this is what they feed the cats and dogs (which is also why they recommend it to adopters). All donated food goes to a pet food bank. They do not feed any of it to the shelter animals regardless of the quality. They do have a wish list and it's mostly cleaning supplies, towels, blankets, crates and of course, money. That's why I donate all of my unneeded items to their thrift store. The place does a great business and has been in town for well over a decade. They recently moved to a much larger building because they were having to refuse donations due to a lack of space. It is staffed by volunteers so their overhead is pretty low. They can sell the items and use the money however they see fit. They also have a store in our local mall that operates in a similar fashion with the exception they only sell new items there and they bring adoptable cats in as feature animals. There are no animals at the thrift store but well behaved, leashed animals are welcome to go in. 

 

[jcat]

An area rescue organization currently has a "Christmas drive" that's interesting. They have a Christmas tree set up in a large urban pet store. The tree is hung with red "wish lists" for cats in the rescue's foster homes or the feral cat colonies it maintains. People can buy the items on one of the lists, sign their names and deposit the gifts at the store, where they'll be picked up by rescue volunteers on Christmas Eve. Another store has Advent calendars with the names and pictures of the "wishes" concealed behind windows. Every day another window is opened, and the gifts people buy will also be stored there until picked up the day before Christmas.

 

[mservant]

An area rescue organization currently has a "Christmas drive" that's interesting. They have a Christmas tree set up in a large urban pet store. The tree is hung with red "wish lists" for cats in the rescue's foster homes or the feral cat colonies it maintains. People can buy the items on one of the lists, sign their names and deposit the gifts at the store, where they'll be picked up by rescue volunteers on Christmas Eve. Another store has Advent calendars with the names and pictures of the "wishes" concealed behind windows. Every day another window is opened, and the gifts people buy will also be stored there until picked up the day before Christmas.

Love these ideas for people who want to gift things rather than money.  

My vet works with the local cat rescue and have a collection box so I always like to make a donation before Christmas - it's as much because both my previous cats crossed the RB around Christmas as it being a generous thing to do around this time of year.  I'm also lucky living close to a cat and dog rescue charity shop so I can make donations of stuff I don't want any more and they can make money from people who do.  

  I always like to have a major clear out for the new year.  

 

 

[wilsonsmom]

The company I work for encourages giving, and sets up easy payroll deductions for charities of our choice. I have mine set up to take a donation from each paycheck for Kitty Harbor.
I'm working through some health issues, but would love to donate time to my local Pet Smart shelter when I've improved enough to be reliable.

 

[feralvr]

The feral cat organization I volunteer for has an Amazon Wish account !! It is great. One can just go onto Amazon, go to the upper right of the home page and you will see Wish List. Then you just find your particular charity if they have signed up. Shipping is free too !!!!!!!!!!!!! And, the items go directly to the organization with your gift card note included. It is so easy this way and saves on gas and time to get the items to the organization. You just do it from your computer. :hi:

I always feel so much better each year doing such things as giving to shelter's for their animals in their care. There is such a need and the holiday is the best time to get the word out. Great thread !!!!!!!!

 

[ondine]

You can also support your cause through Amazon Smile.  www.smile.amazon.com.  Almost every purchase I make means a donation.

 

[betsygee]

Our shelter dedicates a small area for overflow donations.  If they have cat trees, food, etc. that the shelter can't use, members of the community can come in and pick up things for free that they might need or want for their pets and might not otherwise be able to afford.

 

[kittychick]

The shelter I volunteer with truly appreciates most the purchases that come from their wish list they post online & in their newsletters. Shelters appreciate most anything, but generally have fairly specific needs they can really be helped most by (ours is always in desperate need of KMR, kitten bottles, paper towels & bleach among other things - not as much fun to purchase as toys, but these are what they need even more). You can also volunteer time in many ways that don't have to include going in & facing the pleading faces of the kitties...I get that a lot of people are too saddened by that (although our guys also really love people to come in & play/socialize). But our shelter -like many -also has a crafting program where they take in crafts like handmade catnip mice & sell them. If you're crafty -check your shelter out for something like that to see if that's a way to help! I'm a graphic designer, so I do our shelters photos for their website & keep the cat list updated on their site & petfinder. I also create ads for local papers, etc. So bottom line - I recommend checking with the shelter itself, and also seeing if you can utilize your time and talents --even beyond being at the shelter itself! Many people forget a shelter always needs things like donation letters stuffed and mailed, etc. Always ways to help out beyond being in the shelter!