Animal Welfare Professionals

Hey everyone!! I'm excited to get everyones input on this topic. I work for a municipal shelter and we are having to cut cost. We are wanting to start buying cat litter and other things in bulk. We aren't sure where to start looking. Also any advice on ways to save cost big or small would be appreciated. Thanks Melissa

We changed from clay cat litter to using fuel pellets. That alone saved a large sum of money and saved staff time cleaning as well. On average we spend $250 every 4-6 weeks for litter now. 

Cats Pride's Litter for Good Program Not registered? Email litterforgood@catspride.com. Contact the litter manufacturers because most have free donation programs. 

Try farm/feed stores.  We buy equine pine pellets.  They help absorb odor and are usually less expensive in the long run. 

We "barter" with a cat litter production company that is within an hour of our shelter. We take them lunch, they load us up with cat litter that did not meet quality control. It may be litter that is be under weight, over weight wrong dye. We spend approx. $200 for 2-3 pallets of litter. If you have a manufacturer close to you, check it out! Our local company is found of fried chicken.

Does your shelter have a wish list? Check with your local wal-mart or grocery store, sometimes they are willing to donate damaged boxes of litter etc.. I'm not sure if you have a facebook page but we have great success with asking for donations our on FB page. You can also set up an Amazon wish list so people can order it and have it directly shipped to your shelter!

Talk to local stores that sell pet supplies and ask who their distributor(s) are. We buy our supplies in bulk right from the distributor, just like a pet store would. It's delivered to us weekly. The distributor we use is General Pet Supply. As a bonus, shelter staff and volunteers are able to take advantage of the reduced prices and order their own supplies along with the shelter supplies. The individuals all pay for what they order, but it's usually less than what you'd pay at a store. It's a nice perk for everyone.