Animal Welfare Professionals

Looking to see what options everyone is using for shelter feeding programs?  Pros/Cons of your feeding program and challenges you face it.  If you have a feeding program like Hills/Purina do you have sponsorship for it through donors?

Thanks for any input!
#AccesstoCare
#FosterPrograms
#OrganizationalManagement

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Christina Sutherin
K9s for Warriors
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

We don't have a feeding program per say. We buy NutraSource at cost and use that as our base food, then mix in donated food with it. I would love to hear what other have to say tho as I am always looking for better ways.

We have been involved in the Hills program for many years and have been very happy with it. If you're paying for food now it will likely be less expensive.

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brad shear
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We did a contract with Science Diet many years ago. Since then, we rely on volunteers to provide pet food for our animals. If you post the need, the response will surprise you! People are wonderful when you let them know your needs. Sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words. I posted our need on our Facebook page and had a very limited response. When I posted a photo of one of our pets and that there were 69 dogs to feed today and 130 cats and then posted a photo of our food shelves with 2 bags of food on them (truth!)...the response was overwhelming! We had Amazon trucks pulling in filled with food for these pets from people everywhere! We were so blessed by this response from the community that we could feed our animals for 6-8 months. (Our animal counts have done nothing but rise (120 dogs and  up to 300 cats in care) You could also ask any local farm supply stores for torn or open bags of food. Usually they are very glad to donate.

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Carrie Ward
South Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District
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Our shelter is in rural area, but fortunate enough to have an arrangement with a large company that has a wear house located in our county. We are able to pick up what the company deems broken pallets of cat and dog food as well as pet related items such as cat and dog treats and cat litter every week.  Often there is enough to supply food to several existing feral colonies as well as residents of our county.  

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Susan Queen
Volunteer
Klassy Kats of Butts County
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We don't have a feed program through a company or anything, but we have something called Supply Drive Sundays.

Every Friday morning we send out an email blast to our supporters with a list of our current supplies needed (food is always on the list). As others have said you will be surprised to see the results from asking your community for help! 

We have found this to be pretty successful! 

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Kendra Ralston
Marketing and Development Manager
Rescued Pets Movement
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We partnered with a local feed store - we buy in bulk, so we save some money.   You might also contact your local Walmart - they often have torn bags they will donate. 

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Connie Ash
Director
Mended Paws Sanctuary
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