apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My mother brings old newspapers to our local SPCA. When I volunteered there in years ago, we'd use them to line the cat cages. Might be worth making a call to your local shelter to see if they could use them!

local zoo's - like the oakland zoo here in the bay, also take donations of household items for the animals.

I know they have acceted towels, non-broken kids toys, ride-on's and kiddie pools for the apes to play with, buckets, tires, yard clippings/logs etc. They don't have any info on their website, but i would call and ask if you have a household item you think they could use too.

this is a great reminder. thanks ATSF.

What a great post! I am a team leader for a local animal shelter and I always send a list to my volunteers of things to donate. Grabbing a hand full of newspapers from those boxes on the street is easy enough. And when at the 99cent store one could pick up those little dustpan/brushes (for sweeping out the cages) and small paper plates for wet food for the cats. And old pillows are wonderful for new moms or injured animals.

LOL... next time we have a volunteer day at work I'm going to sneak lots of office supplies to the shelters...

Seriously, though, shelters often keep wish lists. Just ask. I remember one shelter liked to get fuzzy toilet seat covers because they made good cat beds. (As this is a decor site and most of us seem to dislike them...) Old rugs or mats are good for larger dogs.

Yes yes yes! We volunteer with the dog shelter every Sunday and I can't tell you how badly they need cleaning supplies! And blankets!

This is such a great post, glad to see that in the midst of it all you all can manage to post about such an important cause.
Some people probably had no knowledge of the items that can be donated, so thanks for the help in spreading the word.

With the economy so bad and SO MANY people losing their homes- many pets were given up to shelters because people couldn't afford to care for them anymore. Thanks!

Jen Ramos
'100% Recycled DESIGNER Cards & More'
www.madebygirl.com
madebygirl.blogspot.com

Thanks for the reminder - I've been cleaning out the closets and have lots of old sheets/towels/pillows to donate!

One of my clients replaced all her outdoor furniture cushions and donated the old ones to the animal shelter. They were thrilled with the donation.

Also, I hate to sound like Bob Barker, here, but "spay and neuter your pets." Please! This is the most important step to reducing the demand on shelters.

Thanks for this. Great post.

The very best thing you can do is to adopt an animal from a shelter and make sure that yours never ends up in one.
Some other items our shelter has on their wish list:
-cloth diapers/ pee-wee pads
-small plush toys (there's no other places that take plush toys!)
-Shelters always need volunteers and money ;-)

i read somewhere that you shouldn't donate hooked rugs and towels with the hooked method of pile (grr... the proper term is escaping me) because cat and kitten claws can get caught in the loops. so make sure the fabric you donate isn't hooked.

Since good animal people are drawn to this post, here's a link to maps of public animal shelters in LA/OC/Ventura counties that I made: http://tinyurl.com/5dy5bb

This map connects to three other regions of California I mapped, from San Luis Obispo south to the Mexican border.

Since the So Cal matrix of shelters is a confusing crazy quilt, I wanted to make it easier for people to find lost pets and adopt.

The maps are free to embed on any site, and I keep them current. Please pass that along to others who would be interested.

my mom's a vet and she used to use my old one-piece bathing suits from when i was little on dogs to cover their stitches so they wouldn't break them open... i don't know if it looks better than the giant cone over a dog's head, but oh well...

you should probably ask about donating old girls' bathing suits first though.

Another great thing to donate is the contents of your shredder. When cats are spayed/neutered they can't have litter in their box for a couple of days. That's where the shredded paper comes into play. I always take my shredder contents with me to the shelter.

Thanks everyone for all the great information. I just cleaned out my junk room and have 3 fleece blankets that I contemplating what to do with. I'll call my local animal shelter and pet hospital!

You all made my day!

OMG, that picture, that face!!!!!

anne - the shredder paper is brilliant! Makes total sense and gives me something great to do with all that paper I accumulate instead of just sending it to the curb.

HAH! So there IS a use for plastic bags! Vindication! :-)

Having said that, great post. This one I will print out and tag as a reminder.

Thank you for the post. This has inspired me to take up a collection for my local shelter.

Finally a place for me to take all my stupid plastic bags!!

Do you think animal shelters would take high-end cat food that I can't use?

Great post! I just did some cleaning out and realized our "rag box" is overloaded with bath and kitchen towels that got tossed there due to bleach stains, etc. I'm going to go thru the box today, keep a few for car washing/mopping up large spills and donating the rest. On my to-do list for this week is cleaning out the office closet, where we've stashed blankets, pillows, etc. from combining two households. That task just went to the top of my list!

first5times: ask the shelter if they're accepting food. The cat shelter where I volunteer keeps lots of different types on hand; if I can comes in eating one thing, it can be upsetting (and messy) to switch over too quickly. I know other shelters don't make this distinction.

My shelter is also asking for Petco gift cards, pre-paid gas cards, buddha domes/cat condos/scratching pads, and Forever stamps.

Excellent post! Although many animal hospitals also need these items as well. I worked at an animal hospital for several years, and sheets, rugs and towels were always welcome. Also with the baby food, make sure its a meat and not a vegetable. Many times people would just give us all their baby food and we were unable to use half of it. The baby food is good for really sick animals who aren't eating, apparently it is more palatable to them. So let's not forget our local animal hospitals when donating these items too. The sick cats and dogs appreciate it.