Food & Supplies
Your kind donation of food and supplies helps us support the care and wellbeing of thousands of pets each year.
Thank you!
BIGGEST NEED RIGHT NOW:
Canned cat food & Purina dry food for cats.
Wish List Items
Donating food and supply items from our wish lists makes a huge difference and supports our life-saving mission. Here are our most important needs and the items we use regularly. Thank you for your kindness and generosity!
Dogs & Puppies
- Dry Purina One (adult)
- Canned cheese
- Interactive treat/kibble dispensers
- Soft treats, such as Pup-peroni
- Hard treats, such as Alpo Variety Snaps
- Nylabone DuraChews (medium & large)
- Bones and natural chews
- Canned Purina One (adult)
- Mendota 6 ft. ⅜” slip leads
- Adaptil products (including plug in refills, sprays and collars)
Cats & Kittens
- Dry Purina One (kitten)
- Dry Whiskas or Purina One (adult)
- Canned Purina One or Fancy Feast (both kitten and adult)
- Small Bags of Dry Adult Cat Food (any brand)
- Dry Royal Canin 34 Babycat
- Cat Nip Pillows or Loose Cat Nip
- Jingle Bells & Toy Mice
- Treats, such as Pounce brand
- Scoopable Cat Litter
- Miracle Nipples w/ Miracle Brand Oring Syringe (for feeding orphaned kittens)
- Feliway products (including plug in refills, sprays and collars)
Rabbits & Small Animals
- Fresh vegetables (no iceberg)
- Small pet high-quality dry food/pellets (species-specific)
- Timothy hay chew sticks
- Carefresh small animal bedding
- Small pet igloo houses and enrichment toys
Would you like a reminder of our preferred food and supply brands? Download our Visual Wish List!
Why do we ask for specific brands? Keeping our animals on one brand of food during their stay avoids upset stomachs and helps the pets stay happy and healthy. Other donated pet food and supplies (such as Old Roy and store brands) become part of our food pantry program and are gratefully received by local food pantries to assist area pet owners in feeding their pets.
Other Important Needs
While we always need food (for our resident pets and for the pet food pantries we supply), there are many other items we use every day.
Visit our Online Wish Lists
Giving made easy! By shopping from one of our online wish lists, the food and supplies you purchase are shipped directly to our doors.
Important notes about our online wish lists:
- None of these online retailers share the name or contact information of the purchases/donor. Thus we are unable to express our gratitude directly. If you want to let us know your donations are coming or are in need of a tax receipt, please contact us.
- Amazon may not deliver certain wish list items due to the fact that we have two zip codes (physical address: Kennebunk, 04043; mailing address: West Kennebunk, 04094). Unfortunately, the issue is largely out of our hands as we have no way of knowing which items will be flagged as undeliverable by Amazon. We apologize in advance should you run into this issue and recommend you consider shopping at Chewy.com or sending us a gift card of comparative value. Thank you for understanding!
Drop off Wish List Items
Thank you for stopping by with your gift for the animals. If you have a donation of pet food or supplies, please come in and drop your donations off in person, rather than leaving them outside*. We want to welcome you in and thank you for your generosity!
*When the Adoption Center is closed (Mondays), the green wagons will be in the vestibule, or we welcome you to swing by the Admin office to drop off your gifts!
We kindly ask our community supporters not to leave items outside the Adoption Center doors (or anywhere else at our facility) when we are closed. Unfortunately, items left outdoors are often damaged by the weather or other external factors and must be thrown away. Additionally, we accrue a tremendous expense to dispose of items that we cannot use.
While we are incredibly appreciative of your thoughtful gestures, please understand that not all pet items that pets use at home are useful in a shelter and clinic setting. For the safety of our animals, we cannot use or repurpose large bedding items, such as comforters, duvets and even large blankets. Likewise, we cannot accept pillows of any kind. Finally, we cannot safely use open food – wet or dry. Thank you for not donating what we cannot use. We appreciate your understanding. To learn more about the items we can and cannot use, please visit our donation FAQs.
Host a Fundraiser or have a Food & Supply Drive
If you are planning to or have raised funds and/or collected food and supplies, please use tell us about it! We like to celebrate your kindness and generosity and may be able to snap a picture or two with a pet when you deliver the proceeds of your fundraiser!
For children, we like to schedule a personalized Hero Tour for them to drop off their donations, so they can see first-hand how their generosity makes a difference.
We look forward to working with you to make your fundraising endeavor a successful one. Thank you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for reading our frequently asked questions and for your generous support! If you have items you wish to donate that are not on the lists above and are not covered in these FAQs, please CALL US FIRST at (207) 985-3244 ext 200.
Thank you so much for supporting the animals with a donation! We welcome you to stop by the Adoption Center during our open hours to drop off your items. Please come in, rather than leaving your donations outside. In fact, if you have a large donation, please check in first at the front desk and we’ll send someone out to help you bring your items in! If the Adoption Center is not open (such as Mondays), please leave your items in the green carts in the vestibule or swing by the Admin offices to drop them off. We love to be able to thank you in person.
When we are closed, please do not leave any items outside the Adoption Center, or anywhere at our facility. Items left outdoors are often damaged by the weather or other external factors and must be thrown away, which costs us disposal fees, funds we’d rather spend on our mission.
It’s very good of you to think of us. While we do use newspapers daily to line the kennels, right now we have a large back stock of donated paper and we are unable to safely store any more. We will update this message if/when we are in need of newspaper/newsprint again. Please consider bringing your excess newspaper to your local recycling facility.
We can use clean, stain-free towels of all sizes – from face cloths to bath towels. We can even use beach towels. Please be sure that your towels are free of any holes, rips or loose threads. If they are torn or have holes, we cannot use them, for the safety of our animals.
Unfortunately, no. It’s a wonderful idea to cut up large comforters and blankets into kennel-sized pieces, but we do not have the capacity or need to do so. It’s also safest for our animals not to have loose threads or open edges on their bedding. Consider donating your larger bedding pieces to a social services agency that supports people in our community.
Yes, we can. Depending on the medical needs of the pets at AWS and those that are seen at our Community Veterinary Clinic, we may be able to use it. If we do not have a pet with those medical needs at the time of your donation, we can hold on to it until it expires. Please understand that we cannot take expired food, expired medications or human liquid nutritional supplements (such as Resource, Ensure, Boost etc.).
Thank you for asking. Please continue reading. We are able to accept SELECT linens on a case-by-case basis. Note that we sometimes cannot accept donations due to limited storage capacity*. We are grateful for the gesture; we sometimes simply do not have the space to store excess linens. Thank you for understanding.
When we have sufficient storage space, we accept towels, pillow cases (NO PILLOWS PLEASE) and throw-sized fleece blankets. We cannot accept or utilize comforters or bedspreads.
* Because we have limited storage, if you are thinking of donating a large quantity of linens or simply want to know if we can use them before you drive here, please feel free to call us first. Thank you!
Please consider local social services non-profits such as Maine Needs, if you have bedding, such as sheet sets or comforters to donate. Other area animal rescues and/or wildlife rehabilitation centers may be able to use your linens, especially towels, as well.
While we can occasionally use stuffed animals for our resident dogs, we strongly prefer stuffed toys specifically made for pets. Pet stuffies are made to be sturdy and chewable, and are free from button eyes, ribbons or other things that can be choking hazards.
We encourage folks with children’s stuffed animals to consider donating to a child-centric nonprofit. The Center for Grieving Children may be able to accept them. Additionally, the University of New England’s hockey team usually has a teddy bear toss at one of their games, with collected stuffed animals going to organizations like the Children’s Miracle Network. Finally, some police departments accept like-new stuffed animals to have on-hand to support children in need. Please contact those places first to ensure they can use your donations at this time.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept opened bags of food. We also prefer that food is donated in the original bag. Thank you for understanding.
Please reach out to No Bowl Empty 2 Pet Food Pantry. They usually can accept open bags of pet food.
Yes, and we thank you for asking. We are unable to accept the following items due to usability, safety, storage restrictions and laundry facility limitations.
- Newspaper/newsprint
- Pillows or Cushions
- Children’s stuffed animals
- Mattress Pads
- Bedding sets, comforters, quilts and large/heavy blankets
- Bath Mats
- Large dog beds (new or used)
- Food bowls
- Litter boxes
- Cat scratching posts
- Animal crates
- Small animal habitats
AWS incurs a tremendous expense to dispose of items that are dropped off that we cannot use. While we are incredibly appreciative of your thoughtful gestures, not all pet items used in a home can be used in a shelter and clinic setting. For the safety of our animals, we cannot use or repurpose large bedding items, such as comforters, duvets and even large blankets. Likewise, we cannot accept pillows of any kind. Finally, we cannot safely use open food – wet or dry. Thank you for not donating what we cannot use. Disposal fees take away funds that could be better used for animal care. Thank you for not donating what we cannot use. We appreciate your understanding!
Questions about making an in-kind gift?
For more information, please contact our Development Team by email or telephone at (207) 985-3244 ext. 645.
