Growth Spurts for the Pet Food Pantry Requires Community Help

The Dr. John P. Ruffing VMD Pet Food Pantry is busy.

• In October 2025, we saw a bump in pet owners registrations, mainly due to cuts to SNAP
• In March and April, we saw a similar bump as 30 new pet owners registered.
• Also in March and April, we partnered with seven local food distributions also known as food distros.
  • Braddock
  • Bloomfield
  • Downtown
  • Friendship
  • Hazelwood
  • Homewood
  • Northside
• Good news that people are reaching out to us.

In May, we will support at least 180 caretakers and pet owners, an increase of nearly 100% since October. That’s between 1300-1500 pounds of dry food every month moving forward.

We started preparing distributions this week and quickly realized we had to put in orders to meet the demand. We hope the orders arrive by Thursday so the seven distros food will go out on Friday.

What is a food distro?

A “food distro” (short for food distribution) is a community-based, often volunteer-run, initiative that collects and distributes free groceries or prepared meals to individuals and families in need. These events frequently operate through mutual aid groups, community centers, or food banks, providing immediate access to food staples through walk-in or drive-up methods.

In Pittsburgh, there is a calendar of food distros, some weekly and some monthly. The coordinators include volunteers with 12 different locations, some affiliated with organizations, other neighbors in the community lending a hand.

This is a good way for us to connect with neighbors who may not be plugged into the animal welfare supports for various reasons. We can provide information about TNR, spay and neuter clinics, vaccine clinics, and try to fill specific needs like leashes or pet carriers. We can also learn about opportunities to work with them on needs identified by the communities served, not by us.

On the flip side, we can connect our current caretakers with distros in their community or nearby that might be a helpful resource for them.

This began when a volunteer with the Homewood Distro contacted us to discuss requests from their neighbors for pet food. We decided on a trial run of 10 bags: five cat and five dog, about 5 lbs each. The distros will assess specific needs as we go.

You can sponsor pet food for one distro for $100/month.

We need help to meet this demand and respond to other food distros.

Paws Across Pittsburgh is now sending a monthly donation of dry cat food – 120 pounds

Animal Friends is making regular donations.

Ideally, we distribute 5 lb and 10 lb bags. We do not have the capacity to repack from larger bags, but we will distribute larger bags to our caretakers. For example, a 22 lb bag of food will serve one colony caretaker for two months. In some cases, we have neighbors or friends caretaking so they will share a larger bag.

Will you join them?

• Shop our wishlists
  • Amazon bit.ly/TheRuffList
  • Chewy bit.ly/TheChewyList

• Make a financial donation
  • GoFundMe bit.ly/GivePghCatFolx
  • Venmo @PittsburghLGBTQ
  • Paypalme/PittsburghLGBTQ
  • CashApp $PittsburghLGBTQ
  • Facebook Donation — Go to our page and click Donate in upper right
  • Zelle folx@pghlgbtq.org

• Organize a pet food drive
  • Youth projects, troops, school, etc
  • Workplace
  • Neighborhood or neighborhood event
  • Family/friends

‘Adopt a Pet’ to Feed Regularly

Some families are unable to access pet resources without jeopardizing their safety and welfare. We work through helper such as case managers, social workers, friends, faith community members to provide pet food. In some cases, it would be our typical amount. In other cases, we need to provide a full month of food.

For ‘Roman Brady‘ – donors stepped forward to cover six months of dog food. Using Autoship, we were able to squeeze another month from donations. You can set up an autoship through the wishlists or contact us directly.

You can also make a recurring monthly donation using any of our tools above. A full month supply for most cats and dogs averages $30-50.

As daily life prices go up, including gas, we expect pet owners to reach out for support.

More Info

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