Client guidelines
Qualified cat owners from across the region are eligible to receive enough food to feed up to four pet cats for a month. The Cat Food Bank is not a resource for rescue organizations, other animal shelters, or feral feeders.
New Clients: all new clients must come to the Cat Food Bank in person to complete the enrollment form.
Picking Up Food for Others: you may pick up food only for yourself and one other person. You must be listed as the “authorized” pick up person. To authorize someone to pick up your food, you must come to the Cat Food Bank and update your client form.
Show ID: you will be asked to show identification when you come to pick up food. This will help us find your information quicker, allow us to make updates to your form, confirm your legal address, and verify you are the person receiving the service. Please remember to bring a valid Oregon/Washington driver’s license or ID card or some form of photo identification that has your name and address.
Verify Assistance: you may be asked to verify the form of assistance you are receiving. This means bringing proof of the qualifying benefit you receive, when we ask. Assistance may include:
- Medicaid
- Unemployment
- WIC
- Food Stamps
- SSI
- Section 8
- Public Housing
- TANF
- Oregon Health Plan
- Meals on Wheels
- Subsidized School Lunch Program
Number of Visits: all Cat Food Bank clients may receive cat food 9 months out of a 12 month year. You can come nine consecutive months or come three or four times and not the next month.
First Come First Served: the Cat Food Bank is a first come first served operation. We ask that you not save spots in line for other people receiving food. We will hand out numbers to those in line beginning at 9:30 am.
Cats Must be Spayed/Neutered: all your pet cats must be spayed/neuter. If any of your cats are not spayed/neutered, you will be given three opportunities to comply before we are unable to continue to help you. You must bring in proof of the spay/neuter surgery.
Only 4 Owned Cats: the Food Bank can provide food for up to 4 owned cats per family only. We do our best to match the food we give you with your cat’s needs; however, since the food is donated, we won’t always have the same brands available each month.
Please, No New Pet Cats: (we cannot stress this enough!) we know you want help us save all the homeless cats; however, we urge you to refrain from bringing more cats into your home than you currently have either through rescue or adoption. We can provide you with detailed resources to help find homes for stray or unwanted cats that are in your neighborhood.
Other Food Banks: if you get food from another pet food bank, please refrain from getting food from the Cat Food Bank. All the pet food banks work together to make sure everyone’s pets are fed.
Bags of Food: you may receive a different number of bags of food. CAT calculates the approximate amount of food to feed one cat per month at 7.5 pounds. If you have more than one cat, you may receive one large bag one month and two small bags the next.
No Transportation is provided to the Cat Food Bank and we are unable to deliver food to a client.