For those of your who’ve been around Ginger and Tails for a little while, you’ll know that towards the end of 2025, I decided to initiate a pet food collection for Colchester Foodbank after finding myself in a position where I’d needed to use the Foodbank myself. I wanted to give something back and it felt appropriate for that something to be animal-related! After contacting the Foodbank to check whether pet food donations would be beneficial to them, I started asking clients, friends and family if they would consider donating dog and cat food to those who were in need.

Something that started small, very quickly snowballed into something much bigger and I was incredibly proud to handover a massive 312 kilos of pet food to the Foodbank. This was thanks to so many people, including complete strangers in the local community who decided to help.

This year I wanted to help again, but I wanted to extend it a little further. With that in mind, along with Colchester Foodbank, I also reached out to Colchester K9 Rescue and Colchester Caring for Our Cats, two local nonprofits working incredibly hard to support many dogs and cats in need. I asked these two volunteer-run organisations if I could help with a Christmas wishlist, and the answer was yes!

So this year I am collecting donations on behalf of all three organisations in the hope we can make a real difference.

I’ve listed everything we need below, but to make it easier for people, this year I’ve also created an Amazon wishlist where you can purchase items and have them sent directly to me for me to then distribute them accordingly.

Of course, you might also have items already at home that you can donate, which is amazing too. If you do, please do drop me an email at [email protected] and let me know where in Colchester you are and what you have to donate – I’ll arrange to come and pick it up.

As with last year, I’d love to know your pet/s’ names so I can pop a special label on each donation to say who it’s been ‘donated’ by! If your pet is no longer with us, it’d be my honour to attach an in memory label to your donation so that they can be remembered.

All donated items must be in-date and unopened/unused.

Any questions, just get in touch – but in the meantime, the wishlists are below!

Thank you in advance to everyone taking part, it means a great deal.

Colchester K9 Rescue

Needed:
Collars (all sizes)
Vet bedding
Poo bags
Dog food: CSJ, Skinners,
Chappie or Butchers
Food and water bowls
Cat litter – any kind

Colchester Caring for Our Cats

Needed:
Cat litter – any kind
Any cat food – wet or dry

Colchester Foodbank

Needed:
Any dog or cat food, wet or dry – though they tend to run out of dry food more often.