June 3, 2025
By: Jade Garrett – SPCA Albrecht Center Events & Fundraising Manager

Local animal rescuer and SPCA supporter, Wayne Heath loaded up his van with cat food.

This May, the SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare received a donation big enough to fill a semi-truck—38,880 cans of premium canned cat food, courtesy of Birdie & Louie and coordinated through Best Friends Animal Society.

The moment we got notification of the donation, we knew this gift wasn’t just for us. It was for every hungry cat, overworked foster, and under-resourced caregiver across our region. So, instead of stocking up our own shelves and calling it a day, we called in backup.

We reached out to fellow animal welfare organizations and local rescuers in the CSRA to help us distribute nearly 10,000 pounds of food. On May 27th, our parking lot filled with vans, trucks, and trailers, as representatives from shelters, rescues, and community cat programs came to pick up cases of Birdie & Louie’s premium wet cat food for the animals in their care.

Organizations who took part in the distribution included:

By the end of the day, every can had a destination. This donation couldn’t have come at a better time. Like so many others across the Southeast, we’re in the thick of kitten season—a time when shelters and rescues are overwhelmed with litters, strays, and abandoned cats needing food, medical care, and a safe place to land. Thanks to this partnership, we were able to extend some relief to the organizations working tirelessly to meet that demand.

SPCA staff and local cat rescuers load cat food into vehicles.

Who Is Birdie & Louie?

Birdie & Louie is a small, family-owned pet food brand with a big heart and a growing reputation. Founded by Matthew Worthy and inspired by two real pets — his dog Birdie and his dad’s cat Louie — the company is on a mission to make premium, nutritious food more accessible to everyday pet owners.

While Birdie & Louie is based in the retail world, their values clearly go beyond the checkout aisle. Through partnerships like this one with Best Friends Animal Society, they’re helping shelters like ours feed more pets in need and stretch limited resources even further.

Community Over Competition

Patches supervises the unloading of cat food at a local rescue organization.

Kitten season is in full swing across the Southeast, and shelters everywhere are feeling the impact. With litters arriving daily and more cats entering the system than leaving, resources like food, medical care, and space are constantly stretched thin. That’s why this donation couldn’t have come at a better time.

By sharing this windfall with other rescues and community caregivers, our team at the SPCA Albrecht Center hopes to not only reduce the burden of our own shelter, but also help stabilize the larger rescue network in the CSRA. Every full bowl means one less barrier to helping a hungry, homeless cat.

At its core, this initiative highlights the best part of animal welfare work: collaboration over competition. When resources are pooled and shared, more lives are saved. It’s as simple and as powerful as that. To learn more about the SPCA Albrecht Center and how you can get involved and make a difference for animals in our community, visit www.LetLoveLive.org.

 

 

 

Jade Garrett is the Events & Fundraising Manager for the SPCA Albrecht Center in Aiken, SC. She is a seasoned marketing professional who found her way to the shelter in the fall of 2023. With a lifelong passion for animal welfare, she is excited to continue making a difference in the lives of homeless animals in our community for many years to come.