Blue Cross shop Bicester

Our charity shop sells a mixture of donated clothes, books, toys, household goods and soft furnishings. We also carry an assorted supply of new goods and greetings cards. All the money raised from sales in our shops goes towards helping sick, injured and homeless pets.

We also run a pet food bank from our shop, because no one should have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their pet.

Jump to how to get pet food from our pet food bank.

Jump to how to donate to our pet food bank.

Pet food bank

If you're struggling to afford food for your dog, cat, or small pet, we’re here for you and will be happy to welcome you to our Blue Cross pet food bank to collect what you need for your pet.

We gratefully accept donations of pet food and other items for our own pet food bank and our partners' here too.

How to get pet food

Hard times can happen to anyone, and with pets in the family there are more bowls to fill when money is tight. Anyone struggling to feed their pets can visit our pet food banks and collect the food they need. We won’t ask you for a voucher or proof of need and our team will welcome you without judgement.

Please come into our shop during our opening hours to collect pet food or other supplies. Although you don't need to, if you call beforehand to let us know you're coming, we can get a package ready for when you arrive.

Our food bank supports dogs, cats, chinchillas, degus, ferrets, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rabbits and rats, but we rely on donations so we can’t guarantee we’ll have stock for all pets at all times. Calling ahead means you can check our stock before coming down.

We can give you pet food and other items such as bedding and cat litter.

We may not have your pet’s usual food brand or type in stock when you need our help. We’ve put together some useful tips on feeding your pet in a crisis situation to help you manage this.

Please read our frequently asked questions for more information about using our pet food bank.

As well as running our own Blue Cross pet food bank here, we’ve also partnered with the food banks below so they can give out the pet food, bedding and other items we are donated.

For details of our partner food banks’ opening times, contact details and more information, please click the links below to be taken to their own website. Please note you may need a referral from a frontline professional, Citizens Advice, or a voucher to use our partners’ food banks. Blue Cross is unable to provide a referral.

• Bicester Foodbank

How to donate pet food

We accept donations for our pet food bank here at any time during our opening hours. Please let a member of our team know when you arrive and your items will be gratefully received. Each and every donation will help keep pets with their loving families. 

You can also support us by donating funds to our pet food bank appeal.

The pets helped by our pet food banks are:

• cats
• chinchillas
• degus
• dogs
• ferrets
• gerbils
• guinea pigs
• hamsters
• mice
• rabbits
• rats

What we can accept:

• Wet or dry pet food in unopened tins, pouches or packets, including special diets eg senior, puppy, kitten
• Hay, straw and substrate for rabbits, guinea pigs and other small pets
• Litter
• Bedding

Sorry, but we’re unable to accept donations of the following:

• Dry pet food that’s over three months past its best before date
• Wet pet food that’s over three years past its best before date
• Open packets of food or litter where the contents have been exposed to the air. Open boxes containing individual pouches or tins are accepted as long as the pouches or tins are unopened.
• Food with damaged packaging, including dented tins, holes in sacks, grease spots on bags
• Raw food
• Food for humans
• Food or items for horses. We hope to be able to collect these soon.