Methodology updated August 8, 2026
Participation is always optional
Every organization begins with public impact sharing turned off. A pantry administrator must deliberately opt in from Pet Pantry Pro settings and may turn participation off again at any time.
Only combined totals are public
The website receives one combined total across participating organizations. It does not receive public rows containing pantry names, client names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, notes, or individual visit details.
What each number means
- Families served: distinct household client records with at least one valid completed check-in. Repeat visits do not create another family.
- Cats, dogs, and other animals supported: the animal counts recorded at valid completed check-ins. The same animal may be counted again when it receives help during a later visit.
- Wet-food items: cans, pouches, trays, or other individual wet-food packages entered by participating pantries. The label does not claim every item is a can.
- Dry food: recorded pounds of dry cat and dog food combined.
- Cat litter: recorded pounds of litter distributed.
Accuracy protections and limitations
Entries that are malformed, negative, or far outside reasonable pantry quantities are excluded from public totals. Older free-text descriptions of other animals remain safely preserved but cannot be included in the numeric other-animal total unless a numeric count was recorded. These totals reflect information entered by participating organizations and are not independently audited.
Questions about the numbers?
Transparency matters to us. Email support@petpantrypro.com with a methodology question or an idea for making the impact display more useful.