Here are some easy ways you can use your Amazon account to help Tampa Bay area rescues and shelters all year long. Credit: Charles Deluvio 🇵🇭🇨🇦 on Unsplash

'Tis the season of giving, and no doubt you've been getting your money's worth out of your Amazon Prime account these days. But did you know you can use your Amazon Prime account to help many of Tampa Bay's animal shelters and rescue organizations? Here are four ways you can use Amazon to help your favorite Tampa Bay area animal rescue or shelter all year long.

1. Look for wish lists.

On Facebook, Suncoast Animal League's pretty clear about what they need and when they need it, but they also have an Amazon wish list so you don't have to wonder which type of cat litter they use. Other Tampa Bay animal rescues that have Amazon wish lists include the SPCA of Tampa Bay, Friends of Strays, Lost Angels Animal Rescue and Home Sweet Home Animal Rescue

There are likely many other Tampa Bay-area and Pinellas-based rescue groups with wish lists — search for the Tampa Bay area animal rescue group you want to help here.

2. Shop Amazon Smile.

At smile.amazon.com, every time you shop, Amazon donates a portion of what you spend to a nonprofit you select. There are hundreds of Tampa Bay and Pinellas animal charities listed — not only shelters, like SPCA Tampa Bay, but also rescues like Great Dane Rescue of Tampa Bay. Once you select a charity, all you have to do is bookmark the smile.amazon.com link and every time you shop, your chosen Tampa Bay area shelter or rescue gets money.

Use “subscribe and save” on Amazon to make sure that Tampa Bay area animal rescue or shelter never runs out of kitty litter. Credit: 42 North on Unsplash

3. Subscribe and save

Now that you've found their wish lists, set up a monthly subscription. Even if it's one box of kitty litter or one pack of paper towels, every little bit helps. Find out what your favorite Tampa Bay-area rescue needs and set up a subscribe and save delivered to their door.

4. Help a rescue without a wish list create one.

More than they need you to adopt a homeless dog or cat, rescues need volunteers. For some of us, that's foster parenting. For others, it's going into the shelter to scoop litter and clean up puppy poop. For still others, it's money. And those are all wonderful ways to help Tampa Bay area animal rescues and shelters, but maybe they're not practical for you, because of landlord, time or budget concerns. Here's a way anyone who knows how to shop on Amazon can help, and you can do it in your jammies at 4 a.m. if you want: ask a rescue or shelter that doesn't have a wish list if they'd appreciate your help creating one. We'd like to stress that you need to check with them before you do it, because they may have reasons for not having one, but odds are, the rescue either isn't aware that Amazon wish lists are a thing, or they're aware but have limited resources.

Want to help out in real life too? When there's a rescue event, we include it in our comprehensive Tampa Bay event calendar — bookmark local.cltampa.com and check it daily, and don't forget to subscribe to the Creative Loafing weekly Do This newsletter.

This article appears in Dec 20-27, 2018.