Spring Brings Need for Foster Homes

Can you make room for a temporary companion animal in your home?

By Rita Sharma, Best Friends Network Volunteer Writer

The need for foster homes seems to peak in springtime, when shelters are most are seeing an influx of puppies and kittens. You may want to consider becoming a foster volunteer to provide a temporary place for a few animals in need. Your local animal shelter is a great first stop, as they can add you to their list of foster families and then match you with an appropriate incoming animal. Additionally, contacting local breed rescues is also an excellent step, especially if you have a particular love for, or already animals of, a certain breed or size.

What does it mean to provide “foster care” for an animal?
Fostering animals allows you to have them in your home temporarily while you may not be able to make the commitment to, or have the lifestyle for, a forever animal. In essence, being a foster parent means that you agree, for a specified amount of time, to care for an animal in your home. This is not an adoption, the animal remains property of the shelter or rescue, and they pay for any veterinary needs (and often for all supplies, including food!) The amount of time can be a few days or weeks, especially in the case of young kittens, to a few months. Sometimes, if you are able to do this, you will be needed to foster an animal while they are recuperating through an illness or after an injury or surgery. Other times, the animals are healthy but under-socialized, or too young to be adopted out. The shelters and rescues rely on foster homes to free up their space. Some rescues, including breed-specific rescues, operate entirely with the use of foster homes!

In my own fostering experience, I was able to meet and familiarize myself with many types of kittens and cats, as well as a gamut of physical and socialization issues prevalent with rescues. It made me a better parent for the forever companion animals that would eventually enter my life. And, the joy foster parents feel is immense in knowing that we are helping to create an adoptable, well-adjusted, trusting little animal that will soon be adopted into a loving forever home.

Can anyone be a foster volunteer?
Yes! If you are able to keep animals in your home or apartment, you are likely a good candidate for providing a foster home. Fostering allows you to spend time with a shelter animal (or litter of animals) in the comfort of your own home, socializing and recuperating at your own pace. You’ll want to contact your local animal shelter or breed rescue to find out more about what they are seeking in a foster home.

What can you expect?
By contacting a local shelter or breed rescue, you will learn their preferred steps for bringing you into their team of volunteers. Often after an orientation, and possibly a home visit, you can then be added to a foster home “list.” You can specify the type of animal you are interested in fostering, including ages and health/illness limitations. You won’t be asked to foster an animal that you are not comfortable around.

My own personal experience has been primarily with cats and kittens. Some time ago, while volunteering at a local animal shelter, I was introduced to the incredibly rewarding world of fostering. The small kittens that were regularly surrendered were often shy and under-socialized, and it was obvious that a few weeks in a loving home would bring them to a level of comfort around people. I originally only took in kittens, since the timeframe for fostering kittens is often very short, approximately two to three weeks maximum. The role in fostering weaned kittens often involves socializing them as well as ensuring they reached the desired adoption weight. Yes, my job is primarily playing with and feeding them! Sometimes foster parents will have to give a stray kitten a bath, flea treatments, etc. but only are given tasks that are within their comfort level. You can also time your fosters with your schedule and availability, especially if you travel out of town.

You don’t even need to have any supplies or food ready – I didn’t even have a carrier when I started -- often the shelters/rescues will provide everything you need and in every case that I have seen, they provide veterinary care as well. Is your foster animal’s health concerning you, or is she acting in a way you don’t understand? Call your foster case manager and you’ll have readily available help. I prefer to supply my own items, even buying any special food they recommend for the fosters, so the shelter can use those supplies for someone just starting out.

”But, I won’t be able to give them back!”
Many have lamented that while they would love to have a foster, it would break their heart to give the foster back to the shelter once they have fallen in love with the animal(s). I always keep in mind that somewhere, someone is wishing and hoping to meet the cat, dog, rabbit, or even horse of their dreams, and you are helping care for “their” animal in the meantime. It fills me with great joy to watch the transformation of a foster in my care. Kittens who hide under bookshelves, shy and untrusting in the first few days, transform very quickly into happy and well-adjusted companion animals. When I think of their future home and human companions, it’s a truly rewarding feeling.

Explore breeds, ages, temperaments before adopting
If you are considering adopting an animal, fostering can give you a sneak preview and a chance to try out a particular breed or type of animal before you officially adopt one. I didn’t know much about Maine Coon cats until I fostered several, and eventually adopted one.

A friend of mine helps puppies with Pit Bull Rescue in the Denver Metro area. She has her own animals, and the fosters live among the clan. The puppies spend several weeks to a few months with her on average, and by the time they are adopted out, have successfully learned to live with other dogs, cats, and children in a normal busy household. Such well-adjusted puppies clearly make more adoptable puppies, which not only helps the breed rescue but also the community of those interested in adopting them.

Last year, I fostered a mother cat and her six nursing, days-old kittens. Watching them grow, open their eyes, it was an amazing experience. Right now, I have a mom and her nursing kitten. Some families want their pet to become pregnant so that they can share the miracle of birth with their children, but wouldn’t fostering make more sense? To breed a pet, as we all know, creates a permanent addition to the problem. This same end could be reached by fostering a pregnant or new mother, giving the exposure to the experience to the whole family while helping manage pet overpopulation.

Fostering helps save lives!
Even if you foster one or two times a year, that will certainly help create room in a shelter or allow just a few more animals to be saved from euthanasia by a rescue group. Maybe someone you know would be perfect for a foster situation – talk to them about it and help them get situated.

Best Friends Network has a whole host of related articles and more information about
fostering. Articles include “Become a Foster Parent” and the “Foster Care Handbook.”

Find out more by calling the volunteer manager at your local shelter or breed rescue and talking to them about their needs. I’d love to hear your experiences via comments below.

Happy Fostering!

Photo of 3 week old foster kitten: Rita Sharma