How to Foster Homeless Pets

Around 12 million homeless cats, dogs, kittens and puppies are euthanized each year due to overcrowding in animal shelters. Make a difference in the lives of homeless pets by becoming a volunteer foster parent.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Willing, helpful attitude
• Space in your home for a visitor
• Time to spend with the animal
• Toys and bedding

1. Walk into any city animal shelter and you'll find rows of cages filled with homeless pets waiting to be adopted. Most animals found in shelters are good, friendly pets, but have not yet found someone willing to give them a chance. If you have space in your home for a dog waiting to be adopted or a litter of kittens not yet old enough for adoption, foster care, which can last from two days to several months, may be the perfect way to give back and help pets find a forever home.
   Fostering a pet not only saves that animals life, but makes space for another at the shelter, saving two lives at once.

2. What is a foster parent? A foster parent takes care of a needy animal in their home for an agreed upon period of time. Foster care can involve administering medications for sick pets, feeding special foods to animals on strict medical diets, helping an animal to be more sociable with other animals or humans or simply giving a homeless pet a break from the cramped cages and excessive barking and smells at animal shelters.

3. Contact your local humane society or animal shelter. At any given time, shelters have hundreds of homeless pets waiting for a chance to get a few days out of the shelter or cage they're confined to. The shelter will likely ask you to fill out a brief volunteer application that coordinates your abilities and specifications to specific animals. You can specify that you only want to foster kittens, older animals, or specific breeds.

4. The shelter will request that you provide toys, bedding and food for the animal, due to their own strapped budgets, unless the animal is undergoing a special treatment that includes a specific diet.
   Shelter officials may ask you if they can tour your home to ensure that you can provide a good temporary home for the homeless pet.

5. Select a pet that best suits your abilities. If your dog at home is pet aggressive, make sure you can give your foster pet the seclusion necessary for their safety. Rather than taking home a litter of five kittens, try starting off with a low-maintenance animal like an adult dog or cat.

6. Once you selected an animal and have received instructions from the shelter on the animal's needs, introduce the animal into your home by letting the pet explore different rooms. Do not get in the pets way or pick them up. Let them get acclimated. If you have pets, first let your animal sniff the foster pet through the cage so they can get comfortable with the new addition.

7. Call the shelter and give them updates on the animal's progress. Taking a digital photo of the pet in a home environment and posting it to www.petfinder.com will help the animal's chances of getting adopted. Allow prospective parents into your home to see and pet the animal, if you are comfortable helping with the adoption process.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't overburden yourself. You may think you have space for two litters of kittens, a dog and a cat, but you want this to be a rewarding experience, not an overwhelming burden. Start slow and don't take more than you can handle.
• Only give medications if you've mastered how to administer them. Otherwise, take the animal to the shelter and let staff handle special medications when needed.
• You will get attached to these animals. Be ready to give them back to the shelter when your time is up or when they've been adopted. You may adopt the pet if you fall in love, but this may leave less space for future foster opportunities.

Resources

• adoption

[lordkhomar]

on 12/18/2008 Great tips, I wish more people would adopt homeless animals, 5 stars!