13 Ways to Foster - Find the Right Fit For You
November 16, 2020
by Diane Zahorodny
The secret to successful fostering is to pick a foster that fits your household. We cover all your options, time commitments, skills required, whether it’s good for kids, how fostering benefits you, the animals and more.
Fostering a homeless animal involves providing them with love and daily care, usually in your home (but not always), until they are ready to be adopted. Most shelters and rescues provide supplies such as food, toys, bedding, cages and vet care. Daily care includes feeding, cleaning, socializing/handling, exercising, giving medications, walking and scooping litter.
We discuss why fostering is important, how kids can be involved, where to keep foster animals and more.
13 Ways to Foster a Shelter Animal
Re-homing lost and found pets yourself
Walking dogs and petting cats at the shelter
Field trips & group hikes
Fostering at your place of business
Sleepovers and holidays
Weaned puppies or kittens
Adult dog or cat
Medical treatment and recovery
Pregnant mom and litter
Orphaned bottle-fed puppies or kittens
Dogs and cats with behavior problems\
Hospice care or “Fospice”
Emergency and community support
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1. Re-homing lost and found pets yourself
Skill Level: Low - Med
Length of Stay: Couple days to couple months
Time per Day: 1-2 hours
If you are kind enough to pick up a lost pet, rather than take them to the shelter, you could keep the animal until you find them a home. Doing so helps the animal, reduces your shelter’s workload and gives you the opportunity to meet and choose the new owner. But this also means that you are solely responsible for the cost of food, vet care, etc. and keeping the animal until you find a permanent home. If you go this route and it doesn’t work out, you can always turn to the shelter later.
2. Walking dogs and petting cats at the shelter
Skill Level: Low
Time per Outing: 30-60 minutes
Good for Kids?: Yes, if a staff member pairs you with an appropriate dog and you follow instructions on the cage cards (some will say “not tested with kids” or “bites”).
It might be a stretch to call this fostering but simply walking a dog or petting a cat can make a huge difference in the lives of those animals. With most shelters, you can go in almost any time to walk, pet or play with the animals, making this a super flexible, low commitment option.
Not only is this a major benefit to the animals, but it eases the staff’s workload and makes them feel great when they see the animals getting extra attention.
3. Field trips & group hikes
Skill Level: Low
Time per Outing: 2-8 hours
Good for Kids?: Yes, if a staff member pairs you with an appropriate dog and the other dogs in the group are also good with kids.
A foster field trip is when you take a dog* out of the shelter and spend a few hours together doing fun things like hiking, visiting a pet friendly store, walking in public areas to meet potential adopters, playing in your fenced yard, watching a movie…whatever sounds fun and is appropriate for the dog.**
Group hikes are organized by the shelter and involve several volunteers who take shelter dogs on an adventure together. For employers, this is a great, low cost team-building opportunity for your staff.
These two options have so many benefits! You get a dose of warm fuzzy feelings whenever you want, and the dog gets a break from the shelter and opportunities to interact with potential adopters. Plus, you have time to get to know the dog, take pictures and maybe write a short post about your experience. This feedback helps the staff pair the dog with an appropriate family and the extra exposure on social media helps get them adopted.
Louisville Metro Animal Services started a Foster Field Trip program in 2017. In less than a year they had 3x more fosters caregivers, sent 350 dogs on field trips and reduced behavior-related euthanasia by half! Plus, almost 70 dogs were adopted as a direct result of the program. According to a brief survey taken before and after, the dogs showed significant improvements on 15 of 21 measurements during their trip. They were happier, more confident, less nervous, noisy and fearful. ( 1 )
*Cats usually require more time to adjust to new settings so they aren’t always good candidates for short term fostering
**Most shelters ask that you don’t go to dog parks. Not only should your foster dog always be on leash, but the behavior of the other dogs cannot be controlled making negative, potentially dangerous interactions difficult to avoid.
4. Fostering at your place of business
Skill Level: Low
Length of Stay: Couple days to couple weeks
Time per Day: 1-2 hours
If you own or work for a business that is able to welcome pets, this is a fantastic way to foster. It gets the animals out of the shelter and in front of hundreds of potential adopters. Plus, not only is this a great opportunity to socialize and desensitize the animals to lots of different people, but it will delight your customers, demonstrate your love of animals and increase foot traffic. One pet store in our town, Pet Haus, has fostered and helped find homes for hundreds of kittens. They all get adopted really quickly and the new owners usually buy their pet supplies from them.
Cats and kittens are great candidates because they are small, can be kept in a cage and are easy to care for. Calm dogs are also a good option, as long as an employee is willing to take responsibility for walking them during the day and taking them home at night.
5. Sleepovers and holidays
Skill Level: Low
Length of Stay: 2-5 days
Time per Day: 2-3 hours
Good for Kids?: Yes, but don’t forget that the holidays can be a little crazy and some children’s excitement may be overwhelming.
Foster Sleepovers offer all the same benefits as Foster Field Trips but the dog stays in your home for a few days. A longer break gives the dog more time to relax and you more time to give better feedback about their personality. This helps the shelter place them with a more appropriate family, decreasing the chance the animal will be returned to the shelter.
Sleepovers during the holidays are a great antidote to loneliness and boring family gatherings. Most shelters try to give their staff a break around the holidays so fostering also helps reduce their holiday workload (and guilt).
In 2018, Arizona State University did a study on shelter dog cortisol levels (a hormone closely associated with levels of stress) before, during and after a sleepover. They found that, not only were cortisol levels lowest during these trips, but the dogs experienced longer periods of rest. (2) You know how irritable you feel when you don’t get enough sleep? Imagine being a dog living in a noisy, stressful shelter, sometimes for months, without being able to get a full night’s rest!
6. Weaned puppies or kittens
Skill Level: Low
Length of Stay: 2-3 weeks
Time per Day: 2-4 hours
Good for Kids?: Yes, socializing young animals to gentle, well behaved kids is a huge benefit. But remember that puppies and kittens put their teeth on everything and can be easily injured so you will need to actively protect little kids from the animals, and vice versa.
This is a great option if you are looking for maximum fun and cuteness but only for a couple weeks. Most puppies and kittens are weaned (eating on their own) by six weeks old and need a foster home where they can run and play until they are big enough to be adopted, usually around 8-9 weeks old.
Although it is usually best to keep puppies and kittens with their mothers and littermates, sometimes this isn’t possible because the litter has become too much work for one caregiver, or their mother exhibits undesirable behaviors (aggression, fear, anxiety) that should not be reinforced in her offspring.
Splitting litters into groups of two or three is a great way to spread out the work and give each animal more attention. Kittens are easier than puppies because they are easier to contain and potty train, require less space and have a slightly lower capacity for mayhem. But both options are super fun and you won’t be able to stop smiling at the adorable things they do.
One of the best parts of fostering young animals is the opportunity to help prevent behavior problems that often cause them to lose their homes later in life. Creating positive associations with things like nail trimmers, baths, car rides, children, men, noises, smells, etc. can have permanent beneficial effects. This means a better quality of life for the animal and their new family because their pet will be more confident, relaxed and able to deal with the human world.
7. Adult dog or cat
Skill Level: Low
Length of Stay: 1 week to several months
Time per Day: 1-3 hours
Good for Kids?: Yes, but be cautious especially in the beginning. Some kids don’t read or respond properly to animal body language and can inadvertently get into trouble. If you set safe boundaries that your kids will respect and the shelter picks a good foster animal then this can be a fantastic experience for kids.
Otherwise healthy cats and dogs need foster care either because the shelter is full or the animal doesn’t do well in the shelter environment. Some animals are anxious, noisy and aggressive in their cage but then completely transform when they settle into a home. Insights like these can only be gained through a foster program, and they can really help get animals adopted.
If you’re looking for your next pet, a slightly longer foster stay offers more time to decide if the animal is a good fit for your household. This is also a good opportunity to test your kids’ interest in caring for a pet ; )
8. Medical treatment and recovery
Skill Level: Low to high
Length of Stay: Couple days to couple months
Time per Day: 2-4 hours
Good for Kids?: Maybe, but only if your kids are calm, gentle and willing to respect boundaries. Injured animals may be less tolerant and react more negatively.
Animals often arrive with injuries or illnesses that require more care and rest than can be provided at the shelter. Some animals just need a quiet place to recover and daily medication. Others may need more extensive treatment, physical rehabilitation or visits to the veterinarian. Unfortunately, if an appropriate foster home can’t be found, sometimes these animals have to be euthanized.
Your foster coordinator will help you pick a foster animal that fits your skill level. Some shelters even offer medical training programs with opportunities to learn new lifesaving skills!
Common medical conditions include: physical trauma and injury, kennel cough, upper respiratory infection (cold), worms, mange, ringworm, Parvo and coccidia, among others.
Ringworm is a common illness, especially among kittens. It is a treatable skin fungus similar to Athlete’s Foot. Ringworm creeps some people out but it’s really not a big deal. If you wear a long sleeve shirt over your clothes and wash your hands, the chances of you getting it are very low. I’ve only had ringworm once and I didn’t get it from fostering, but from hanging out with a different kind of animal--members of my middle school wrestling team!
9. Pregnant mom and litter
Skill Level: Low to med
Duration: 6-10 weeks
Time per Day: 1-4 hours
Good for Kids?: Maybe. Mothers can be very protective of their babies, even if she is ordinarily great with children. Mothers also don’t like there to be a lot of noisy activity around their new litter. But if your kids can be quiet and gentle, exposing young puppies and kittens to children is amazing for their social development.
READ: Beginner’s Guide to Whelping Puppies
READ: Ultimate Whelping Box Guide
Puppies and kittens are easier to adopt out and usually garner slightly higher adoption fees. Fostering a pregnant mom will not only save multiple animals’ lives, but it will probably benefit the shelter financially.
Fostering a litter from birth is one of my favorite types of fostering. I love watching young life grow and being surrounded by the adorable chaos. The most amazing part is that you have the chance to influence them during their Critical Socialization Period (3-9 weeks). This is a special, once in a lifetime opportunity where a small amount of positive experience will produce great effects on the type of pet they will become (3). Properly exposing them to the people, places and things they will encounter in the human world will help create confident, relaxed cats and dogs without behavior problems.
Very young animals are vulnerable, and this is a potentially heart wrenching aspect to this type of fostering. Sometimes they get sick, nothing can be done and they pass away. I’ve fostered 200+ puppies and kittens and I have only lost a couple, so it is rare but worth mentioning.
Some people worry that they don’t have enough skills for this type of fostering. Animal moms have been giving birth without our help for millions of years and, generally, it is best not to intervene, so don’t let your lack of experience stop you.
A mom cat and kittens don’t require a ton of space and can be kept in a bathroom, mud room or spare room. A mom dog and puppies will require a little more space, depending on the size of Mom and the number and age of the puppies. Having the puppies in an area where they can see and hear people in the house is best, as long as that is alright with Mom.
Until the puppies or kittens are about three weeks old, their mom will do most of the work. Aside from daily neonatal handling, you mostly take care of Mom. Around three weeks, puppies and kittens become more autonomous, exploratory and active. The graphs below depict the average number of hours required for feeding, cleaning, waste management, training, socializing, playtime and affection.
There are several benefits to keeping moms and litters together until they are adopted, but sometimes it becomes too much work or Mom is not a great influence. If you need a little relief, around 6 weeks old the litter can be separated into groups of 2-4, and/or Mom can go to another foster home.
10. Orphaned bottle-fed puppies or kittens
Skill Level: Med to high
Duration: 6-10 weeks
Time per Day: 2-8 hours
Good for Kids?: Yes but these are vulnerable animals and must be handled with care.
If you don’t mind getting up in the middle of the night and have a heart of gold, then you might make a wonderful orphan foster. Orphaned puppies and kittens are quite vulnerable. For the first three weeks they cannot eat or eliminate on their own, so they need to be bottle or tube fed and stimulated to go to the bathroom every 2-6 hours.
Puppies and kittens will begin eating dry food soaked in milk replacement around three weeks old and their reliance on you will decrease significantly. Below are graphs which estimate the amount of time per day needed to care for bottle babies. There are lots of videos online if you need guidance and also some great Facebook groups:
11. Dogs and cats with behavior problems
Skill Level: Med to high
Duration: 1 Week to several months
Time per Day: 1-4 hours
Good for Kids?: Definitely not for young children and a large degree of caution should be taken even with older kids. When in doubt, seek advice from your rescue or a trainer.
Being housed in a shelter can cause animals to become stressed, which can lead to the development of behavior problems. Many issues disappear simply by living in a home for a few weeks, days or even hours, but other problems may require more focused behavior modification.
Even if you don’t have much training experience, most shelters work with trainers that can provide guidance. Plus, there are tons of videos and books addressing issues like fear, aggression, anxiety and hyperactivity, so if this type of work interests you, don’t let your lack of experience stop you.
12. Hospice care or “Fospice”
Skill Level: Low to high
Duration: Couple days to couple months
Time per Day: 1-3 hours
Good for Kids?: Maybe. Death is part of life and this experience may be healthy for some children, but you will have to decide if this is right for your kids.
Hospice work is a noble profession. These individuals voluntarily confront the inevitability of death on a daily basis with compassion and courage. The needs of an animal in hospice care can range from a comfortable, loving home in which to spend their final days, to more intensive treatments such as administering fluids or physical therapy.
This sort of work is not for the faint of heart, but can bring great meaning to your life. Without a foster home, these animals will either waste away in a cage or be euthanized. Hospice fostering allows them to leave this world in a peaceful setting, knowing they were loved.
13. Emergency and community support
Skill Level: Low to high
Duration: Couple hours to couple months
Time per Day: 1-3 hours
Good for Kids?: Maybe. It will depend on the situation.
An emergency foster situation is usually urgent, brief and can arise out of a natural disaster, an abuse or hoarding situation or a severe medical condition. During a bad fire in our town in 2018, hundreds of families had to be evacuated from their homes, but many could not take their animals. Members of our community opened their homes to displaced cats, dogs, lizards, turtles, horses, goats and chickens until it was safe for everyone to return home. Shutting down a hoarding situation can leave hundreds of animals in need of immediate shelter until more permanent solutions can be found.
Sometimes a pet owner who would otherwise keep their pet is forced to give them up due to a short term challenge, such as the loss of a job, an eviction, serious illness, death in the family, court case or incarceration. Rather than lose their beloved pet forever, some shelters will temporarily hold them until they can be returned. These are heartbreaking situations and fostering their pet could mean the world to a family that is struggling. If you aren’t looking for a frequent or long-term commitment but still want to help, you might consider contacting your local shelter about becoming an emergency foster.
Sources
1) https://chewonthis.maddiesfund.org/2018/05/study-can-foster-field-trips-improve-welfare-in-dogs/
3) Scott, J.P., Fuller, J.L. (1965). Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog. Chicago. The University of Chicago Press. (p. 117)
Want My Free Downloads?
Over 30 pages of time saving forms and useful guides
for people raising puppies (kittens, too)