Foster a Pet

Consider opening your home to an animal seeking a temporary foster home.  It’s also a great way to see if you and your family is ready to take on the responsibility of owning an animal or if you’re not ready for a permanent commitment, it’s a critical way to help us out and help save many more animals.  Our foster parents also are given the first opportunity to adopt their foster pet and make it a permanent member of their family.

What is the role, what skills and home environment do you need?  Compassion, care, understanding, value and respect for pets.  Tolerance for the unexpected (as no two animals are alike), spare time, patience, kindness and lots of love are important qualities that many successful foster parents possess.  Fostering an animal can be hard work.  It requires a great deal of time, energy and affection.  Sometimes it can be difficult, frustrating and sometimes, even heartbreaking - - but, YOU have a chance to make a difference in the lives of these animals and the community.  You can give these animals a chance at a happy life and we need your help to make this program a success.

Often the shelter takes in animals in need of extra care and attention, such as orphaned animals, litters of puppies or kittens, and animals recovering from illness or injuries. We are seeking dedicated, energetic and patient foster parents to care for underage and underweight puppies and kittens.  Puppies and kittens under eight weeks of age and weighing under two pounds are not candidates for spaying or neutering or for adoption.  We also seek experienced dog handlers to foster dogs with behavioral issues for a short period of time out of the shelter environment.

The fostering period for puppies and kittens can be from a period of 2 weeks to 6 weeks, depending upon the need of the animal(s). The shelter provides you with food, medication (if needed) and veterinary care for the pet while in the foster home.  Any behavioral issues with puppies is addressed through our behaviorist who will guide you through any issues that may arise.

Foster Parent Responsibilities:

Foster parents will care for puppies and kittens in their own homes on a temporary basis and treat these animals as if they were their own.  Foster parents will feed, socialize, medicate (if necessary, groom, train foster animals. prepare their foster animals for their permanent home by socializing them, working on crate training, leash walking with puppies.

Volunteers who have filled out an application and have been approved as foster care givers provide the extra TLC these animals require until they are ready for adoption. Whether it be for 2 weeks to 6 weeks, our foster parents all make a difference in the lives of the animals they care for.  There is great pride in knowing you helped in the development and growth of your foster pet and feel such joy when it’s adopted into a permanent home. This volunteer activity requires extra time and commitment, but is very rewarding! Please fill out our Foster Care Application.

If you would like further information, please contact the foster coordinator at

344-4840, ext. 208.