What is Pet Fostering?

Pet fostering provides temporary care to shelter animals who need to live in a home environment prior to adoption. Pet fostering allows the shelter to house and care for more animals while ensuring the best care and comfort of each animal.

There are many situations for which a temporary home may be needed:

• Kittens that are too young to be adopted

• Nursing cats

• Ill, injured, disabled, or other animals that may need regular medication or medical attention

• Animals in need of socialization and training in a home environment

• To relieve an animal of the stresses of living in a shelter, especially older animals

• Previously abused, neglected, or abandoned animals that need to form a healthy bond with people

• Animals displaced due to natural or other disaster awaiting reunion with their families

Why Foster?

Animal shelters work to place lost, abandoned, abused and relinquished animals in permanent homes. Fostering helps relieve overcrowding of the shelter and reduces an animal’s stress by providing a temporary and supportive home while awaiting permanent adoption. Animals, similar to humans, thrive on companionship. Fostering allows you to provide temporary companionship until the animal is adopted.

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Is Pet Fostering right for you?

SOCKS will provide you with the supplies and pet care needed for your foster animal.

Pet fosters must keep in mind that they are a vital, albeit temporary guardian to the shelter animal. You should consider pet fostering if:

• You have the privilege of offering a needy animal a safe, comforting, and supportive environment

• You can help socialize a shelter pet to enhance its adoption potential

• You can reduce the animal’s stress, which improves life span and quality and improves adoptability

• You want to enjoy the benefits of pet ownership but are unable to keep a full-time pet due to lifestyle or other restrictions