Have you ever thought about fostering? It’s an important part of the pet ownership process that area shelters want people to consider.

With a similar concept to fostering human children, pet fostering asks people to temporarily take in a pet and provide care for it until he or she is ready for a “forever” home.

Foster cats and dogs can be any age, but the animals needing temporary homes are often too young to be adopted and may require round-the-clock care and feeding. This level of care is also good for the animal’s welfare, since it might be challenging for shelter employees to perform these skills.

Some shelters are also known to foster older cats or dogs to give them a different change of scenery from the shelter – some call it a “shelter break” which is good for their mental health.

Fostering might be required if an animal is injured and needs some rehabilitation before being ready for adoption. Pregnant mothers about to deliver or have recently delivered may benefit from a foster home until her babies are weaned.

Living with a foster animal is a good way to offer basic socialization and get them used to humans. It doesn’t necessarily mean fosters have to offer advanced obedience training, but even teaching basic skills and behavior in a low-stress environment can go a long way in helping them learn to do well with people when adopted.

Fostering can also be a good way for families to see whether they like having pets without a long-term commitment while also receiving emotional fulfillment.

To encourage fostering and make the experience a little easier for foster families, most shelters provide items at no cost like food, medication, carriers, toys, and blankets during the foster period.

In some cases, a “foster fail” can take place when a foster family decides that they don’t want to part with a particular cat or dog and want to adopt it themselves. Shelters are OK with this happening, since their overall goal is to find safe homes for animals, regardless of who it is. Plus, shelter staff may know that their fosters can provide good homes, which makes it even more exciting to hear “sure, we’ll adopt this one.”

Depending on the shelter, fosters may be able to return the animals at a certain time. Or they are encouraged to try to find them a permanent home using their own resources, such as social media.

Fostering can be as short as a weekend or as long as three months. There is often a higher need for kitten fostering in summer and fall, but puppy foster families are usually needed all year long.

To learn more about fostering, contact your favorite shelter and fill out an application.

SCRAPS https://www.spokanecounty.org/4228/Foster-Animals

Spokane Humane Society https://spokanehumanesociety.org/foster-care/

Better Together https://bettertogetheranimalalliance.org/ways-to-give/foster/

SpokAnimal https://spokanimal.org/foster-program/