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Foster

Open your home, for a little while.

Fostering means caring for a shelter or rescue animal in your own home until they're ready for their family, or find it. You don't have to adopt to save a life.

See foster programs

What it is

You give an animal a temporary home. The shelter or rescue still looks after them: they set the rules, arrange vet care and choose the adopter.

What it costs you

Usually nothing but your time and care. Most programs provide food, supplies and vet care. Ask each one what they cover before you start.

How long it lasts

Anywhere from one night to a few months. Some programs have short stays, like a weekend. Others need a home until the animal is adopted.

Why foster

Fostering helps two animals at once.

The animal in your home gets out of the shelter, and their kennel goes to the next animal who needs it.

It frees a kennelA shelter can only take in as many animals as it has room for. Each foster makes room for one more.
A home is calmerShelters are loud and stressful. In a home, many animals relax and show who they really are.
It helps them get adoptedYou learn what they're like with kids, cats, car rides and couches, and that helps them find the right family.
The youngest and sickest do betterPuppies and kittens too young for adoption, and animals healing from surgery, do best somewhere quiet.
No lifetime promiseIt's a way to help if you can't adopt right now, and a way to find out if a pet fits your life.

Kinds of fostering

There's a kind that fits most lives.

Short stays

A day, a night or a weekend. A break from the kennel for a shelter dog. Day outs and sleepovers are on Rescues on Sniffari.

Until adoption

A home until they're adopted, often a few weeks. The most common kind.

Bottle babies

Newborn kittens or puppies who need feeding every few hours. Shelters usually teach you how.

Medical

Animals healing from surgery, an injury or an illness, with the shelter's vet care.

Behavior

Shy or stressed animals learning to trust people again, at their own pace.

Hospice

Older or very sick animals spending their last days in a home instead of a kennel. Some people call it “fospice”.

Foster to adopt

A trial run in your home before you decide to adopt.

What it takes

Before you sign up.

  • A safe space, like a spare room or a quiet corner, especially for kittens or a new dog.
  • Time for care and play, and trips to the shelter's vet.
  • An OK from your landlord, and from everyone you live with.
  • Your own pets' vaccines up to date. Many programs ask for this.
  • Saying goodbye. It's hard, and it means you did it right.

Around Hampton Roads

Foster programs at the shelters I work with

Run by the shelters and rescues themselves. Apply on their page, and follow their rules.

Questions about fostering? Send me a message.