While the ultimate goal is always to find your animal a “forever home,” there is sometimes a need to foster an animal before this can happen. Fostering an animal is a method of short-term care that will ultimately help in the long term care process, no matter what kind of animal is involved. Fostering provides benefits to the animal, the shelter, and also to the foster parents.
Foster Benefits for Shelters
Different shelters will have different needs, but the basics usually come down to staff, funding, and space. Foster programs are a great way to free up space, especially when an animal may need long term care, allowing your shelter to provide for additional animals in need. High level care and one-on-one care are also easier to provide in a foster setting, as shelter staff usually have many animals in need of attention. An additional benefit to shelters is the increased public awareness created by fostering, an awareness that can help bring volunteers and funding to help further your efforts.
Foster Benefits for Animals
Fostering animals has wonderful benefits for all types of species, from cats to dogs to bunnies. While any pet can benefit from a fostering environment, the following situations often show huge returns from that extra attention.
• Young animals and nursing mothers. Fostering is great for these growing families that need some extra space but aren’t yet ready for adoption.
• Anti-social or anxious animals. An especially common problem with dogs, the personal attention allows the animals to become comfortable with humans again and receive extra training prior to adoption.
• Medical needs and injuries. Oftentimes rescued animals are the victims of accident or neglect. These injuries can require special environmental accommodations and round the clock care that are difficult to give in a shelter setting.
• Long-term foster care. When an animal needs long term care, there are benefits to housing outside of a shelter. Long term residence in a kennel can serve to make animals less social and have emotional difficulties.
Foster Benefits for Humans
Fostering an animal provides more than a simple sense of satisfaction. A foster parent is able to bond with an animal and experience different personalities than they may otherwise have. Health benefits such as lower blood pressure and lower risk of depression are included. Additionally, the love of saving an animal and finding it a forever home cannot be quantified.
