For families who love animals but aren’t sure if they’re ready or able to take a pet full time, or who want the satisfaction of knowing they’ve helped animals in need, fostering animals through area shelters and rescues could be a worthy undertaking.
Everyone’s reason for fostering is different. It helps get more animals out of shelters at a time when space is in high demand, gives you time to try out having a pet without commitment, and might fit with your lifestyle better than owning a pet.
Stephanie Fischer, an Alexandria resident who fosters dogs through DC-based City Dogs, began fostering after the death of her own dog. As a single mother, the idea of taking on the additional responsibility of owning a dog and the fear of losing it made her hesitate to adopt again, so she tried fostering.
“I loved the idea of just being able to try it out. And then thinking, ‘Oh, we’ll foster, and then if I realize we’re ready for another dog, then we’ll get another dog.’ But it turned out we just like fostering so much,” she says. She has now been fostering for over 10 years and has taken care of 18 dogs.
Here’s what to expect from fostering a pet if you don’t know where to start.
Find a Match
The first thing you’ll do when you get in contact with a shelter to inquire about fostering is fill out an application or survey to tell them about yourself. This will vary depending on the shelter, but ultimately, the shelter wants to know about your home, lifestyle, and experience to determine which pets you can take care of. This could include things like whether you have other pets or children at home, if you live in a house or an apartment, and how much time you spend out of the house.
“We like to think of ourselves, both for adopters and fosters, as kind of the ‘real estate agents,’ where people tell us what they’re able to do and what fits into their home, then we find an animal that’s going to fit into that scenario,” says Sue Bell, founder and executive director of Homeward Trails Animal Rescue in Fairfax Station.
The time between filling out the application and taking a pet home will depend on which pets are in need, but it could take as little as a day or two, once your application is approved.
Consider how long you can take the pet. Taking an animal until it gets adopted could be a multi-month commitment, but that isn’t the only option. You may be able to take in pets for a few weeks while they recover from surgeries, look after a new litter of kittens or puppies until they’re old enough to be separated from their mother, or even just take a dog for a weekend to give it a break from the shelter.
Taking Pets Home
Once your application has been approved and an animal is placed in your care, it’s time to get ready. This is a little different than owning an animal, in that the shelter will likely provide everything you need to get set up, from a litter pan to toys.
Having permanent pets in the home complicates the situation somewhat, but it doesn’t make fostering impossible. Communicate with the shelter and find out what it believes is the best course of action.
Arianne Killen, the director of veterinary and foster care at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, recommends keeping foster pets separated from permanent pets in most cases to reduce the possibility of pets passing on illnesses or potentially feeling territorial.
If it is possible to introduce them, you’ll likely need to keep them separate for an introduction period to get the pets used to each other.
During the Stay
When animals enter a new space, there’s bound to be an adjustment period as they get comfortable.
Bell references a “rule of threes.” Pets will be anxious for the first three days, start to get comfortable and show their true personalities in the next three weeks, and then finally feel at home after three months.
Fischer agrees. “It’s funny, usually the first three days they are on really, really, good behavior. And then like day three, then they start getting on the sofas and everything because when they get comfortable.”
Make note of the personality that shines during that time and report back to the shelter. This is one of the big benefits of sheltering: It lets the agency see what that animal is like outside of the context of a shelter so the shelter can make better informed matches with prospective adopters.
You may be asked to help out with crate or behavior training while an animal is in your care. The shelter will be able to provide advice and support throughout. Many offer online training resources that can help.
Saying Goodbye
One of the big anxieties about fostering is the idea of giving the pets up at the end. And, while it can be difficult to say goodbye after growing attached, you shouldn’t let that deter you.
“The time you have this animal, you’re greatly helping this animal out. And you have to be ready to send them off to their forever home and know that this is temporary, and you’re just you’re just helping them while you can,” Killen says.
Of course, there’s always the option to “foster fail” by adopting — something both Killen and Bell say isn’t really a failure at all.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
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