FOSTERS SAVE LIVES!
Fosters are a particularly crucial component of shelter care because they can provide important information for potential adopters about how a pet behaves in an actual home versus a shelter cage. Many fosters care for underage, injured or ill pets in their homes until they are ready to be returned to the shelter to be adopted. Fosters also often care for healthy animals, especially dogs, that are available for adoption but would benefit from a temporary break from shelter life, which can be stressful, especially when the shelter is very full. You do not have to be a shelter volunteer in order to foster.
Many fosters care for underage kittens (kittens cannot be offered for adoption until they are at least eight weeks old and weigh approximately two pounds), usually without a mom. Some are just a few days old and require bottle feeding every few hours (the shelter staff will help you learn how), while others are five or six weeks old, eating on their own, and most in need of cuddles and socialization. Regardless of their age, they do much better in a foster’s home than they do in the shelter. Fosters are also occasionally needed to care for injured or ill dogs or older cats, and very occasionally for other domestic pets. These animals may be recovering from an operation or an illness and may need round the clock supervision and care that cannot be provided at the shelter.
If you are approved to foster for Anne Arundel County Animal Services, you will receive education and support from its network of fosters and shelter staff. Friends of Anne Arundel County Animal Services or the shelter itself can provide the food and supplies you will need, and you will also have access to the shelter veterinarian. You will be notified when the kinds of animals you are interested in helping become available to be fostered, but you will never be required to take an animal. You will, however, get a warm and fuzzy feeling when you save a warm and fuzzy life!
