Fostering an animal is a great way to help alleviate shelter-induced stress, and has a positive impact on the people involved too. It helps a shelter by freeing up physical space for the next four-legged occupant coming through the door, and sets animals up for success in their eventual forever home. There are numerous tips and tricks that shelters and organizations use to promote fostering and best practices for shelters and foster parents. In this post, we highlight some of these tools and platforms, and provide a first-hand account from a foster parent.
Kelly Duer, Senior Community Solutions Specialist at Maddie’s® Fund provided lots of helpful foster solution information on a recent Maddie’s® Fund Community Conversations call. The key strategies she identified were:
- Provide your foster families with training for the animals they are caring for, so that they feel comfortable and confident.
- Provide training in a variety of ways. Training can take place at the shelter, or be available online and completed independently.
- Provide a lot of extra foster resources and be available to your foster care providers if they need more help
Dr. Lena DeTar, Interim Director and Assistant Clinical Professor for Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine says that, with kitten season around the corner, “now is the best time for sheltering organizations to solidify their “foster on-deck” crew, polish their “finder-foster” resources, and publish their “kitten shower” wish lists, to ensure shelters and their foster families are fully equipped.”
Great example from shelters willing to share their foster recruitment and communication techniques are:
- El Paso Animal Services
- Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter (create a Trello board for staff and/or the public)!
- Schedule a Meet & Greet Event – South Jersey Regional Animal Shelter
Dr. Emily Boccia, Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Intern with Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program, is completing a rigorous internship year learning about the shelter medicine specialty, and is an active foster parent for the Tompkins County SPCA.
Dr. Boccia describes the foster experience as extremely rewarding, because it allows her to provide special care for animals who need it, and frees up staff time at the shelter. It also has another upside: adoption. Although she had no intention to keep him initially, after getting him through flea anemia and a case of upper respiratory infection, Boccia decided to adopt her foster kitty Boop, named “because of his adorable, grey, ‘boopable’ nose.” All his issues have since resolved now, and he is living his best life with two furry siblings, Dean and Stevie.
Boccia says fostering is especially necessary for shelter animals when:
- They require long-term care or intensive care (such as kittens under 5 weeks old)
- They need enhanced emotional, social and environmental enrichment
- Shelter staff need more information about how the animal would behave in a home environment
Shelter animals not in the foster program benefit from fostering too: when there is adequate staff to manage foster parent and animal needs, shelter staff can concentrate their efforts on caring for animals in the shelter who need to be there. Short-term (a few days) or long-term (several months), foster parents provide exceptional care for shelter pets.
Boccia recommends fostering to a variety of people. Whether you’re new to fostering and would like training on how to administer medications, or you’re an experienced foster veteran and want to learn more about behavior training techniques or neonatal care –there are a variety of options depending on your level of comfort and availability. Whichever you choose, Boccia says, “you get a success story” and a gratifying experience.
On behalf of Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program, we would like to give a hearty THANK YOU to all of our foster families that provide crucial care to animals each and every day.
~Written By: Suzette Moschetti, Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program Coordinator
