By being a pet foster family, you provide a temporary home for an animal prior to adoption. Fostering animals is a wonderful and personal way to contribute to saving homeless pets. Cats and dogs are the most common pets needing foster homes, but sometimes we may also need help with rabbits, birds, or even farm animals.

You can contact our Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer@washingtonpashelter.org or by calling the Washington Area Humane Society at 724.222.7387.

If you want to do something to help the animals, fostering can be a flexible, fun, and rewarding volunteer opportunity. Here’s why:

• It’s more flexible than volunteer opportunities that require you to show up at a specific time for a certain number of hours.
• It’s a great way to enjoy a pet if you are not in a position to make that lifetime commitment right now. Fostering can be an excellent option for people that work from home, college students, or military families.
• Would you like to add a dog or cat to your household, but you’re not sure? Fostering can be a great way to find out.

Taking animals into your home, loving them, and then letting them go requires a special kind of person. Your role as a foster family is to prepare the animal for adoption into a loving home.

The specific needs of the animal will determine how much time is involved. Newborn orphaned kittens and puppies, for instance, must be fed every few hours. A frightened animal who needs socialization or training will also require some extra time. You can discuss your availability with the WAHS staff to determine what kinds of animals you’ll be best suited to foster.

There are several possible reasons:

• Foster care can help save an animal’s life when a shelter is full.
• Some animals don’t do well in a shelter environment because they are frightened or need a little extra care.
• Newborn animals that need to be nursed or bottle-fed usually need foster care.
• Some animals need time to recover from an illness or injury before adoption.

Whatever the reason, these animals need some extra love and care before they can be adopted. Providing foster care for a few days, weeks, or months can be a lifesaving gift for an animal.

You’ll want to consider how the animals in your household will adjust to having a foster pet. Some animals do very well with a temporary friend and can help socialize the foster animal. Other pets have a harder time with new animals being added to or leaving the family. You’re the best judge of your pet’s personality.

For the safety of your pets and the foster animal, it’s important to keep your pets up-to-date on vaccinations. In many cases, the foster pet will need to be isolated from your own pets, either temporarily or throughout the foster period. Talk with the WAHS staff to determine what’s best in each situation.

The WAHS takes full responsibility for finding a new home, though you can help by telling friends, family and co-workers about your foster pet. You’ll want to discuss with the WAHS staff how adoptions will be handled.

Giving up an animal you’ve fostered, even to a wonderful new home, can be difficult emotionally. Some people like to be there when the pet goes home with the new family. Seeing your foster animal ride off into the sunset will help you remember that they have found a lovely new home.

A lot of foster families get photos and updates of their old foster pets enjoying their new homes. Knowing you were part of saving a life and helping the animal find a loving home is tremendously rewarding.

Sometimes a foster home turns into a permanent home. That’s why rescue, shelter, and humane organizations are always on the lookout for new foster homes!