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What Is Pet Fostering?
Pet fostering provides temporary care and housing to animals that may be too sick, stressed, young, or simply cannot be housed in the shelter. Foster volunteers open up their homes and dedicate time to caring for these pets that have high needs and sometimes have to provide round the-clock-care.
How Does Fostering Pets Work?
At Nevada Humane Society (NHS), you do not need previous experience to become a foster volunteer. If you are interested in signing up to be a foster you can visit our Foster Page to fill out the interest form.
Once you have applied, our Foster Team will review your application and send you a follow-up email. After this, they invite you to join our foster base and prepare to take home your first pets! Our Foster Coordinators provide training and resources for each new person or family that decides to sign up with our Foster Program so they feel ready and prepared to take on any pet coming to stay with them.
You will be responsible for bringing your new pet residents in for things such as veterinary check-ups at the clinic, feeding them (in some cases where they are too young, they will need to be bottle fed), scheduling vaccination and spay and neuter appointments. Our Clinic Team is available as a resource and will be there to schedule appointments with you.
What Is The Cost Associated With Fostering?
Thanks to generous donations from our community and beyond, we are able to send our foster volunteers home with “starter packs” including food they will need in order to care for their new foster babies. For this reason, we do not want our volunteers to feel like they need to pay for supplies out-of-pocket.
Can You Foster If You Already Have Pets At Home?
The short answer is yes. When you take home foster pets it is important to understand that they will need a quarantine and an adjustment period, just like any new pet you bring into your home. These pets should have their own separate space, away from any other animals in the home in order to get acquainted with their surroundings and to monitor them to ensure they do not show any signs or symptoms of infection or disease.
Once the quarantine period is up for the pets, you can work on introductions to your own pets. Always follow proper protocol when introducing new pets, and supervise the interactions. It can be beneficial to allow them to swap scents between doors during their quaratine period, so they are already starting to get to know each other. Your foster pets may make new best friends with your pets at home!
Why Is Fostering Pets So Important?
Fostering pets is important as shelters rely on these homes in order to keep taking in new pets, and it allows them to help as many pets as possible. Without the dedicated help of people willing to open up their homes, Nevada Humane Society and shelters all over the country would not be able to do what is necessary in order to provide a safe environment for pets in need.
Goodbye Is The Ultimate Goal
In order to help more pets grow big and strong, overcome injuries, and find forever homes, goodbye is the ultimate goal. Although this may sound like a difficult thing to do, remember at the end of the day that this allows as many pets as possible to have cozy and loving spaces to become happy and healthy.
Interested In Becoming A Foster Volunteer?
NHS is always looking to expand our foster base! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please check out our pages on Fostering a Pet and learn specifically on Kitten Fostering, to see the opportunities. We help thousands of pets per year, and none of it would be possible without the help of our network of dedicated foster volunteers.
