Foster a Dog or Cat

We could not do what we do without the help of our AMAZING foster parents! We don't have our own shelter, but we are blessed to have our cat room enclosures and our wonderful network of foster parents. Our foster parents are the back bone of our organization and allow us to save the lives of dogs and cats! A foster home provides the love, and socialization and cozy beds, and we provide the food, and medical coverage.
What is a Foster home?
  • Temporary housing for an animal waiting to be adopted
  • Foster homes provide a stable, routine environment
  • Foster homes encourage basic training, socialization, and positive behaviour
  • A place to recover from medical situations; post-surgery, palliative care, on-going medical care/intervention

How Long is a Foster Term?

A foster term/duration is very dependant on the home, the foster animal, and the reason for fostering.
All the animals that come into our organization have the goal of finding their forever home. Some animals come in and are happy and healthy and ready to be listed for adoption within days, and some require extensive medical and behavioural help before they are ready to be listed for adoption.
We've listed some of our more popular category of foster homes need, and their time commitments below:
  • Mama Cat and Babies - Kittens must be a minimum of 10 weeks age, and be strong and healthy before being adopted. Normally, if they are healthy and strong, they get adopted within a few weeks of being listed as adoptable.
  • Surrendered/Transfered Animals - These can either be owner surrenders from people unable to care for their animal, or transfered from another rescue organization we have affiliations with. If healthy and friendly, they are usually posted for adoption within the week and can be adopted quite quickly. Behavioural and medical cases do take much longer; we work on resolving the issue, whether with training or with medical intervention before the animal is listed for adoption.
  • Stray Cats - The most unpredictable group! Some of the toughest strays can turn into cuddle bugs with time and patience, and some need months of commitment to build up trust.

Fostering a Mama Cat and Baby

 One of our most needed foster situations, outside of our dog foster program, becomes busiest between May to September. This is a fun and rewarding experience for everyone involved! We strongly recommend you have a bedroom or office to contain mom and babies when you are not at home to supervise. Kittens are learning to navigate their environment and many common household items become dangerous or life-threatening to a kitten who doesn't know better. It also helps to keep an eye on them, on their eating habits and litter box habits.
These placements can be as short as a few weeks, when all the kittens and mama are healthy and social; cases that take longer could be due to slower socialization with older kittens(5+ weeks), health related, or bonded pairs.

Fostering a Dog

Fostering a dog is a great way to help set up dogs for adoption into the right homes.
Foster homes provide one on one care for each dog, allowing us to work with each individual dog's dietary, exercise, and mental stimulation needs. Every dog is different and being able to customize their care, and provide a daily routine and observation helps us determine when a dog is ready for adoption, and what resources they need to thrive.

Fostering a Shadow Cat

Shadow cats are the most difficult to find homes for because they are often the most misunderstood and frustrating for families to work with. Most of us see an adorable cat face and just want to pet them & shower them with love and affection!

Shadow cats are the strays who show a desire for human affection but need time to learn that they can trust humans to respect them. They need a home that will provide a safe place, regular meals, and a daily routine to help build their trust in humans, and build up confidence in themselves. Not all shadow cats come around to human interaction, some can learn to trust within weeks, some it can take months or even years.
The heartwarming transformation of helping a shadow cat go from:
<--- 10months old, terrified of humans, hiding under blankets for 3 months....
Demanding snuggles --->
Purring constantly and enjoying pets,       
even allowing his nails to be trimmed!       
A new updated foster agreement has been in effect as of July 1, 2020. All fosters must have a updated/current signed agreement with current coordinators for ongoing support.