Pets911

Finding home for our nation's pets



Why are Foster Parents Needed?

The importance of foster care

Temporary foster families are needed for a variety of reasons. The three most common reasons are:

  • Limited shelter space
    • The number of animals received at a shelter is sometimes overwhelming and adequate housing is not available. Foster homes provide shelters with an additional option until a space becomes available.
  • Treatment and care after an illness or injury
    • Foster parents provide sick and injured animals with the additional time, medication, and space they need to recover. This may include time to recover from emotional, fear, or stress based situations that the animal may have encountered in the past.
  • Extremely young animals
    • Young animals, such as kittens and puppies, which are not yet weaned, require special attention. Unweaned orphans require a serious commitment since they have special needs such as diet and frequent feeding schedules. One of the greatest rewards of nurturing these young animals is knowing that you are giving them a great start in life.

Without the additional time and care provided by temporary foster families, many of the animals that fall into the above three categories would be euthanized.