Foster Care:
It is currently "kitten season" and SafeHaven is looking for foster homes for orphaned kittens and pregnant cats. If you are interested in fostering please fill out a foster care application and bring it in to the shelter!
Foster care providers help SafeHaven Humane Society find forever homes for many more animals that it would without them. Foster Homes are an invaluable part of our organization. Foster care providers open their hearts and homes up to animals, providing them with round the clock care and socialization that the shelter is unable to provide. SafeHaven provides all the supplies and medical care necessary for the animals, while foster homes provide the love and time!
The most common need for foster care is for pregnant cat,
a nursing cat with kittens, and orphaned kittens, who are too young for adoption. By placing these animals in foster care, the shelter is able to house more adoptable animals. More importantly, foster care protects kittens from illness and provides the crucial socialization, and in some cases round the clock feeding, needed for kittens to develop into healthy adoptable cats!
Though not nearly as often, foster care is sometimes needed for dogs as well. Pregnant dogs, as well as a mother with her littler of young puppies would be candidates for foster care. Occasionally we get young puppies that need to be fostered for a few weeks until they are old enough to be adopted. As with kittens, foster care provides puppies with round the clock feeding and socialization that the shelter is unable to provide. Sometimes dogs with special needs or who are recovering from surgery will be placed in foster care until they are adoptable.
SafeHaven can not know ahead of time, when we w
ill need foster care (although we do have a great need for it during the summer or “kitten season”), which means foster care providers are kept on an on-call basis. The shelter will continue to check in with foster care providers to keep them updated on the program, and will contact them when an animals requiring foster care arrives at the shelter. This means that fostering is often an “un-planned” activity.
Fostering an animal is a wonderful way to experience watching a young animal grow, while still having your own pets responsibly spayed and neutered. It is a wonderful way to experience the joy of owing a pet for those who are unable to make a permanent commitment to an animal.
SafeHaven recognizes that the hardest part of fostering is ret
urning the animal to the shelter. Attachment is often formed, and there is no magical answer to solving this problem, but SafeHaven wants to remind you that you will have played a vital role in saving that animals life!
If you think fostering an animal is something you would be interested in, you can download our foster care application here or pick it up at the shelter. If you would like more information on fostering please feel free to contact us at volunteer@safehavenhumane.com or (541) 928-2789.
