What is fostering and why does it matter so much?
How to become a foster, why a temporary home beats boarding, and how we can support the people who foster.
Fostering means giving temporary shelter to abandoned animals who urgently need safety and care, so they get a chance to survive and one day find their family and forever home.
Sadly, very few people are willing to offer a temporary home to an animal in need and give it the attention, energy, love and care to get back on its feet. Mostly because people are afraid of getting attached, afraid of the commitment, or simply don’t understand why fostering matters so much. Compared to group housing and boarding, fostering has several key advantages:
- Animals get better care or therapy when sick or injured — and therefore a better chance to survive.
- Less risk of disease. Sending unvaccinated puppies to group housing would be a death sentence, while in a foster home they can be isolated from parvovirus and distemper.
- They learn home habits and get socialised, so adopters are more likely to choose them.
- Living with people gives them visibility: more photos and an accurate description of their character hugely increase the chances of adoption.
- Money that would go to boarding can help other animals instead.
Fostering takes many forms. If you find an animal yourself and give it a temporary home until adoption, almost everything is on you. If fostering is organised with an association, the foster’s role and the rules should be clear from the start. Usually the foster provides the care, while food, supplies and vet costs are covered by the association or through donations — so the responsibility doesn’t fall on one person, and saving little noses becomes a joint effort.
Become a temporary guardian
Consider giving one soul the chance to survive, recover and find its people. If you can’t offer a temporary home, you can still support those who do:
- Share posts on social media — one share can change a life.
- Donate — money, or food, pads, litter, bedding, flea & tick protection and other supplies.
And finally: get involved, foster, donate, share, adopt, do anything — just don’t look away!
