Pet foster schemesPet fostering is tremendously rewarding and will enable you to truly make a difference to the lives of many animals at their time of need; you will be preventing an animal being given up or euthanased due to the owner being temporarily unable to care for it. You should consider fostering an animal if you have never had a pet in your home and would like to have a test run before fully committing to adopting an animal. This is particularly a good idea if you have children who want an animal. Letting them experience a trial to understand what responsible pet ownership entails can be a lot less painful than adopting an animal and later realising that the novelty has worn off and that the commitment is too big. It is also an excellent way to have hands on involvement with an animal without having to take on the full time commitment.
There are two types of pet foster schemes: The first is where a temporary home is sought by an organisation for an owned animal. This may be necessary when an owner is unable to care for their pet for a short period of time. This is normally due to crisis or personal circumstances beyond their control, i.e. if the animal’s owner has to go into hospital for treatment, is evicted from their home, has an accident, etc. The animal is fostered until the owner’s circumstances improve and they are able to take it back. Domestic violence is one of the biggest reasons for an animal needing temporary fostering. Most domestic violence refuges are unable to take pets and as many women don’t want to leave the family pet behind, it is often the reason that keeps a battered partner in an abusive situation. Sadly, a lack of pet foster homes may mean that a pet has to be euthanased because they cannot be taken with into a refuge. This is particularly sad when the pet is often so important to the children and is the one stable part of the family life. Staying behind because of the family pet is a great risk to a domestic violence victim and also a risk to the pet who are sometimes attacked as part of the violence. The expansion of volunteer foster homes means that more victims are encouraged to escape; volunteering as a foster carer may mean you are enabling someone to do this. Details are kept confidential and you will never meet the animal’s owner and you will probably have to sign a legal form agreeing to return the animal when the owner is able to care for it again. There are some fostering schemes that assist specifically with domestic violence: Safe Haven Project and Dogs Trust Domestic Violence Fostering scheme are two examples. The second type of fostering involves assisting an adoption centre by fostering homeless animals who are not coping with the confinement and stress of a rescue centre. Often a homeless animal stands a better chance of being adopted when in a foster home where they are not suffering from stress and can show their true personality. You will be helping to alleviate suffering and stress by enabling an animal to have some return to normality instead of the traumatic confinement of kennels. This is also helpful to a rescue centre as it enables them to free up kennel space and therefore assist more animals in need. Most organisations will request that foster carers are home based or do not leave a foster dog for longer than four hours. You will probably have to sign a legal form agreeing to return the animal when a home is found. Here are a few links to organisations that operate fostering programmes. Some will cover the costs of food, bedding, vet bills etc. fostering in Scotland |