Everyone knows the importance of adopting, but not everyone is in the loop when it comes to how vital fostering is for helping shelter pets.
Today, I want to welcome more people into the club known as cat fostering. Everyone can join, so let’s get into it!
What is fostering?
Fostering cats is the act of providing care, food, and shelter for a cat in your personal home until they are able to be adopted into a permanent family. Cats of all ages need foster homes—newborn kittens to senior cats.
Fostering is a commitment that you can choose the duration of. If you have the time and ability to bottle feed neonatal kittens, go for it! If you want an older cat who requires less time, open up your home to one of them! There is no right or wrong way to foster.
Why Fostering Cats is Important
If you love cats, you need to consider helping them out by becoming a foster paw-rent. In fact, fostering a shelter pet is one of the most important things you can do to help the cats in your community have better lives. Here’s why:
Fostering provides life-saving care.
Without foster homes, many cats would not get the life-saving care they need. Countless cats enter shelters each day with medical ailments that require around-the-clock care—care that most shelters simply aren’t equipped to provide. Foster parents who step up to dedicate their time to giving that care save the lives of those in need.
Fostering helps socialize cats.
Kennels and cages don’t provide the socialization many cats need—that socialization is what makes them more adoptable to furever families. When fostered, cats have a better chance at socialization thanks to the one-on-one attention they get from their humans. Foster homes with additional resident pets also help socialize cats with other animals, when properly introduced and supervised.
Fostering contributes to higher adoption rates.
Cats who are fostered, and receive the proper care and socialization that comes with it, help lead to the increase in success of adoptions. Foster parents are able to educate families on the needs and purrsonalities of each cat, helping to ensure the cat finds the right placement for them.
Fostering can introduce cats to forever homes.
Fostering is the purrfect way for many cats to find their long-term families. Foster parents can oftentimes participate in adoption events and talk to potential families while there. That personal aspect helps families to feel more comfortable making the commitment to adopt.
What is a foster fail?
A “foster fail” is a term lovingly given to foster parents who end up adopting their foster pet. While the goal of fostering is getting your cat adopted to a new family so that you can help others in their place, sometimes foster failing is totally fine and appreciated! Just be smart about who and why you are adopting. Remember—the more cats you get adopted out of your family, the more you can help in the future!!
Fostering frees up room in shelters.
It’s no secret that animal shelters are overcrowded, especially during kitten season (the warmer months of the year). By fostering a cat at home, you free up room in the shelter for more to be helped, and eventually, adopted.
When you become a foster parent for a cat, you help the animal in your care, the animals still in shelters, and everyone involved in the lives of those animals. So what are you waiting for? Contact your local animal shelter and ask how you can become a part of their fostering program!
Pawsitive Purrpose 