Foster Pets for the Roanoke Valley SPCA!

While our shelter is a wonderful place for a dog or cat to find a new home, if one of our pets has temporary special needs, we prefer they live in a foster home until they are ready for adoption. Usually these are short term situations, and a foster home is only needed for 2-4 weeks. When the foster period ends, pets are brought back to the shelter and made available for adoption after being spayed or neutered (sometimes pets are already altered when they go out to foster).

Fostering pets is a great way to earn volunteer hours for school, clubs, or college applications! Foster families receive 7 hours of volunteer credit per week they have a foster pet(s).

Types of pets that are typically fostered:

• Kittens - Kittens are fostered until they are 8 weeks old and weigh 2 pounds at which time they can be altered (spayed or neutered). Kittens are typically fostered for 2-6 weeks, and can go out to foster with littermates or, if they're old enough, on their own. Kitten litters may or may not be accompanied by their mama cat. Mama cats stay in foster for an additional 2 weeks and return to get spayed after recovering from nursing their kittens.
• Puppies - Puppies are fostered until they are 8 weeks old at which time they can be altered. Most puppies are fostered on their own or with another littermate. Puppy litters may or may not be accompanied by their mama dog. Mama dogs also stay in foster for an additional period until they're ready to be spayed.
• Sick pets - Occasionally we have a pet who is suffering from a minor common ailment, such as an upper respiratory infection (URI), and needs to recover outside of the shelter. These are usually minor cases, but it is recommended these animals be kept from resident dogs and cats to avoid spreading the disease. Foster periods vary for sick pets, but are typically about 2 weeks.
• Pets recovering from surgery - If a pet has recently had surgery, we generally prefer the pet to recover in a foster home instead of the shelter to ensure that pet's needs are fully met.
• Under socialized pets - If our staff determines that a pet in our facility is under socialized, we will try to place that pet with a foster family to gain more socialization skills. Examples of under socialized pets are very shy cats, puppies that need to learn proper manners, etc.