Put on your Cape: Foster a Pet

Become a Superhero for a Pet in Need!
More than 1,000 pets a year are cared for by our foster families.

Please click on the link below to fill out our online Foster Application.

Foster Superhero volunteers provide temporary care for one or more shelter pets in their own homes until the pets are ready for adoption. Often, these pets are too young to be placed in the shelter or have special medical or behavioral needs that require a nurturing home environment. Sometimes, the pets simply need a break from the noise of the shelter. As a shelter with limited kennel capacity, we rely on the community to help us at times of overcapacity or when dogs or cats need extra time to decompress from their prior circumstances. There’s no better place for pets than a home, even if it’s just for a day, a week, or longer. Whatever it takes.

Foster parents provide a clean, safe, loving environment for these pets and give them a paw up in life. After spending time in foster care, these pets are healthier and happier, which means they are well-prepared for their next journey in a new home. Some foster families fall in love with their charges and adopt – we call them ‘foster failures’ — others help find the perfect matches for these pets with friends or family members; some market them with our guidance or take them to shelter adoption events; many simply bring them back to the shelter when they are ready for adoption. We provide foster parents with all the tools necessary for the transition to their forever homes wherever that may be.

We felt the love of unprecedented fostering support during the difficult days of the pandemic. In 2020, foster families grew from 128 to 202 volunteers, each fostering an average of 5 pets. We placed 1,034 animals in foster care and hope to increase that number by 20 percent, helping our most at-risk pets in the shelter and in the community.

If you’re interested in becoming a foster volunteer, please click on the appropriate links to fill out the application forms:

Please browse our library for tips on how to make your foster experience as pleasant as possible.

Crate training a foster puppy
How to crate train a puppy. Courtesy of World Ready Pets

Shy or fearful foster dogs
Bringing a shy foster dog into your home. Courtesy Maddie’s Fund

House-training foster dogs
How to house-train your foster dog. Courtesy Maddie’s Fund

Introducing foster dogs to others
Introducing a shy dog to strangers. Courtesy Maddie’s Fund

Kitten bottle-feeding
How to bottle feed an orphaned kitten. Courtesy of Maddie’s Fund

Stimulating orphaned kittens
How to stimulate kittens to urinate and defecate. Courtesy of Maddie’s Fund

Bathing orphaned kittens
How to bathe orphaned kittens. Courtesy of Maddie’s Fund

Solid foods for orphaned kittens
How to wean orphaned kittens to solid foods. Courtesy of Maddie’s Fund