Top 5 Benefits of Fostering Animals in Need

June is National Foster a Pet Month and you’ve surely heard of fostering as a vital way to help out animal welfare organizations. But what’s the big deal? Why is fostering so important? The list of reasons is endless, but here are some of the biggest benefits to fostering animals in need:

1. Fostering saves lives

This may sound cliché, but it’s true – fostering animals saves lives. Foster homes provide a safe, stable environment for animals who otherwise might still be out on the street or end up in overcrowded shelters with limited time to be placed into a forever home.

Foster homes also allow more vulnerable animals (such as neonatal, or very young “bottle babies”, those with medical conditions etc.) to receive careful, round-the-clock care. Access to a caregiver with supplies and training to care for these animals may not be feasible in a shelter setting. This extra TLC allows pets to become healthy, happy and ready for adoption.

2. Fostering brings out the best in pets

Living in a shelter setting can be very stressful for animals and not every animal handles a shelter environment well. While shelters and rescues work hard to provide the best for their animals, despite their best efforts, shelters can still sometimes just be too overwhelming for some pets.

Foster families provide a home environment that is typically quiet, more relaxed and nurturing and so after time, pets may become more comfortable and their true personalities will shine through! This is very important for many adopters because they will have a firsthand account of how the animal behaves in the home, out on walks, how they interact with different types of people and animals…

Learning pets’ habits, behaviors and personalities in a home environment can increase chances of a successful adoption. Knowing these things can make for more informed choices for potential adopters when searching for a new pet.

3. Fostering improves a pet’s social skills

Going hand in hand with bringing the out the best in pets, foster home environments can also improve pet’s social skills. Many homeless or abandoned pets have been without a home or people for an extended period of time. This can cause fearfulness, but this can sometimes manifest as aggression. Being in a home with humans, potentially other pets, visitors, children etc. can help the foster pet to socialize and to acclimate to different situations they’d face in their forever homes.

4. Fostering creates more space in shelters for animals in need

Every foster caregiver helps to alleviate some of the strain on shelters and their resources. Regardless of if a shelter is crowded or not, each animal requires care, time and resources that could be used for other animals in need.

5. Fostering can help to keep pets healthy

Animals require a proper diet, daily exercise and socialization to stay healthy – just like humans! Staying in a foster home can provide all of the necessities (and more!) on a much more personal level that will keep the pet happy and healthy until their forever family comes around.

There are so many other reasons why fostering is a vital part of the animal welfare world but these were just some important ones to highlight! Reach out to your local animal shelter to see what kind of support they need – whether it be volunteers, donations or even just spreading their good work on social media or by word of mouth, we can all help our animal rescues continue their missions!