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Foster parents provide short and long-term care for animals in their homes. By offering your time, love and attention, you prepare your foster cat or kitten for adoption into a permanent, loving home.

Four common reasons cats/kittens are in foster care:

  1. They are too young and or underweight to be placed up for adoption.
  2. A momma cat and her nursing kittens need a home environment where they can feel safe and receive proper socialization.
  3. Cats or kittens who need time to recuperate from an illness or injury.
  4. Cats who need socialization or behavior modification.

Your Duties As a Foster Care Parent:

  • Provide daily care, feeding and any necessary medications as prescribed by our staff veterinarian (food is provided by the shelter).
  • Socialize cats/kittens and give them plenty of TLC.
  • Provide transportation to and from the shelter for medical appointments.
  • Be Committed: These cats/kittens will be in your care until they are ready to be placed for adoption. You could have your foster(s) for a few weeks or several months.

How Foster Care Works:

  1. HSSV receives cats/kittens not ready to be placed in our adoption program.
  2. Foster homes are contacted. If you are called to foster an animal and are not available, we will find another foster home and call you the next time.
  3. The cats/kittens go to the foster home until they are ready for adoption. You will need to bring them to HSSV to be spayed/neutered.
  4. Once your cats/kittens have recovered from their spay/neuter surgery, an HSSV staff member will contact you when there is space for your fosters to enter our adoption program.

Challenges of Fostering:

  • Fostering is a family commitment.
  • Fostering can sometimes be exhausting.
  • Fostering is time consuming.
  • Fostering may sometimes cost you money.

It can be painful to say goodbye to your fosters when they are ready for adoption, BUT, fostering can be THE MOST rewarding and fulfilling thing a true cat lover will ever do to support our shelter cats!

Qualifications for Feline Fostering:

In order to ensure that your foster cats/kittens receive the care they need, we ask that you:

  • Have basic knowledge of feline care and behavior.
  • Attend our Volunteer Orientation class and Foster Care Training session.
  • Complete a Foster Care Application.
  • Have an area where you can keep your foster cats/kittens isolated from your own companion animals.
  • Have a flexible schedule to allow time for routine veterinary exams and vaccinations, as well as any emergencies that may occur. Many of these animals cannot be left alone for more than 4 hours at a time.
  • Be able to commit enough time to socialize your fosters.
  • All non-emergencies are seen by our veterinarian between 11:00 AM & 2:00 PM.
  • Be at least 18 years old.

Ready to start the process? Fill out the Foster Care Application!