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Fostering an animal is a rewarding experience! Helping an animal in need that needs extra time, love and care will bring you and your family a lot of joy and wonderful memories. Most importantly will SAVE A LIFE! Every pet in a foster home opens up space in the shelter for another animal in urgent need of our care.
Pet fostering is critical for animal shelters. When a pet comes to our shelter sick, injured, or too young, our fosters provide the safe space needed to nurse them back to health.
Types of pets in need of a Foster?
- Sick or Injured pets: Animals recovering from illness or injury need a quiet place to recover.
- Pets under 8 weeks: HHS often takes animals that are too young to live at the shelter. Some may be orphaned and require the care of a person to feed, clean, and raise the orphan(s). Others may be eating/using the bathroom on their own and just need a place to crash until they are ready for adoption.
- Nursing mothers: Nursing mothers need a quiet place to raise their babies. The mothers do all the work and the foster family just provides the loving temporary home.
- Under socialized pets: Animals who have been neglected may be too timid to live at the shelter and a foster home can help them overcome their fearfulness and flourish, thus making them more adoptable.
- Long term residents: Some animals are overlooked through no fault of their own and live at the shelter for several months. Foster homes are important for these animals because it gives them a chance to feel secure, loved, and decompress from shelter life.
HOW TO BECOME A PET FOSTER:
3 EASY STEPS!
- Complete an application here.
- Meet with our Foster Coordinator and match with a foster in need.
- You are off on your foster journey!
For any questions or concerns regarding Fostering please contact our Foster Coordinator at foster@houstonhumane.org or call (713)-341-3318.
We strive to provide you with everything you need to foster animals for us.
Though our Foster program can loan most supplies to our foster families, items come on a donation basis.
Consider helping our program by donating items from our Foster Wish List.
Click here to view our Foster Wish List.
Houston Humane Society Foster Testimonials:
Foster Pup Moose & Foster Mom Judith:
Meet Bullet, a pup that suffered from severe neglect and found a safe haven through the Houston Humane Society foster program. He was so lucky to have found Judith who provided a safe space for emotional and physical healing. Judith is a long time foster and has so many stories to share of amazing transformations just like Moose’s! Moose was able to grow all his hair back and was such a wonderful guest, bonding with Judith’s grandkids! A family friend adopted Moose and Judith till this day receives pupdates on Moose!
Foster Litter & Foster Mom Amanda & Family:
When we bought our house, we had an expectation to have Rosie and another child. Fast forward to November 2021 when we received devastating news that we would not be able to have another child without me having to have a major abdominal surgery. After a lot of discussions, we decided to turn what would have been a difficult situation into an amazing opportunity to pursue animal fostering in a big way and teach others about animal welfare. So we set forth to rip up the carpet in our extra room, repurpose some of Rosie’s old furniture and toys into an amazing kitten room.
As of today, Josh Stevens, Rosie and I have fostered 23 cats/kittens since January, which is incredible! Thank you to everyone who has supported and donated to our fostering needs! – Amanda
Foster Pup Summer & Foster Mom Karla:
When Summer needed a pick me up, her foster mom Karla was there to remind her that she was the SUNSHINE! Sweet Summer came to us with a broken leg that was beyond repair, so we did what was best for her and our clinical staff got her scheduled for amputation surgery right away. The shelter is no place for a dog who has just lost a limb to recover, and Summer's foster mom Karla knew this, so she brought her home to teach her just how snuggly a warm blanket can be.
