Spring at the Animal Shelter | REDlands Friends Of Shelter Animals ...

The shelter's newest resident

Spring is here, and it brings with it puppies and kittens of all colors and sizes. Shelters everywhere will soon be flooded with them.?Some?of the puppies and?kittens will be old enough to be available for adoption when they arrive at the shelter, while others will be too young or small.? Because their immune systems aren?t yet mature, young animals in shelters are at increased risk of becoming ill, and possibly not surviving until they?re old enough to be adopted.

In addition, shelters will soon begin to see many pregnant dogs and cats. Many shelters don?t have the space or resources?to care for those moms-to-be and their litters, once they arrive. In an effort to avoid having to euthanize those animals, shelters often place the mothers and/or babies into foster care until they?re ready to be adopted.

Foster families take in shelter animals for a few weeks and raise them until they are old enough for adoption. Some foster families take in moms-to-be, some take in moms with litters, and still others take in puppies or kittens that arrive at the shelter without their moms. Once the puppies and kittens are old enough, they and their mothers return to the shelter where they become available for adoption.

Fostering not only benefits the animals, but is also very rewarding for their foster parents. Every year foster families save the lives of hundreds of animals at our shelter. There is another benefit, as well. Not everyone is in a position to make the lifetime commitment required of pet adoption. Fostering allows those people the opportunity to have pets for shorter periods of time. They love and care for the animals as their own while they have them, but are able to return them to the shelter when the time comes.

Puppies at the shelter

Not every foster experience ends with the animal returning to the shelter, however. One of the hazards of being a foster parent is becoming attached. It isn?t uncommon for foster families to decide to adopt one or more of their charges.

On a more serious note, the Redlands Animal Shelter is already in need of foster families for our feline moms-to-be and moms with litters, and will soon be in need of foster families for puppies, as well. If you are a Redlands resident interested in fostering, please contact the shelter at (909) 798-7644, or email Amber Houck at [email?protected] for puppies, or Karen Baker at [email?protected] for kittens. The puppies and kittens will thank you, and the staff and volunteers will, too.

- Story by Karen Baker

Source: http://www.redfosa.org/2012/03/18/spring-at-the-animal-shelter/

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