FROM THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF ELMORE COUNTY
One very special way to help our shelter (or any humane shelter for that matter) is to volunteer as a foster home for animals in need. Now this isn’t a task for everyone as it is a lot of responsibility and can be quite demanding. But the rewards are also immense for those who are able to bring animals in need into their homes until they are ready to find their forever homes.
Fostering for our Shelter is generally for those animals recovering from medical treatment or for those too young to be in our Shelter. With spring right around the corner, we will most need fosters who are capable of bottle-feeding orphaned puppies and kittens, or who can safely house a mother dog or cat with her litter until they can be weaned, or who can take on a young litter of puppies or kittens who need time to grow before they can be readied for adoption.
We understand that bottle feeding a litter is not for the faint-hearted as it can require feeding sessions as little as every two hours, round-the-clock, but only for about three weeks generally until they can start eating a mush mixture. Of course, as these puppies or kittens grow, they become more active which also means they get into a lot more trouble and make bigger messes! Mother dogs and cats with litters mean not only babies, but an adult animal in the household and they simply cannot intermingle with family pets and must be kept safely contained at all times.
Year-round we need fosters for dogs undergoing heartworm treatment which entails keeping that dog contained and relatively calm during the 30+ days of the treatment so that they are not taking up valuable kennel space other dogs need during that time. These dogs must generally be kept inside the home and cannot be outside romping in the yard as it is imperative to keep their heart rate down during treatment.
And there are times we need fosters for animals recovering from serious surgeries like amputations, hit by car injuries, gunshot wounds, etc. These pets generally also need a calm environment where they can get lots of sleep, exercise and time to heal.
To find out more and to fill out our online Foster application go to: http://www.elmorehumane.org/foster-information–forms.html
Our Fosters are a very special group of people whose selfless love helps us save even more lives and we welcome the chance to add even more Fosters to our Shelter family!
