At this very moment, I need you to take out your calendar and mark down “Foster Orientation at the Cumberland County SPCA” on Wednesday, March 29, at 6 p.m. We need you to be there to learn about our Foster Program, which is responsible for saving hundreds and hundreds of lives in 2016. Attending is not a commitment – this is an opportunity for you to see if fostering can work for your family. We need to grow the foster program in order to make 2017 even better for the animals, and to do that, we need YOUR support and participation.
Spring is a critical time for us to bring new foster families onboard. We currently are experiencing the calm before the storm – the kitten season storm. We had a short respite that really only lasted from December to February, and kittens have begun trickling in. Last week alone, we took in six nursing mothers or pregnant cats who quickly delivered kittens. Since we haven’t even reached the official end of winter, this is concerning!
For nursing moms or kittens that arrive at the South Jersey Regional Animal Shelter and are too young to be adopted, a foster home is their only chance. Even if we had space to hold them all (which we certainly do not!), kittens who grow up in cages do not thrive in the way that kittens in foster care do. Kittens that are fostered have a family to care for all their needs, keep them clean, closely monitor their feeding and health, and, most importantly, socialize them. Kittens that are handled and played with regularly always end up being more adoptable than those who are not as used to human companions. Kittens are great for almost any family to foster – we will go over the specifics at the orientation, but they really only need a small space (a spare room or bathroom works just fine) and some TLC to thrive. There is nothing quite like having kittens sleeping on your lap, watching them grow from infant mice-like creatures to perfect bouncing bundles of fluff, or teaching your kids compassion by caring for the little ones.
We’re also seeking some very special families to care for bottle babies. These are the infant kittens who arrive at the shelter without a mother. These kittens range from days old to 3 to 4 weeks old. They haven’t learned how to eat on their own yet and need a surrogate mom (you?) to bottle feed them. In their first weeks, they must be fed around the clock, every two or three hours, to make sure they don’t starve. For this reason, they cannot spend even a single night in the shelter, and it’s also difficult to find a family with that type of availability to feed. If this is something you would even like more information about, please join us at orientation. We need you!
While kittens are certainly the most populous, they are not the only babies in need of foster care. We have seen an influx of nursing mother dogs arriving with puppies. We currently only have one or two foster families equipped to handle a nursing dog and her puppies. We have one foster family who has had back-to-back mothers and puppies for close to a year! That’s a lot of fostering, and we need new foster families to give her a hand with this delightful job.
Some puppies arrive at the shelter without a mother, and these little ones also need foster homes. Early socialization is very important to ensure that puppies grow up with proper bite inhibition and a good temperament. Can you imagine the joy of watching one, two or more puppies joyfully romping and playing the day away with you? The sound of puppy snores and the sweet smell of puppy breath? And imagine, you’re saving their lives while you are at it! These little pleasures can be all yours.
We also seek foster placement for elderly animals that typically need the comfort of a home instead of a cage. From personal experience, I can tell you that nothing feels as good as seeing an elderly animal rest their weary bones in a home. You can see the relaxation spread through their bodies like a wave and it’s amazing to be able to provide that for an animal. Fostering an elderly animal is also usually pretty simple; they are typically low-key, housebroken, trained, and just grateful for a loving home to be in. If any of this sounds remotely appealing to you, if you are concerned about the problem of homeless pets in a shelter, or if you are looking for a stay-at-home way to make a big difference, join us at Foster Orientation at 6 p.m. March 29 at the Cumberland County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in Vineland. We will be covering all the basics from medical care to adoptions. Contact fosters@cumberlandcountyspca.org with questions. We hope to see you there!
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