This week’s Scoop is to highlight and give thanks to all of the wonderful fosters we have supporting PACC. The daily census report breaks down the number of dogs and cats we have in the shelter. Those are the animals that fill the kennels and are in immediate need of a home.

And yet, all the pets we have out in foster are also PACC’s responsibility to provide care for. They are truly a part of the overall PACC ‘census’ – but they’re in homes, not living in the shelter. Right now, while PACC is managing a variety of infections in the shelter, the pets in those foster homes are avoiding potential exposure to the illnesses and can be adopted directly from those fosters! The contact email to inquire about adoption is listed on the foster pets' intake page.

The photo included with this newsletter is a point in time count from last month showing all the pets we have in foster homes. Note the variety of types, and the various ways you can become a foster.

Some people want to take in seniors – some want to foster through end-of-life circumstances as a hospice foster. People can also become "Foster Sitters," where you would temporarily watch a foster pet while their regular foster goes on vacation. Also in foster homes are the roughly 200 dogs and cats needing ongoing medical care. PACC pays for and performs that care while the foster takes them to and from their appointments in our clinic. The value of the fosters is that the pets are not in the shelter, where giving attention to needs such as physical therapy would be a burden our limited staff would not be able to provide. In these cases, fosters play an important role in the physical rehabilitation of the animals so they can move into homes once they’re fully healed.

Fosters also come in the form of people wanting to give the pets a sort of test run in the home. Those are the pets you see classified as a “trial adopt.” They’re often dogs with particular behavioral concerns that the potential adopter wants to work with and see if they’re a good fit. Trial adopts come with a 2 week time frame – if we don’t hear back, we finalize the adoption.

The group in the table labeled foster “to adopt” are sort of a hybrid foster. We require all pets leaving PACC to be spayed or neutered. In cases where the pet being adopted still has that surgery pending, we send it home with an appointment to return for the alteration. The same is true of other pending medical procedures. Once that happens, the transaction is changed from ‘foster’ to ‘adopt.’ The dog or cat leaves with the adopting family fully committed to keeping the pet, pending any surgery needed which will be done at PACC.

So, there are multiple ways the community steps up and helps get pets out of the shelter, providing a home environment for an afternoon, overnight, or an extended time frame. During foster, the pets remain PACC property and are available for adoption.

Please check our website to see ways you can foster. 

PACC fosters play a key role in the rehoming of our pets. We’re fortunate to have such a robust foster team and are grateful for each one of them.