Members of the community can foster pets in their home, providing a safe place for animals to heal, grow, and develop outside of a shelter environment.
What Type of Pets Need Fostering?
The most common reasons a cat or dog may need foster care include:
- Pregnancy
- Underage / Underweight
- Sick / Injured
- Socialization
Currently, cats can be fostered through both our Sanford and Orlando shelters, but dogs are only able to be fostered through our Sanford location.
- To care for and love the animal until it is ready for adoption
- To provide food, water, socialization, and shelter
- To keep in contact with the foster team and promptly notify us of any illness or injury
- To bring foster animals in for appointments as scheduled
For full list of foster volunteer responsibilities and requirements, click here.
Pet Alliance provides all medical care for our animals in foster homes, including vaccines, medications, and surgery. We also provide all necessary supplies including food, litter, toys, bedding, etc. At times, you may be asked to provide your own supplies if necessary. While we cannot reimburse you, your purchases are tax deductible.
Our shelters are by appointment, owner surrender facilities so the frequency of foster needs will depend on our intake and if those animals need foster. We tend to have a higher volume of animals in need between March and October, aka “kitten season” but there are always opportunities year round! Our cat and kitten needs also tend to be higher as whole than our dog and puppy needs.
The typical time spent in foster care is between two weeks and two months depending on the needs of the animal. The expected timeframe of each foster is discussed with you ahead of time, but it is only an estimate.
Yes! We welcome pet owners as foster volunteers. But please keep in mind, we do require foster pets to be kept separate from personal pets to avoid the spread of disease or injury.
Yes! Many of our foster volunteers work full-time jobs. Some of our animals may need more round-the-clock care, such as bottle baby kittens and puppies. There are other animals who need a foster that will be just fine while you’re away for the day. We do ask that you have a flexible schedule to accommodate vet and vaccine appointments and any emergencies.
Yes! Foster volunteers have the first choice of adopting their own foster animals. Adoption fees will apply.
Yes! We grant our foster families 3 service hours per day that an animal is in their care. Please note, we cannot grant service hours for court-ordered community service.
Are You Ready to Be A Pet Alliance Foster?
You must meet the following requirements:
- Be at least 18 years of age. If you are between the ages of 13 and 17, you must volunteer with a parent and a parent must fill out the application. We will provide written notice of service hours to meet school requirements upon request.
- Personal pets must be up to date on vaccines
- Have an extra room or space in your home to keep foster pets separate from any personal pets (we will not cover the expenses to treat your personal pets should they contract an illness from a foster animal)
If you meet the requirements above, please fill out the Foster Care Volunteer Application found at the link below and the foster team will be in contact with next steps within a few days.
