PET TIPS Is Fostering An Animal Right For You
Season 2, Episode 953, Jul 22, 01:18 PM
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7/22/2025 In this episode of Pet Tips, host Nanette Wiser talks about the need for animal foster parents - primarily kittens, but also dogs and animals recovering from medical procedures or with special needs. Animal shelters and pet rescues welcome your help; just check their websites. I recently visited and learned about the Foster Program at SPCA Tampa Bay to learn more about these precious fur-babies who need our help and what you need to know. Email: foster@spcatampabay.org.
Here's some of what I learned about fostering a kitty or cat.
1) Helps Increase Adoptions: Every rescued kitty that moves into a foster home frees up space for one the rescue wouldn’t be able to take in otherwise. It’s that simple. More foster homes mean more cats saved. Some rescues don’t actually have physical locations. Some cats come into the shelter in great physical and mental shape and can go up for adoption right away. They may not need fostering. However, the support of foster families who take in other long-term cases means more resources are available to quickly transition the ready-to-adopt kitties.
2) Keeps Adopted Cats in Their Own Homes: In some cases, foster homes provide a much-needed opportunity to see how a rescued cat will react in a home environment, before going up for adoption. It’s a chance to discover and work through any behavioral issues, provide training and socialization, as well as allow a kitty to decompress and readjust before adoption. This can be the difference between a successful adoption and a return to the rescue.
3) Helps Rehabilitation: For those willing to take rehabilitation cases, fostering is wonderful for kitties going through medical recovery, resolving behavioral problems, or in need of socialization (learning how to interact with people and/or other animals, deal with stressful situations, and manage emotional and physical reactions to different stimuli). Having a calm space, and someone dedicated to helping the cat heal, makes for a smoother and speedier recovery.
4) Helps Cats in Need: We tend to think of rescued cats as strays living on the streets and maybe finding a bit of relief inside the rescue facility. While that’s true for many cases, it’s certainly not every case. Sometimes owners may give up a cat if they feel they are not able to care for them financially. Sometimes elderly pet owners may find they’re unable to keep up with the physical demands.
5) Provides Pre-Adoption Assessment and Adjustment: It’s a safe bet that a kitty in the rescue environment isn’t showing their true personality. Shelter staff may conduct behavior assessments and get to know a cat as best they can. But it’s not always a 100% reliable evaluation with all the stress and stimuli of a rescue environment. If the same kitty is moved into a foster home, it’s a totally different story. As a foster parent, you have the opportunity to see what kind of lifestyle the cat will thrive in, their likes and dislikes, whether they have any training or behavioral issues, fears, or special needs to be addressed. This insight is invaluable when the rescue organization is trying to place the cat with the perfect forever family. The rescue counts on these insights to find the best possible adoption match for the kitty. You’re also giving the cat a chance to settle back into themselves, shake off past negative experiences, let down their guard, and become a family member again before they step into their forever home. The last thing anyone wants is for an adoption to turn negative and a pet to be returned. But it happens. Allowing the kitty to flourish in a foster home sets everyone up for a more successful adoption and happy-ever-after.
#pettips #nanettewiser #spcatampabay #fosteranimals #fosterkittens #cats #dogs #rabbits #stpete #stpetefl #tampabay #radio #radiostpete
Here's some of what I learned about fostering a kitty or cat.
1) Helps Increase Adoptions: Every rescued kitty that moves into a foster home frees up space for one the rescue wouldn’t be able to take in otherwise. It’s that simple. More foster homes mean more cats saved. Some rescues don’t actually have physical locations. Some cats come into the shelter in great physical and mental shape and can go up for adoption right away. They may not need fostering. However, the support of foster families who take in other long-term cases means more resources are available to quickly transition the ready-to-adopt kitties.
2) Keeps Adopted Cats in Their Own Homes: In some cases, foster homes provide a much-needed opportunity to see how a rescued cat will react in a home environment, before going up for adoption. It’s a chance to discover and work through any behavioral issues, provide training and socialization, as well as allow a kitty to decompress and readjust before adoption. This can be the difference between a successful adoption and a return to the rescue.
3) Helps Rehabilitation: For those willing to take rehabilitation cases, fostering is wonderful for kitties going through medical recovery, resolving behavioral problems, or in need of socialization (learning how to interact with people and/or other animals, deal with stressful situations, and manage emotional and physical reactions to different stimuli). Having a calm space, and someone dedicated to helping the cat heal, makes for a smoother and speedier recovery.
4) Helps Cats in Need: We tend to think of rescued cats as strays living on the streets and maybe finding a bit of relief inside the rescue facility. While that’s true for many cases, it’s certainly not every case. Sometimes owners may give up a cat if they feel they are not able to care for them financially. Sometimes elderly pet owners may find they’re unable to keep up with the physical demands.
5) Provides Pre-Adoption Assessment and Adjustment: It’s a safe bet that a kitty in the rescue environment isn’t showing their true personality. Shelter staff may conduct behavior assessments and get to know a cat as best they can. But it’s not always a 100% reliable evaluation with all the stress and stimuli of a rescue environment. If the same kitty is moved into a foster home, it’s a totally different story. As a foster parent, you have the opportunity to see what kind of lifestyle the cat will thrive in, their likes and dislikes, whether they have any training or behavioral issues, fears, or special needs to be addressed. This insight is invaluable when the rescue organization is trying to place the cat with the perfect forever family. The rescue counts on these insights to find the best possible adoption match for the kitty. You’re also giving the cat a chance to settle back into themselves, shake off past negative experiences, let down their guard, and become a family member again before they step into their forever home. The last thing anyone wants is for an adoption to turn negative and a pet to be returned. But it happens. Allowing the kitty to flourish in a foster home sets everyone up for a more successful adoption and happy-ever-after.
#pettips #nanettewiser #spcatampabay #fosteranimals #fosterkittens #cats #dogs #rabbits #stpete #stpetefl #tampabay #radio #radiostpete