Foster Application and Information

Thank you for your interest in becoming a foster parent to a needy cat or dog. We are always looking for foster homes for our pets.

We try to keep our foster homes limited to within an hour of Adams NY since we have a veterinarian established there that allows us to bill and gives us discounts on services. Our fosters range from Watertown (North) to Oswego (West) and Syracuse (South). With most pets, they have to be brought in at least once for a booster vaccine prior to adoption.

We try to take in pets that are friendly and adoptable rather then those with major behavioral issues so we can save more lives in a timely manner. We do, however, take in pets with special medical needs at times when we have room and are called upon to do so. We try and match fosters with pets that will be a good for their lifestyle (puppies with active families, people who have time to commit to care and training; easy going adult dogs with more mellow households; dogs that have been tested with cats/ children into pet/child friendly homes) as well as the betterment of the cat/ dog. We take care of all vetting including flea/tick and heart worm preventative, deworming, vaccines, spay/neuter and other medication that may be required to keep them healthy until adoption.

For the first 2 weeks after arrival, fosters should be kept in your home only and not taken to places with a lot of people/pets. For dogs, keep them in your yard when outdoors and let them relieve themselves in one area of you yard for the first few weeks to be sure no illness develops or parasites are seen. Please remember, this is to keep your pets safe! Though our fosters are vaccinated, they likely have had no prior veterinary care and they may be incubating an infection. They also are not fully protected against common viruses until they have had at least 2 distemper/parvo vaccines (4 vaccines are needed for younger puppies to be protected).

Worried you may get attached to your foster pet? With our “Foster to Adopt” program, you can foster a pet that you are interested in adopting once your application has been approved. This will give you a chance to help us save a life and at the same time, give you an opportunity to get to know a needy dog or cat before committing to adoption. It is a win/win situation! Preference to foster a particular pet is given to those who may be interested in adopting that pet.

We ask fosters to provide TLC and basic training to those in their care as well as providing us with pictures and a brief description of their foster so that we can try and find them a home in a reasonable amount of time. If needed, we can provide you with food to care for your foster until adoption. This is especially useful when fostering multiple puppies or kittens. Many fosters, however, prefer to feed their new adult additions the same food as their own pets and use their own pet food to avoid confusion. Most pets are adopted in a month or so, but some stay with us longer until a home can be found. We take applications, do veterinary reference checks and a phone interview prior to setting up an adoption appointment. Adoptions can be done at the foster home or sometimes we do home visits and take the pet to their potential new home ourselves. The more foster homes we have, the more lives we can save and fostering just one pet makes a huge difference in the life of that pet.