by Amanda Giannaros

Created on: July 28, 2009

When most people think about foster care, they think about bringing a child into their home and caring for him or her until a more suitable, permanent home can be found. Pet fostering is very similar. In this economy, many people are faced with having to surrender their pets because their living or financial situation has changed. That, coupled with the fact that despite Bob Barkers best efforts, many people are still not having their pets "fixed" and the animal population rate keeps growing. Many animal shelters are over crowded and are in desperate need for people to provide temporary homes for animals until they can find more permanent homes.

Animal shelters can be a great place to find a pet or one of the first places you should look if your pet is lost. With the failing economy and so many homeless pets, animal shelters are becoming over crowded which puts strain on the staff and strain on the animals. In good times, animals will have their own cage, but when so many animals are coming into the shelters, multiple animals have to be housed together. This increases the risk of illness and fights over food and attention. Many shelters are having so many animals come in that they are forced to euthanized animals that they can't find homes for. Some shelters have such an alarming rate of occupancy that they are instating 72 hour policies. If the animals cannot find a home or if their owners do not come to claim them in 72 hours, they are euthanized. Imagine losing your pet and after, finally tracking him down to a shelter, finding out he was put down because you took too long. It's a heart breaking thing, but the shelters don't have any choice with more and more animals coming in every day and fewer homes for them to go to.

Shelters aren't the only places that need foster care for their animals. Many military men and women are forced to leave their four legged friends behind while they do their tour overseas. These people who are fighting for their country need the reassurance that their pets are being cared for back home. There are organizations working to find foster homes for these pets until their owners can return from their tour.

Whatever your reasons are for wanting to foster an animal, it is a wonderful and a very needed service that you will provide. As a foster owner you are responsible for feeding, sheltering, making sure the animal is up to date on vaccinations and taking care of veterinary expenses. In the economy today, many animals are suffering. If you have the ability to take in an animal, even if it's just temporary, that's one less animal on the streets and one less being needlessly killed.

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