No Experience Required to Foster!
Fosters provide a temporary home for pets in our care while they are awaiting their forever home. There are so many benefits to opening your home to foster a dog or cat, but just to name a few:
- Have an animal companion without the lifetime commitment at no financial cost to you.
- Help an animal recover from an illness/injury. Shelter environments are very stressful for animals and they are able to heal much more easily in a home setting.
- Give extra TLC to puppies and kittens too young to be adopted.
- Help animals transition from the stress of living at the shelter.
- Keep our shelter open for being able to intake more animals. If our shelter is full, we cannot save more animals.
- Provide experience in a home setting helps the animals get adopted more easily.
What is a foster home?
A foster home is a temporary extension of our shelter, made possible through compassionate community members who open their homes to pets in need. Foster families provide love and daily care, while we cover all food, supplies, and medical needs so there is no cost to you. By fostering a cat or a dog, you free up critical space in the shelter, allowing us to save more lives and improve your foster pets mental and physical well being.
How long do I keep a foster pet?
Fostering is flexible and designed to fit your life. While many fosters stay with you until adoption, we offer plenty of short-term options too, including weekend stays like our Slumber Pawty program, as well as longer-term placements. Every pet’s timeline is different—some are adopted within days, while others may need a little more time—but you won’t be in it alone. Even if you have travel plans, we’ve got you covered with temporary foster support so you can still make a lifesaving impact.
How old do you have to be to foster?
Our fosters need to be at least 18 years old.
What does Gateway Pet Guardians provide to fosters?
- A dedicated placement team available for ongoing support, questions, and guidance throughout your foster journey
- All basic pet supplies, including food, crates, collars, leashes, and other essentials
- Medical care for your foster pet, as determined by our Medical Team, at no cost to you
- Temporary foster coverage (pet sitters) when you are out of town so your foster is always cared for
- Resources on behavior, training and medical care
What are my responsibilities as a foster?
- Provide a safe, clean, caring environment.
- Provide exercise and socialization as appropriate.
- Monitor any medical and/or behavioral problems.
- Transport to/from any necessary vet appointments.
- Actively participate in marketing your foster pet.
- Communicate with and meet with potential adopters; be responsive and courteous towards each potential adopter.
- Carefully read all documents and carefully follow all instructions provided by Gateway Pet Guardians.
Why foster?
Fostering saves lives! The number of animals we save depends entirely on the number of foster homes we have available. Foster homes truly help us save many more animals than we could with just our shelter.
Who do I contact if I want to be a foster or have questions about fostering?
HOST A
SLUMBER PAWTY
The Gateway Pet Guardians Slumber Pawty is one of the most fun and lifesaving programs at GPG! The concept is simple: take a shelter dog home for a night or two (or more!) which provides the dogs with a much needed break from the stress of the shelter environment.
Foster a
DOG STRUGGLING IN THE SHELTER
For dogs struggling at the shelter, this foster is someone that has the perfect home set up to take an animal that may be harder to place in the standard home. You may have no kids, pets, or people over often. You will be helping to save what many often call ‘the unsavable’.
BECOME A
TEMPORARY FOSTER
Sometimes foster families need to take vacations, have visitors over, or just need a break from fostering. That’s where our temp fosters come in! Temporary fosters care for an animal for a short period of time, providing some respite to the foster family. It could be a weekend stay or a week-long visit.
Become a
FINDER TO FOSTER
If you find a stray dog or cat and reside in our service area, the East Side Pet District (zip codes 62201, 62203, 62204, 62205, 62206 and 62207), we encourage you to become a ‘finder to foster.’ More information about our Finder-to-Foster program for pets in the East Side Pet District are available through our Pet Support Department or by visiting our Lost Pets page here.