Now I don’t know about you but I definitely have a soft spot for animals in my heart. After losing my long-time friend and Bengal cat (Bear) at the end of 2021, I decided to try something different, fostering! I already had plans to foster and give Bear some company but now I was completely alone and my house seemed far too quiet. So I decided to commit to fostering to add a bit of love and chaos to my home.
After stalking the Facebook page of my local SPCA organization I saw a litter of pups that looked interesting. I threw my hat into the ring as a back-up foster for these pups but lo and behold, I get a voicemail saying that they are mine! I pick them up on a late afternoon and bring them home. Now what?! Like an unprepared, first-time parent, there’s a bit of a panic initially. But if you’re a good person, you’ll figure things out as you go. Here are some tips/advice to get you started, based upon my first-hand learnings. While you can certainly foster cats (and I love them), this blog post will focus on dogs given my experience and primarily, puppies!
So the first thing is where to keep your foster pups? While the SPCA provided me a crate, I decided to go with a puppy pen in an empty dining room. You can purchase an 8-panel, 24″ to 30″ high playpen for about $40 on Amazon.com or Chewy.com The playpens are made of black, wire metal panels, that unfold accordion-style into typically, a square shape or octagon shape. I placed my panel over some exercise pads (for cushioning) and then put a 4 mil tarp over it for water-proofing. I felt this gave me the best combination of soft surface and protection over my hardwood floors. An air purifier will help keep the stank down and I also had a clock radio to soothe the pups with music.
Once the pen is set up, you’ll need some piddle (puppy) pads to handle their waste, some newspapers on top can also be helpful. I covered half of the puppy pen with pads! Note that the puppy pen has some weight to it but you may need to put some items around it, or else the pups will push it around. I personally used some heavier, metal items like a kettlebell and other items. I also put some older, bath towels in the pen for them to sleep on.
Ok, now you’ve got the puppies in the pen, it’s time to eat! Yeah, puppies eat a lot because they are growing rapidly. First thing, understand that puppies usually gobble their food and then within 15 minutes or so, evacuate it. So while you can free-feed them (leave food in the bowl all the time), by scheduling feeding times, you may have better control over when they poo. And given that puppies often have diarrhea (6 for 8 so far for me), cleaning up poo as soon as it is deposited is a good idea. I fed my fosters a mix of dry and wet food, alternating the meals. And having tip-proof bowls with wide bases will help. Angry-hungry puppies will muck around with their bowls, expect spilled food and water. I also had a bag of pupperoni as a treat for my fosters. If your pups have GI issues, you may be able to get some meds (Pro-Pectalin Chewable Tablets) and/or probiotics to help calm them down.
Now once they’ve eaten or drunk, expect poo and/or pee. I used a mix of piddle pads with newspapers on top. The newspaper is good for poo, you can grab it quickly and dump it in the wastebasket. Or use a paper towel to grab a pile of poo. Piddle pads are good for the liquids but I would hate dumping a pad if it had a small poo deposited on it. So it’s hard to find the right mix of pads vs newspapers but do your best! As soon as my pups would poo, I would try to pull the newspapers out but as puppies are want to do, they will head over to wherever you are to play! So it was a battle of holding the pups off with one arm while trying to grab the waste and poo with the other hand. Yeah, they’ll step in it too in their playful excitement, ugh. Note that I’d expect 4 poos a day for each pup. You’ll be cleaning up a lot! And soiled spots would also get a shot of spray cleaner and wipe-down with a paper towel.
Now that the pups have been fed and had their pen cleaned up, it’s time to play! Or what we call, socializing. Puppies need to be introduced to new experiences in a safe environment. I would usually find my pair of pups would have one alpha-dominant pup that would take the lead doing new things and then one more beta-submissive that would hang back and be tentative. As you can guess, one of your goals as a foster is to get BOTH of them more comfortable with handling and human interactions to get them adopted ASAP.
I would either lean over and play with them in the pen and/or take them out several times a day, preferably after pooing. I’d also use diaper wipes to clean off their feet, tail, and fur before handling them for longer periods. Puppies like to chew on things so definitely make sure you let them know when they are biting too hard. Grab their feet and tail, boop their snoots, give them kisses, socializing is fun! I would also occasionally put their harnesses on and let them play in my small, fenced-in backyards for some more exposure to new things. The SPCA did not recommend introducing them to other animals for vaccination and health reasons. Note that as time goes on and your foster pups get bigger and more comfortable with things, they will likely get into more trouble.
Now after about two weeks of fostering, you will get the call to bring the pups in. usually about 10 to 12 weeks old, they will get spayed and neutered and prepared to get adopted. I admit that parts of me were relieved when I got the call, and parts of me were sad. You get attached to the little guys pretty quickly and it’s a bit of a sad day. But that’s why you signed up as a foster, eh? And yes, you can foster fail and keep them but so far that hasn’t been the case for me.
Now that you understand what being a foster entails, you can see it’s a lot of work and chaos. So why foster? That is the big question you’ll need to answer before jumping in! But if you’re an animal lover, you’ll be excited to know you can help animals that might otherwise be euthanized. In my area (Raleigh, NC), the SPCA of Wake County is constantly bringing in pups from kill shelters out in rural areas to a more urban setting with more resources (money, volunteers, potential parents). And once they get the pups to intake, they are whooshed out to foster parents.
Fostering extends the amount of “space” they have to shelter pups. And it’s good for the pups to be broken out of their litters to develop their own personalities. You can imagine that the runt of a 12 pup litter would be super submissive. And of course, as a foster parent, you provide your time and energy, feeding, and caring for the pups so you are an extension of the shelter’s staff. As a bonus, you get to play with dogs and puppies on a temporary basis. Maybe you just like to save lives, maybe you like puppy kisses, or maybe you want to test-run having a dog. But fostering can benefit the community in many ways by giving shelters a lot more capacity (space, staff). So yes, fostering is a lot of work and a bit of stress but knowing you might have saved a life (along with sloppy kisses) is nearly worth it!