Watch how fostering changes lives
Video produced by OSBX. Thank you to our incredible fosters for generously sharing their experiences with us.
Foster
Open your home and save a pet's life
Foster homes are at the heart of PAWS’ ability to save lives. With a commitment of just a few weeks, you can rescue a homeless pet and help them become a well-loved companion. Each year, thousands of animals who are too young or too sick to be adopted arrive in city shelters, and temporary foster care gives them a chance at life. From cats and dogs to even guinea pigs, there are always animals at PAWS in need of foster care!
Our dedicated team works closely with fosters to ensure the best match possible between you and your foster pet, considering factors such as lifestyle, experience, resident pets in the home, and more.
PAWS provides fosters with comprehensive support including medical care for all foster animals, regular communication with our foster team, guidance on any resident pet introductions, and more. We also provide fosters with supplies when needed, including food, cat litter, toys, and dog collars/leashes.
As a PAWS foster, you will provide love and care, all while enjoying the immensely rewarding experience of saving lives!
Foster parents are needed for. . .
DOGS & PUPPIES
Rise to the occasion, take the leash, and transform the life of a fun-loving dog who needs you! While fosters are needed for dogs of all sizes, especially for large size dogs, to provide walks, play, and training to help them transition to home life and reach their potential as family pets. Whether you’re an experienced dog owner or new to it, we’ll support you in managing any behavioral changes that arise in foster care.
We are also seeking foster homes for dogs with a variety of medical conditions and are in need of a little extra TLC while they heal from surgery or receive treatment at our clinic for illnesses or injuries. We focus on saving the neediest dogs, many of whom are seniors with special medical needs that require ongoing care.
CATS
Foster homes are needed for felines with a variety of medical conditions including upper respiratory infections, eye infections, dental conditions, digestive issues, leg injuries, wounds, and more. Most just need to finish a round of meds before they’re ready for adoption, while others are more ill and urgently need a home setting to heal.
Foster homes are also crucial for cats who are shut down and scared at the shelter. They need a quiet place to decompress and feel safe again. And playful, high energy cats also benefit from a foster home where they can receive more playtime and space than at the shelter.
Nursing Moms with Kittens
The best kept secret of fostering a family: mom does all the work! With just the basics (food, litter, vet care, and love) the kittens will grow healthy, strong, and ready for adoption. When Mom’s done nursing, she’ll go on to find a loving family too. Fosters are especially needed during the summer months – also known as “kitten season.”
Most nursing moms make fostering easy, but sometimes they may fall ill with a cold and need your help feeding the kittens. Occasionally, hormonal changes can make mom a bit protective as well.
Orphaned Kittens
Take a pair, three, or more! Kittens who are too young for adoption need temporary foster care where they can grow big enough to be spayed/neutered before adoption. Most of these kittens are eating on their own, but they need foster homes to keep a close eye on their health and appetites to ensure they’re growing big and strong!
The need is most urgent during summer months for both kittens eating on their own as well as bottle-feeding newborns. Sometimes kittens will need a little extra TLC with medical treatment for upper respiratory infections, eye infections, digestive issues, or injuries. And if they haven’t been well socialized with people yet, they will need your help getting comfortable and adoption ready!
Safety Net Pets
PAWS’ Safety Net Foster Program provides temporary housing for pets whose owners are going through times of transition or crisis. These are cherished pets with owners who love them, and just need a temporary place for them to stay during a life change. For pet owners who only need a few weeks or months to get resettled, safety net foster homes can provide peace of mind, keep animals out of shelters, and enable joyous reunions to occur.
By providing a temporary home as a safety net foster parent until they can be reunited with their families again, you’ll be saving a pet from losing their best friend and saving an owner from heartache. Safety Net fostering usually lasts between 3-5 months, and is a rewarding way to enjoy some furry companionship.
Cats & Kittens with Ringworm
This is one our biggest foster needs in the summer months! Fosters are needed for cats with ringworm, a simple fungal infection of the skin that can affect cats of all ages, especially kittens. While it can spread to humans and other pets, don’t let ringworm scare you—careful quarantine procedures along with proper medical treatment for a few weeks usually does the trick! By fostering cats with ringworm you can make a big impact, especially since these cats are at high risk of euthanasia when city shelters become full.
As a ringworm foster, you’ll need a designated space to keep your cat separate from other animals. We provide all the supplies and guidance you need to care for ringworm kitties, and these friends can be promoted for adoption while undergoing ringworm treatment.
Small Animals
Looking for a small, furry bundle of fun? Our guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils are some of the easiest foster pets to care for! These tiny friends don’t take up much room and typically find homes within 1-2 months, or they can be placed at our Old City Adoption Center. PAWS can provide a cage, starter supplies including food and bedding, and care instructions for your new friend!
Bottle-feeding Kittens
Orphaned newborn bottle feeder kittens are especially fragile and at risk without their mom. They need around the clock care, being fed every 2-4 hours. While it’s a lot of work with some sleepless nights for a few weeks, it’s incredibly rewarding to see the kittens grow! You can opt to foster these babies until they’re eating on their own or until they’re ready for adoption.
Short Term Care
Pet sitting for other foster parents is incredibly helpful to prevent pets from being returned to the shelter.
For dogs with longer stays, you can give them a shelter break and help us get to know them. You can take them out for a day trip, or take them home for a set amount of time.
FAST candidates are social cats with a mild illness or injury. They’re considered a shorter term foster commitment because they typically only need about 3 weeks of foster care. Once they’re healed up, they can be dropped back off at our adoption center.
For kittens who arrive at our shelter unexpectedly and aren’t fully eating on their own, they cannot stay at the shelter overnight, therefore they need urgent temporary foster care while we find a longer term foster.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get started fostering a pet with PAWS?
Simply complete this foster care sign-up form and you will be contacted shortly by a PAWS team member from fosterhotline@phillypaws.org. Please check your spam folder! The next step will be to watch our onboarding video and then you’ll be ready to get started.
You can also contact us at foster@phillypaws.org with any additional questions and we are happy to help match you with a pet who suits your needs, abilities, and lifestyle. There are always animals at the shelter who need foster care!
I have pets of my own. How do I keep them safe while fostering?
Even if you have pets of your own, you can still safely foster by doing a few easy things! Check out a few helpful tips on how to properly introduce PAWS cats and dogs to your resident pets:
When fostering cats and kittens, you’ll need a small room that is separate from your resident pets, A bathroom or spare room is the perfect place for a new foster!
- ● If you decide you’d like to introduce your foster cat to your resident pets, we ask you to keep them in a separate space for at least two weeks to ensure they’re healthy and to give them time to slowly decompress and adjust to a new home and to new people.
- ● If you’d like your resident cat to meet your foster cat, make sure all of the cats have been tested for FIV/FeLV. Cats who are FeLV+ should not be introduced to cats who test negative for FeLV. Learn more here.
- ● Plan for slow introductions between foster cats and your resident pets to set everyone up for success! For tips on how to safely and slowly introduce your foster cat to your resident pets, plan to chat more with our foster team.
Fostering dogs can be safe for your resident pets with the right management and slow intros!
- ● First we’ll ask you to bring your resident dog to the shelter where we can have them safely meet your potential foster dog match. If that goes well, you can plan to take the foster dog home. Be sure to plan for transporting both dogs home safely. We can provide you with a crate!
- ● At home, you should plan ahead and have the ability to keep them separate if needed, even if just temporarily. Baby gates and rooms with doors are useful tools for creating a separation while all pets in the home are adjusting to one another.
- ● Your resident cats should have a space that can be separated from your foster dog by a baby gate or door so they can choose to be separate or you can safely separate them if needed.
- ● Sick or injured dogs may need to be kept separate from other pets in the house; the foster team can tell you about the dog’s specific needs and precautions you’ll need to take to keep your pets healthy and safe.
What support and supplies does PAWS provide and what do I need to provide?
Our goal is to support you through the foster process from beginning to end! PAWS provides all medical care, ongoing support from our foster team to talk through any issues that pop up, behavior support including dog training, and resources including videos, reading materials, a Facebook group with other foster parents, and more!
For supplies, we’re very grateful if foster parents are able to provide them, but we are also happy to provide any supplies needed to get started or throughout the foster process! We never want the cost of supplies to be the reason that you aren’t able to foster.
A foster parent should plan to provide a safe, secure home where animals can have all of their basic needs met. We ask for regular communication with our team including timely replies to our check-ins. We ask that you take initiative to reach out with any questions or concerns, ensuring your foster pet is getting the care they need and preparing them for adoption.
You’ll need to be able to get to our Grays Ferry foster clinic for medical care. It’s rare that a pet remains completely healthy throughout the foster process, so you should be open to learning to medicate your foster pet if needed. We are always happy to talk through medical care so you feel comfortable! For any behavior issues that pop up, we’ll provide guidance and ask that you use positive reinforcement methods.
Once your foster pet is ready for adoption, we’ll ask you to submit quality photos, videos, and personality info for adoption promotion and you should be prepared to chat with potential adopters about your foster pet and meet them to finalize the adoption. If talking with adopters doesn’t seem like your cup of tea, we can aim to match you with a friendly cat who will be a fit for our adoption centers once they’re healthy.
Who provides and pays for veterinary care?
We provide all PAWS foster pets with routine medical care as well as any medical care and treatment needed for an illness or injury at no cost to the foster parent. A foster parent just needs to provide a safe home for them to recover in! Most veterinary care for PAWS foster pets is provided at our Grays Ferry clinic location so you should be able to get to this location during our daytime foster clinic hours. We are open 7 days a week! This includes routine care like vaccines, spay/neuter surgery, and vet care for illnesses or injuries.
Vaccines and spay/neuter surgery can be scheduled at our Grant Ave clinic, but vet care for illness and injury is only provided at our Grays Ferry location.
Once your foster pet is medically cleared, you’ll help us start their adoption promotion and work together to find them an adopter. The adopter will be asked to pay an adoption fee that covers just a small portion of the medical care and resources provided to each rescued pet in our care.
Who do I turn to when I need help with my foster?
Our Adoption-Foster team is here to provide support and guidance throughout the foster process, from start to finish! During orientation we’ll touch on how to reach out about urgent and non-urgent questions and issues. Email is our main form of communication because it allows us to better prioritize urgent issues, but you can always ask for a phone call when needed! It’s important to us that you stay in close communication with our team when you take a PAWS’ pet into your foster care. We also have an emergency phone for true medical emergencies.
Are there any costs to foster?
You don’t need to pay to foster a pet since fostering is a volunteer role supporting your community! PAWS provides medical care to foster pets at no cost to the foster parent and we can also provide any supplies that you need support with. If you’re able to provide supplies yourself, we greatly appreciate it and it allows us to redirect those resources to rescuing other pets, but we never want the cost of supplies to be the reason you aren’t able to foster!
Will PAWS help me find a good foster fit for my home?
Matchmaking is our specialty and we do our very best to match you with a pet that will be a good fit for your home and schedule! We just ask that you be clear about your foster space, availability, and commitment.
For cats, we start by asking you to identify a few cats or kittens on our list that you feel could be a good match and then we help narrow it down. We may have you meet a few cats during your foster pick-up appointment and talk in a little more detail about their needs and your comfort level so that you’re feeling good about taking your foster cat home!
For dogs, we’ll first talk in detail about a specific dog that you and our team feels is a good fit for your home. If we all agree that they seem like a good match, we’ll schedule an appointment for you to meet them and take them home!
The biggest thing to keep in mind is that part of fostering is helping us get to know the pet’s needs and personality, which can take some time, patience, and a little hard work! We will always tell you as much information as we have and aim to match you with a pet that we feel could be a good fit based on our experience and our conversation with you.
How long is the commitment to foster a pet?
Length of stay in foster care typically ranges anywhere from 3-8+ weeks depending on the needs of the particular animal. We ask fosters to expect at least a 3 week commitment if not a bit longer, but we also have other short term options!
Some pets turn out to have medical or behavioral needs that may take a few months to work through as we help them heal and find them the right adoption match. If you’re open to long term fostering but have a schedule conflict or travel, we can talk more about finding a sitter!
It’s most helpful to plan to foster a pet until they’re adopted with no definitive timeline or end date set, but we also understand that fostering is a temporary commitment and we have several short term options! If you have a set date that you can foster until, let us know and we can decide together if we have a match for you!
“FAST” fostering is a short term commitment where we aim to find a social cat or kittens who have mild medical issues that we hope will clear quickly and they’ll be ready for adoption within 3ish weeks. Once cleared for adoption, these cats can be placed at our adoption center!
Pet sitting for other fosters is also very helpful along with providing temporary foster for surprise kittens not eating on their own while we look for a long term foster.
And for any dog that has been at our shelter longer than usual, you can give them a break from the shelter and help us get to know them better by taking them home for a few days or for the day!
How is my foster pet promoted for adoption?
There are lots of opportunities to find a loving home for your foster pet! Once they’re cleared for adoption, we ask you to send high-resolution photos, videos, and details about your foster pet’s needs and personality. Then PAWS creates their adoption profile on our website and other adoption websites, plus we include them in our weekly adoptable pets email to our approved adopters. If your foster pet is social, you can attend adoption events. A great way for you to help promote your foster pet for adoption is to share them on your social media. We also encourage you to promote your foster pet to your own friends and family to widen the adopter pool even further! Lastly, if your foster cat is social, you can place them at a PAWS adoption center. This can be a good way to increase their exposure to adopters while also opening up your foster space to help another.
What if I want to adopt my foster pet?
While fostering is not meant to be a trial adoption, you may potentially adopt the pet you are fostering as long as you submit an adoption application and notify our team before we start adoption promotion. If adoption promotion has been started and there’s an approved applicant for your foster pet, they will be given priority to adopt.
As much as we understand wanting to keep your foster pet, keep in mind that foster homes are such a crucial part of our lifesaving work and goodbye is the goal so that you can foster more. If you do adopt your foster pet, we hope that you’ll plan to continue fostering if possible!
If you’re specifically interested in adopting, our staff can work with you to find a good fit for your household: matchmaking is our specialty!
Can I choose how many foster kittens I take at a time?
Litters of kittens come in all sizes and we can help match you with a litter based on your space and preference!
For kittens who are orphaned without a mom, we can split larger litters into pairs or trios for foster placement, but we do not split a single kitten from a litter. We do rescue single kittens who can go into foster care alone, but kittens benefit from companionship and socialization of at least one other kitten as they grow. We recommend keeping an eye out for another single the same age, or if you have a playful cat of your own, consider introducing them after being tested for FIV/FELV and the 2 week quarantine period. While we hope you’ll consider taking home the entire litter to open a kennel so that we can save another, you will be making a tremendous difference even if you can only foster two or three!
For kittens who are nursing from their mom and are too young to be separated, the entire litter will need to go home with her. It’s incredibly helpful to foster a large family from start to finish, but once the kittens are eating on their own, they can be separated from their mom. If caring for a large litter as they grow becomes too much for your foster space, we can chat about finding a new foster for some of the kittens.
Can I claim fostering expenses (food, litter, supplies, etc.) as a charitable deduction on my taxes?
Yes! First, check with your tax preparer to get a list of all eligible items for deduction — then make sure to save any and all related receipts. If your fostering expenses add up to over $250 for the year, PAWS can provide a letter confirming that you are an active foster parent during a particular calendar year. (To request this letter, please contact foster@phillypaws.org with the subject line “Active Foster Tax Letter.”) This letter can then be used for tax purposes to support claiming related expenses as deductions. Please note: PAWS is unable to provide any legal or tax related advice — always consult with a professional if you need any clarification.
