How You Can Make a Difference

Here are some areas where we can use your expertise:

• Adoption Events
• Adoption Counselors
• Fundraising
• Pet Photography
• Community Outreach
• Graphics (Creating Posters and Flyers)
• Cat Sitting/Dog Walking
• Fostering (read below for more info)
  
  Please complete and fax back the volunteer application if you'd like to volunteer.
  NOTE: We are a Chicago-based pet rescue.

FOSTERING

What's so great about fostering a pet? EVERYTHING! It is an extremely rewarding experience. Fostering gives a dog or cat a second chance at life. It can mean the difference between life in a caring home or death by euthanasia. It allows care for animals that would be difficult to care for in a shelter environment – pregnant sweeties or mommas with puppies or kittens, those recovering from major surgery, cats or kittens that are shy and need a nurturing home environment, dogs needing one-on-one behavior rehabilitation and those that would not do well in a shelter environment.  Additionally, we will be starting a program to help animals that come directly from abuse / neglect cases.  Theses special sweeties will need patience, understanding, and LOVE - something they have never felt before.

What is Involved in Fostering an Animal?

Foster caregiver responsibilities typically involve providing a home, feeding and socializing the animal – helping him or her learn appropriate behavior, a first-time opportunity for many pets whose original owners didn't spend much time or effort on the animal. Foster care providers give valuable insight into the animals' temperament and needs. They help us make a better adoption for those animals. Fostering provides the priceless service of nurturing and preparing homeless animals for their Forever Families.

Foster animals that fit your lifestyle:

• If you are more of a "couch potato", you can ask for an older animal who is low energy or a dog in medical recovery who needs to be kept in a quiet environment.
• If you are an active family, you can ask for a dog who needs lots of walks and plenty of exercise. If someone in your family is comfortable working with dogs, you can help a dog with some basic obedience or teach him some tricks.

In most cases, it's fine if you already have a dog or cat, as long as your companion and the foster dog or cat are both healthy and get along with each other.

Fostering Considerations

The animals you foster may not be perfect. Some may need to be housetrained. Some dogs may be un-schooled in other ways. For example, they may be rambunctious or shy, they may be inclined to jump up on people or on furniture. To some degree, these things will depend on the dog's age and breed or the cat's level of human socialization, but problem behaviors may be what landed them in the shelter in the first place. Fostering will require patience, love and TLC.

The Rewards of Fostering are Plentiful

The addition of a dog or cat brings immeasurable richness and joy to the household. Foster animals will repay you for your patience and love by giving back ten times more love of their own. And when the dog or cat goes off to a loving new home for life, your heart will swell with joy. What could possibly be more gratifying than to save a life and create a "happily ever after" ending?

The qualifications to be a foster parent are the same as the qualifications necessary to be an adopter. Therefore, the process for fostering is the same as applying to adopt. If you'd like to foster an animal, please fill out the adoption/foster application. If you'd like further information about fostering, please contact foster@puppylove-lovecats.org.

Note: PLLC will provide any medical care that your foster animal requires. You provide the food, love, and shelter.