Cats, dogs need foster care

MONTROSE — Number of pets that came into the Montrose Animal Shelter last year: 2,382. Number of regular pet foster homes currently available: five.

"If the shelter is going to try to reach its goal of being a no-kill facility in 10 years, we're not going to be able to do it if the community doesn't step up to the plate," local animal volunteer Beth Jones said. "We're bare bones. We shouldn't be that way."

The shelter's foster care program gives cats and dogs a new lease on life by creating more space for new shelter arrivals without having to euthanize and providing care for animals too young for adoption.

"We can always use more foster families, not only for our orphan puppies and kittens, but some foster families that are willing to foster healthy adult dogs and cats,"said Kari Kishiyama, animal shelter manager.

Because the shelter is more publicly accessible than private homes, and exposure increases an animal's shot at adoption, the shelter tries to keep pets in-house as much as possible.

Foster care is for limited time only and the shelter decides when an animal returns, as well as what kind of medical care it receives. 

People who would like to foster an animal have to fill out an application and meet several requirements, among them, having their own pets vaccinated and kept separate of fosters if they haven't been sterilized.

Foster care is also used to provide homes for older cats and dogs, and animals needing physical rehabilitation. "Those people will take that pet into their home and care for it until it has healed and then it can go up for adoption," Kishiyama said of rehab families.

There is also a need for people who can keep a dog for 10 days so that it can be cleared to go to Camp Bow Wow, a Montrose "doggy day and overnight camp."

People are answering the call. Since last year, Toni Wilson’s home has been one of the shelter's regular foster homes. "I think there would be a lot less animals being put down if (others) did it," she said of fostering. "They (foster families) have just got to be prepared to have their heart broken several times."

Caring for young kittens or puppies isn't a simple matter of providing food and water. Orphaned litters need to be bottle fed, groomed like their mothers would groom them, and stimulated to void their bowels. But sometimes, the hardest part is giving the kittens back to the shelter. Wilson kept one cat from the first litter she fostered, and a kitten from another litter whose litter mate died.

"You grow attachments," she said. "A lot of them, that's all they remember, is you. They don't remember having a mama cat."

Jones hopes more animal lovers will come forward to help.

"We just need some help. With a population this size, there should be more support, or we will never become a no-kill shelter."

Foster care facts

• Current foster families: 2 for cats/kittens only; 2 for puppies and 1 for elderly dogs.

• The animal shelter needs people to foster kittens, puppies, older cats and dogs and animals needing rehabilitation after treatment for injuries. Temporary foster homes are needed for dogs eligible to spend time at Camp Bow Wow.

• The animal shelter provides food and supplies; foster families pick up the supplies

• The animal shelter decides what medical care an animal receives and when it returns to shelter.

• Prospective foster people must be able to have pets at their residence, especially if they rent.

• Other pets in the home must be vaccinated and licensed when applicable.

• Pets in the home must be neutered/spayed or kept separate from those pets being fostered.

• Foster people cannot have prior animal control violations.

• To foster a pet, stop by the Montrose Animal Shelter at 3383 N. Townsend Ave. between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday; call 249-1487 for more information.