![\"2001](\"http:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/chart.png\")
<\/a>The Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science conducted a survey in 2001 involving 2,617 dogs at a regional shelter. Of those dogs, 74 percent were potentially adoptable by opinion of the owner surrendering their pet, and 24 percent were turned in for euthanasia. In an article published by USA Today, Betsy Saul, the president and co-founder of Petfinder.com said, “So many of the pets are [in shelters] because of a family’s change in lifestyle, either a divorce or having to move, not because they’re undesirable.”<\/p>\n
Committing a selfless act without creating a world of stress and heartache can be hard. The idea of adoption is always great, but the reality is not always what we expect. The long-term commitment, and unexpected events that change our decisions and life, can create consequences that impact those furry friends in ways that we may not intend, but there are other ways to help.\u00a0 Not many are aware of fostering.<\/p>\n According to Judy Heffron, a volunteer and animal relocation coordinator for Magnificent Mutts, \u201cFostering is a rewarding way to help an animal in need. Often times we need homes in emergency situations. Sick owners who can\u2019t care for a pet or in some cases, neglected or special medical needs that need to be attended to. Without fosters, hundreds if not thousands of animals would be put down.\u201d<\/p>\n Some organizations do not have funding for facilities and rely heavily on volunteers and donations to relocate homeless animals. Magnificent Mutts is a home-based rescue, no shelter, that foster both dogs and cats. Even with every effort to save a life, many foster programs will require foster parents to sign release forms for euthanasia in cases where animals are deemed unadoptable. Let\u2019s face it, not every facility is a no kill shelter; some animals are rescued from high kill shelters and attempts to relocate or find temporary homes for them are exerted, if a home cannot be found, whether temporary or permanent, then these animals face euthanasia.<\/p>\n The Huffington Post article, “Why Foster Pets can be Difficult to Bid Goodbye,” reminds us there is always hope. “There is no nationwide data on fosters,” the article says, “but most shelters, even open admission or kill shelters, have some kind of program, and those programs can mean the difference between life and death for animals at the highest risk.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When you decide to foster, the process is quite simple, by visiting a local shelter, many offer foster programs that require forms and screening to ensure the animals will get\u00a0adequate care and attention. If you are selected, then you will get called to meet with an animal that awaits a home, based on your questions this may be a dog or cat varying in age and health. Jennifer Reilly, 26, fostered a malnourished black cat and found that over time, she could care for another just as easily so decided to take in a second cat, older and less agile.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just needed a home, they don\u2019t do much. They hang out like brothers and I always come home happy to see them,\u201d said Reilly. She adopted the two after four months and has considered taking in one more. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be the crazy cat lady, but they really don\u2019t do anything but eat and cuddle when they want. They don\u2019t bother me, I like the company and I love that I was able to help.\u201d<\/p>\n Reilly has now had her cats for three years and cautions that helping animals becomes contagious. There are, in fact, many things to take into account before taking on the responsibility of fostering. \u00a0In an article by the Chicago Tribune animal activist Valerie Kennedy, she sheds light on how dogs are often purchased on impulsive whims, but then dumped in shelters after owners realize just how much work they really are. \u201cShelters are filled with barking Christmas gifts the recipient didn’t want or couldn’t handle. But a foster dog is different from a gift dog. It’s a gift you give yourself, maybe just for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n Many may not understand the heartache and the stress this can become if not emotionally prepared. Virginia Dukes-DeLorenzo, 29, decided to foster black cats.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have this stigma, they\u2019re the bad cats and you wouldn\u2019t believe the things people do to these poor cats. Some are barely alive and you want to save them, your heart breaks, they are better off being put to sleep. I cried when I got Pepper. He was found as a kitten with a litter that didn\u2019t make it. The mom was killed.\u201d Dukes-DeLorenzo has since, adopted Tiger, a fluffy 10-pound cat. \u201cI just put up the Christmas tree, last year these goof balls knocked it down, ornaments and all,\u201d said Dukes-DeLorenzo, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll do any more fostering, I can\u2019t cope, I\u2019ll have to adopt more cats, I\u2019ll be a crazy cat lady.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Gail Buchwald, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) vice president, \u2018Fosters are an indispensable component for shelters, but there is a lot of turnover, she said, because of so-called foster failures \u2014 people who fall in love with their foster pets and adopt them.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, at the Hinsdale Humane Society, Anna Pec, 25, and Nicholas Duran, 27, both get ready to bring home their Christmas gift, an Australian cattle dog who was brought to the shelter with a litter of her siblings from an undisclosed high kill shelter. \u201cI would definitely foster this little girl, but I already know what\u2019s going to happen, she\u2019s going to melt my heart and I\u2019m going to have to keep her. So we decided to just adopt,\u201d said Pec. Duran held the dog close and already the two were bonding. He wanted to bring her home immediately but she still needed to get spayed. \u201cI\u2019ve wanted a dog for the longest time, but hesitated because I knew I wasn\u2019t financially stable. Now that I have my own place and steady income, I\u2019m ready to enjoy a furry companion. I have turtles that I adopted, too, but they don\u2019t cuddle,\u201d said Duran.<\/p>\n It becomes hard to stop, many people have a hard time keeping just one pet, they feel it appropriate to have a companion, so the animals don\u2019t get lonely. Business major and senior, Kenneth Razionale, 26, decided to adopt a cat after his childhood pet passed away. He now has two cats, a dog, a rabbit, and three turtles and explains, \u201cMy girlfriend wants to save the world one animal at a time, people are going to think we are pet horders, but they make her happy. She will bring home anything, if she saw a raccoon in need, it would be in the living room with the rest of the zoo. She says they\u2019re being fostered, but everything has been adopted shortly after.\u201d<\/p>\n The most important thing is to be educated, not everyone has a happy ending. May people return their fosters when they suddenly realize how overwhelming a desocialized, destructive and frightened animal can be when it is introduced to a strange home and unable to cope. A foster parent takes on the role of a mentor and that can be stressful when a sickly pet needs to get rushed to a vet or taken away due to retrogression.<\/p>\n Shelter animals can\u2019t tell us their past, they may have come from neglected, broken homes or a life on the streets, this isn\u2019t a walk in the park for some. You can list a million reasons to say no, but if you just give them one small chance, foster pets will give you two million reasons to do it again.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Reilly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
Photo courtesy of Kenneth Razionale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n