Do you love pets, but don’t want to keep them on a permanent basis? Do you love pets, but aren’t sure of how well you can take care of them? Do your children want a pet, but you want them to learn how to take care of one before they can get a permanent pet?
Good – you can foster a pet. Fostering a pet is providing temporarily for an animal – could be a dog, a cat, a hamster, a rabbit – and taking care of their needs and showing them love and attention. As a foster pet parent, you take care of the pet as though it were yours for life, looking after it physically, mentally and emotionally, and feeding it properly.
Fostering pets is a common enough practice due to the number of strays that are rescued off the streets on a daily basis by pet protection agencies, such as Action for Singapore Dogs or Cat Welfare Society. Most of the animals are not pedigrees or purebreds, but they are all capable of vast amounts of love and charm, and they give you as much love as you can show them, maybe even more.
What Do You Need To Prep For Being A Foster Pet Parent?
There are certain requirements that you need to meet to be a foster pet parent, depending on the organization or shelter that you go to.
- Everyone in your house must be in agreement about fostering a pet. They should also be aware of what it takes to keep a pet.
- You must agree to regular visits from the volunteers of the shelter or organization you are fostering a pet from. They need to make sure that your household is good enough for the pets to move into.
- The animal shelter volunteers will also interview you so as to have a better idea of your lifestyle, and this will help them determine what kind of pet would be most suitable for you.
- It would be preferable if you had friendly neighbours, neighbours who are well disposed towards animals. Neighbours who hate pets will do anything to get rid of them, including lie about your pet parenting skills and the state of your household.
- Prior experience with pets is not really required but is important. Most animals to be fostered are street animals, including old dogs and puppies, and all of them need special care and attention.
- Ensure that the pets you already have can get along with new pets. Also, make sure that their vaccinations are up to date.
- You will need to be able to supervise your children and little ones every time they are with a pet. Pets are generally well mannered and well behaved, but one can never tell what would happen to change their demeanour, or what the children might do to aggravate them. Make sure an adult or an older child is watching them as they interact with the pets.
- Accept the minimum fostering period of two months. Animal shelters would greatly appreciate if you can foster the pets till they get adopted.
Where Can I Go To Foster Pets In Singapore?
Singapore has several organizations and animal shelters dedicated to taking care of all kinds of pets, and ensuring that they are healthy and end up in good homes where they are well taken care of. These places include:
- SOSD – Save Our Street Dogs
- ASD – Action for Singapore Dogs
- OSCAS – Oasis Second Chance Animal Shelter
- SPCA – The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- VFA – Voices for Animals
- The Cat Welfare Society
- Animal Lovers League
- The House Rabbit Society of Singapore
Why Should You Foster a Pet?
Fostering a pet is a good way to test yourself, to find out if you are ready and prepared to get a permanent furry companion. Fostering pets is also a great thing to do for expats, who have moved to Singapore and wants to have a companion while living alone.
Fostering a pet allows you to provide temporary shelter for other pets, especially when you have other pets with you in your household, but you feel you could take care of more. Fostering pets is also a good idea if you don’t have the finances to take on a pet full time, but you love pets and have the time to spend with them.
What Are The Benefits Of Being A Foster Pet Parent?
Fostering a pet gives you the opportunity to teach your children about responsibility and how to take care of charges in their care. It also lets you get to know pets much better before adopting one.
Fostering pets is a good way of educating people on pet care and disseminating general information on how to treat pets. Also, the knowledge that you are making a difference in the world by helping to take of pets is one of the greatest benefits of all, and your pets will love you for it.
Why Is Fostering Important In Singapore?
Singapore is a small country without a lot of space, and this makes it necessary to keep strays off the streets, both for their sakes as well as for the sake of humans.
Furthermore, some animal shelters do not have specific buildings in which to house these pets, and they depend on foster pet parents to provide foster homes for the animals.
Most of these animal shelters also have limited space, because the number of animals brought in usually exceeds the amount of space they have to keep them, and this also necessitates foster parenting for the animals.
Most animal shelters lack volunteers to help in treating, feeding, and cleaning these animals and their habitats for an extended period of time. The lack of volunteers means that the pets won’t be getting as much care and love as they need, and foster homes will be adequate for the pets to get all of this.
If you want a pet, try adopting one from the local shelters. Unsure of the 10 to 20 years of commitment? Give your love and care for the less fortunate cats and dogs until they like yourself, have a permanent loving home.
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