Foster parents must be at least 19 years old and have time to commit to an additional dog or cat in their household. Transportation to and from the shelter, offsite adoption events, or vet clinics may be required. All animals in the foster program belong to Metro Animal Shelter. Procedures regarding adoption and every day care must be followed.

•   Crate if needed
•   Food
•   Litter/Litterbox
•   Leash/Collar
•   Medication (If you take an animal to a vet clinic without approval, that would be at the foster's expense.)
•   Toys

•   Transportation to and from the shelter or vet appointments scheduled by TMAS.
•   Provide a safe, loving home for animals awaiting adoption, rescue transports, or recovering from illness/injury.
•   Socialization, daily walks, play-time.
 

This could be any puppy or kitten under the age of 8 weeks old that are too young/small to be placed up for adoption. We receive so many unwanted litters of puppies and kittens that aren't old enough and need growth and care to place them.
 

• Length of time in foster care could range from 2-6 weeks (until the animal is old enough to place for adoption.
• Visits to the shelter will be required for vaccinations and other basic care needs.

Many animals come in scared or with minor illness. Without extra TLC and treatment, they can't be easily placed for adoption. We often need fosters to treat them or socialize them for us in order to make them ready for adoption. Animals may be scared, sick, injured, underweight, or just stressed.

• Variable commitment times depending on need of the animal.
• Follow up visit to the shelter or vet clinic may be required.
• TMAS will go over everything included in the foster agreement prior to the animal leaving.

We often send animals to other rescue organizations who help us find homes for animals. They often have homes waiting for the animals upon their arrival to the organization. Because the time it takes to set up transport to these organizations vary, we need temporary foster homes to provide a safe place until it is time for the animal to leave.

• Short-term (2 to 4 weeks)
• TMAS provides items needed to care for the pet.
• Animals set up to leave to go to a rescue organization cannot be adopted by the foster when a transport process has been finalized (homes are usually already waiting upon the animal's arrival to their new location).

Space is always limited in a shelter environment. We need people to provide a safe place for animals until they get adopted so they don't have to live in the shelter.

• Usually long-term and an unspecified amount of time.
• Must make regular visits to the shelter to meet potential adopters.
• This will include animals of all types that may have been with us a while.
• This type of fostering creates space at the shelter and allows us to place additional animals into our adoption program. While in foster care, we will promote the animal on our website, Petfinder, and our social media accounts.