May 14th - 20th | Tiny Kittens & Big Dogs: Two Groups That Need You Most Right Now!
This week, our shelter is facing two very different challenges at the same time:
Newborn and underage kittens continue arriving daily, many needing bottle feeding, medical support, or simply a safe place to grow.
At the same time, our medium and large dog population continues to rise, especially longer stay dogs who are beginning to struggle with kennel stress and lack of decompression.
Both groups need fosters for different reasons, but the outcome is the same:
A foster home gives them the opportunity to thrive instead of simply survive.
Kitten season is fully underway, and our nursery spaces, foster programs, and medical teams are feeling the impact daily. Many of the kittens entering our care are arriving at vulnerable ages, some still needing bottle feeding every few hours, while others require additional medical support, socialization, or simply time to grow before becoming adoption ready.
This time of year moves quickly. One litter becomes several within days, and before long, every available foster space begins filling.
What makes fostering kittens so impactful is that even small spaces can save lives. A spare bathroom, office, laundry room, or quiet guest room can provide the safe environment these kittens need to grow and recover. Foster homes allow kittens to develop outside of the stress and illness exposure that naturally comes with a busy shelter environment.
For many of these kittens, foster care is not just helpful. It is essential.
While kitten season often receives the most attention this time of year, spring and summer also consistently bring increased intake numbers for medium and large dogs. Longer daylight hours, increased outdoor activity, breeding season impacts, and roaming behaviors all contribute to higher shelter populations during these months.
As intake rises, kennel space becomes tighter, and dogs spend more time navigating a fast paced and highly stimulating environment. Even well adjusted dogs can begin showing signs of stress after extended shelter stays.
This is where fostering becomes incredibly important.
A short stay in a home environment allows dogs to decompress, rest, and reset mentally. It also helps our team learn more about the dog outside the kennel environment. Often, fosters discover behaviors and personality traits we simply cannot fully see in the shelter, whether that is how a dog settles in a home, interacts during walks, rides in a car, or relaxes around people.
Even a weekend foster or overnight Slumber Pawty can make a meaningful difference for these dogs
One of the most important things to remember is that fostering does not always have to be long term to matter.
Some of the most impactful foster placements happen over the course of just a few days. A short term foster can provide critical decompression time for a stressed dog or lifesaving overflow relief for kittens entering the shelter.
Temporary fostering also helps increase adoption success. Animals often show their true personalities much more clearly in a home environment, and the information fosters provide helps us better match pets with future adopters.
Photos, notes, videos, and simple observations from foster homes become some of the most valuable tools we have when advocating for animals.
Both shelters have a continual amount of medium to large dogs heading out on transport. Fostering transport animals mean that all you have to do is care for, have fun with them, and keep their medical up to date - they already have placement!
We also have events every weekend and our incredible PetSmart Adoption Centers!
One good photo can completely change the future of a shelter pet.
When animals are photographed outside of the kennel environment, people connect differently. A dog relaxing on a couch, walking on a trail, or sitting calmly in a yard tells a very different story than what someone may see through kennel bars. The same goes for kittens showing playful personalities, cuddling together, or interacting comfortably in foster homes.
Visibility matters, especially during high intake seasons when so many animals are competing for attention at once.
You do not need professional equipment to help create that visibility. Some of our best adoption photos and videos have been captured on phones during normal everyday moments.
At this moment, our greatest needs remain kitten fosters and medium to large dog fosters.
For kittens, we are especially seeking bottle baby fosters, weaned kitten fosters, medical fosters, and temporary overflow support for incoming litters.
For dogs, we are currently looking for fosters willing to provide decompression stays, weekend fostering, overnight Slumber Pawty placements, and longer term foster homes for medium and large dogs needing a break from the shelter environment.
Supplies also continue moving quickly this time of year. Kitten formula, wet kitten food, heating pads, puppy pads, towels, blankets, and enrichment items remain among our most needed donations.
This week has been crazy for transport but nothing will stop us from getting these pups out of Texas!
We have some amazing pups waiting in the shelter for their chance to get out. These guys have places to go and families to meet but without you they can't make their trip. Check out two of our most in need pups down below and don't forget to check their friends out too!
Trello: https://trello.com/b/y5o4hKeV/fwacc-foster-needed
Check out Lazuli's Trello Card HERE
Check out DJ's Trello Card HERE
Spring and summer are always demanding seasons in animal welfare. Intake rises quickly, space becomes limited, and the need for community support grows almost overnight.
But this time of year also reminds us how powerful fostering can be.
Sometimes helping looks like bottle feeding a tiny kitten at midnight. Sometimes it looks like giving a large dog a quiet couch and a full night of uninterrupted sleep. Sometimes it is only for a weekend.
But for the animals experiencing it, that temporary space can mean everything.
We’ll see you out there.
FWACC Foster Team