Purpose of the role:
- To provide a safe place in your home to care for an animal who may be struggling in the shelter environment.
Animals needing foster carers are usually receiving veterinary treatment, recovering from operations, or really struggling with the shelter environment, these cats may not be comfortable with your attention initially and need space and reassurance to allow them to settle into a home environment whilst we find the perfect home for them.
Responsible to:
- Animal welfare manager
- Designated Key worker
Main duties:
- Providing warm safe space within your home – if fostering a cat we would ask you have a spare room specifically for your foster cat which can be used as a sanctuary room for the cat, although this may not apply to all of our cats an explanation of space available for a foster cat would be beneficial.
- Monitoring your foster animal for signs of stress or illness and reporting any concerns directly to us.
- Administering medication when needed, and updating us on any concerns or development with medical conditions
- Keeping in regular contact with your appointed key worker
- Transporting our animal to any veterinary appointments or back to shelter to meet any potential adopters, or when the foster period ends
Hand rearing kittens – this will be specialist foster carers not an option for all foster carers
Time commitment:
Depending on your foster animals individual needs we ask you have some spare time to allow your animal to settle into their new environment, and you have flexibility to transport animals when needed.
Hand rear kittens need full time commitment as they often require feeding every 2 to 4 hours, 24hours per day.
What’s included:
We provide all food, cat litter, walking aides, bedding, toys and anything else we feel may be needed to help your foster animal settle.
We also provide all medication where needed.
You will receive training where necessary and be given a detailed background on any medical issues or behavioural concerns. You will have a key worker who will be available for regular updates about your animals rehome status, or medical needs. They will also be on hand to offer reassurance to you and answer any concerns.
Skills and qualification:
No skills or qualifications are needed, however being an experienced animal owner would be a benefit. Certain dogs, cats or kittens will only be matched to foster carers with specific experience, so please provide as much detail as possible when completing your application form.
All we ask is:
- You must be 18 years or older
- You must hold a full driving license (necessary to ensure the animal can receive urgent veterinary treatment)
- You must be a homeowner or be able to provide written landlord permission that you are able to have a pet in the home
- You must live within a 20-mile radius of our Rehoming Centre, Benton Lane, NE12 8EH
All applications will be reviewed, and a telephone meeting arranged to discuss the finer details. If you are chosen as a foster carer, we will invite you down to site to meet the team, and some of our wonderful animals, to give you a clearer understanding of how the process will work.