Jul 30, 2009 6:45 pm US/Eastern
Don't Want To Adopt? Try Foster Parenting Pets
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
If you love pets, but you're not ready to adopt, there's another way you can help the thousands of animals who are waiting for homes: fostering pets.
"Millie" was just four months old when Kelly and Lee Nidel became her foster parents.
"She was found at six weeks in a cardboard box in a dumpster," Lee said of Millie, who is one happy dog after being showered with love from Kelly and Lee. "We had a couple fosters who were just wandering the streets in the Bronx."
They started with Dusty just four years ago.
"We had him for a weekend and then all of a sudden all we wanted to do was foster," Kelly said. "Four days turned into six months, and that was kind of that."
In the last four years, they've fostered 12 dogs and ended up adopting Millie.
The pets come from Animal Care and Control where it can be very stressful for the animals as they wait to be adopted. That's where the foster families come in. They take care of pets at home while they wait for a permanent family. It can take anywhere from a couple days to several months. There's an application process, then each pet is placed with just the right person.
"We have elderly people who foster, we usually recommend the older dogs that don't need too much care who just sit around the house," Amanda Johnson of NYC's Animal Care and Control said. "We recommend children in homes for the younger dogs so they can run around the house and play."
There are dogs like "Luna," plenty of cats like "Cathleen," and even rabbits.
There are also a lot of kittens who need foster families; they're not allowed to be adopted until they're six weeks old so they need a lot of love and care until then.
The only requirement is to love animals and have the time to take care of them.
Veterinary care is free, and you'll be sent home with any medicine your foster pet may need.
For more information on the foster care program,
click here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments