You don’t have to adopt to be an animal’s hero- fosters play a critical role in helping our shelter pets find their forever homes. A foster is someone who provides a temporary home environment for a shelter pet while Butte Humane Society provides all of the necessary supplies. By offering your time, energy and home to an animal in need, you prepare the animal for adoption into a permanent home and help prevent overcrowding in our shelter.
Fostering through Butte Humane Society allows us to:
- Increase adoptions by better preparing animals to become beloved family members.
- Accept even more animals into our shelter.
- Reduce the amount of time an animal stays in our shelter.
Who Can be a Foster for BHS?
Anyone! Students, families, full time and part time workers…any responsible adult with a little extra space and a whole lot of love can be a foster. Experience isn’t necessary; we do our best to set each foster parent up for success and match you with a pet at your skill level.
Types of Shelter Animals that need Fosters
Every animal in our shelter can benefit from the comfort of a foster home—not just those with medical or behavioral needs. Healthy puppies, kittens, dogs, and cats all thrive in a home environment where they can relax, socialize, and receive one-on-one attention while they wait for their forever families. By opening your home, even for a short time, you’re helping reduce shelter stress, creating much-needed space for incoming animals, and giving a deserving pet the love and care they need to shine.
Fospice
No animal deserves to spend its last days in a shelter. When an elderly or terminally ill animal comes in but isn’t expected to make it more than a few months, our amazingly compassionate fosters open their arms, homes, and hearts to give them as much comfort as possible to offer the best quality of life care until the end.
What Would be Expected of Me?
Fosters are expected to care for one or more animals for anywhere between a week and a few months depending on the needs of the pet and your availability. Our fosters need to be able to bring in pets to our clinic during the week to receive routine vaccinations, preventatives, and exams as needed. We will accommodate your schedule as much as we can.
Fosters must be able to administer medications (if any-no needles!) in accordance with their prescriptions and to keep a record of dosage. More advanced medical skills may be required for foster pets with more severe conditions, and we would look for a foster who is able to be trained or already has experience with that.
All foster supplies are provided, including food, litter, litterboxes, and potty pads if needed. Of course, if you’d like to buy any special treats or toys, feel free!
To learn more about what is expected, please visit our FAQ page.
Getting Started
If you think that fostering is for you, fill out the online foster application below!
Have questions? Contact us at meghanbarna@buttehumane.org!
Short-term Foster Opportunities for BHS Volunteers
Experienced BHS volunteers are able to partake in a couple of exciting programs that give our longer term shelter animals a much needed break from the kennels. Our staff will ensure that the volunteers interested are fully prepared to handle any situations that might arise. We also like to ensure that the dog and the volunteer are a good match for each other to ensure the happiest outings.
Dogs must always remain on leash when in any place that is not a private, fenced-in yard. This means no dog parks. Any swimming in creeks or ponds must be done according to park or property owner’s rules.
Dog On the Go (D.O.G.)
Established BHS volunteers get to take approved dogs to the park, to the creek, to a coffee shop, or just take them home to let them enjoy a soft couch and some peace and quiet.
Bedtime Foster
When one day with a dog just isn’t enough, let’s make it a slumber party! What dog person doesn’t love snuggling up with a pup? Your couch, bed, or floor is a retreat for a dog who has been in our shelter for days, weeks, or months. We can truly call bedtime foster a win-win situation.