A home changes everything.
Open your home. Save a life. We'll help with the rest.
A shelter can keep an animal safe. A foster home shows us who that animal really is — and creates room for the next one who needs us. You don't have to be an expert. You need a safe space, a willing heart, and a willingness to follow the plan for the animal in front of you.
The honest part, before you apply
We'd rather tell you the hard things now than have you find out in week two. Fostering is deeply rewarding and it is also real work with real rules. Read this section before you fill out anything.
Non-negotiables. These are conditions of fostering, not suggestions.
- Dogs coming straight from the shelter are kenneled at night for at least the first 7 days. Not optional. It keeps everyone safe while we learn the dog.
- All foster dogs are crated when you leave the house. Every time, regardless of how trustworthy they seem. A dog who seems fine on day three can panic on day four, and an unsupervised foster dog in a new home is how tragedies happen.
- No dog-to-dog introductions during the first 7 days unless the introduction was already completed at an A&F facility.
- Never take a foster dog to an off-leash dog park. This one ends the fostering relationship. No exceptions, no "but my park is quiet."
- Children under 18 are never left alone with a foster animal. Supervision means an adult in the room, awake and watching.
- All veterinary care goes through A&F's approved pathway. Never take a foster animal to your own vet, never dose a medication or supplement we didn't authorize, never improvise an emergency treatment. Unauthorized vet bills are not reimbursed, and the wrong home remedy can kill a neonate.
- Reward-based training only. No corrections, no prong, choke, or shock collars, no alpha rolls, no scruffing. If a dog needs more than management, the behavior team writes the plan.
- Dog fosters attend at least one A&F adoption event per month. Your foster can't get adopted by people who never meet them.
- Tell us early when something is going wrong. Growling, guarding, house-training trouble, a kitten who skipped a feeding, or you being at the end of your rope — early is fixable, late is a crisis.
Approval takes up to a week
Every foster completes a virtual home check, reference check, background check, and vet check. We don't skip steps, even when we're full.
Average stay is about 2 months
Medical recoveries, seniors, and some breeds stay longer. Bottle babies and respite stays can be days. We'll tell you the expected window before you say yes.
You are never doing this alone
Every foster is assigned one Foster Coordinator as their primary contact — not a rotating cast, not a general inbox.
Pets needing a foster home
Fostering changes an animal’s whole world. These pets are waiting for a safe place to land right now.
See someone you connect with? Apply to foster, and we’ll help determine whether the animal’s needs and your home are a good match.
What a foster home actually does
It lowers the volume
A foster home gives an animal a calmer place to decompress, heal, and grow than any shelter can offer.
It opens a space
Every animal in a foster home means another one we can say yes to.
It tells us the truth
How they sleep, ride in the car, greet visitors, settle at night. Your observations beat a kennel snapshot every single time.
It finds the right home
You become one of the people who knows that animal best — and their strongest advocate when the right adopter appears.
You do not have to know everything. You just have to start.
Pick the kind of fostering that fits your actual life
Not the life you wish you had. The one with the job, the kids, the travel, and the resident pets. There is a real placement for almost every schedule — and matching honestly is what keeps fosters fostering.
You do not have to be a dog trainer to foster a dog. You do need time, patience, consistency, and a willingness to follow the plan for the dog in front of you. A&F supports you with a Foster Coordinator, supplies, approved veterinary care, behavior and training support, and a clear path to reach a human when you need one.
Dog placement types
Adult & senior dogs
Many just need a break from shelter noise and a normal routine. Some are straight-up couch companions. Others are rebuilding confidence or relearning how a house works.
Puppies
Structure, supervision, a potty schedule, safe socialization, enrichment, and a startling amount of sleep. The goal is healthy habits, not perfection.
Neonatal / bottle-baby puppies
Orphaned newborns need warmth, high-frequency bottle feeding, daily weights, and close medical observation. Matched carefully on time and experience.
Pregnant moms & moms with puppies
A quiet, safe whelping space away from shelter stress. You support mom, monitor the puppies, follow the maternity plan, and call us fast when anything shifts.
Medical / recovery dogs
Healing from surgery, injury, or illness. You follow the written medical plan, enforce rest or activity restriction, and keep the team updated.
Decompression / behavior support
A quieter environment, predictable routines, a little more coaching. You are not expected to solve serious behavior problems alone — management, safety, and early communication matter more than fixing.
Short-term / respite & sleepovers
A hotel sleepover, a weekend, a few days, or covering for another foster. Short stays still give a dog a real break and give us real information.
The deal, in plain terms
🐾 A&F provides
- A Foster Coordinator who stays connected to you
- Core supplies appropriate to the dog and placement — food is picked up at an A&F location
- Authorized veterinary care through A&F's approved medical pathway
- After-hours and weekend veterinary triage through the approved pathway
- Behavior and training support when questions come up
- A written plan for dogs with known medical, handling, or behavior needs
- Adoption promotion and placement support
🏡 You provide
- A safe home and a predictable daily routine
- Time for decompression before expecting too much
- Exercise and enrichment appropriate to that dog — most need two 30-minute walks a day
- Patience with house-training, leash skills, and new-home adjustment
- Consistent reward-based training and management
- Transportation to approved appointments and pickup or drop-off
- Honest updates, photos, and videos — including the unflattering ones
The dog foster toolkit
The rules above are the short version. When you're ready for the how-to, every topic below opens the step-by-step guide in the Foster section of our Behavior & Training Library.
Fostering a cat or kitten can be as simple as giving them a quiet room, daily care, and time to feel safe. Some need only a short break from the shelter. Others need a few weeks to grow, heal, raise babies, or learn that people can be trusted. You do not have to be an expert before you begin.
Cat placement types
Neonatal / bottle babies
Our tiniest fosters are our most fragile. Around-the-clock feeding, warmth, daily weights, and help eliminating. You will be trained and supported. If you love tiny lives and detailed care, this is your lane.
Weaned & growing kittens
Playful, chaotic, ridiculously fun. They need a safe space, meals, litter care, socialization, and ordinary household experiences while they grow toward adoption readiness.
Pregnant mamas & moms with kittens
Mama does most of the work. You provide a quiet, private, safe place to give birth or raise her babies, watch closely, and tell us the moment anything changes. We give you the birth and nursing plan for your specific family.
Adult & senior cats
Frequently our simplest placements. A calm room, a routine, gentle enrichment, and the chance to show who they really are outside a shelter. Seniors may need extra comforts and closer observation.
Shy, fearful or undersocialized cats
These cats need time, not pressure. Sitting quietly, offering treats, using a wand toy, and letting the cat set the pace creates remarkable change. Small wins count.
Medical / recovery cats
Recovering from illness, surgery, or injury. You follow the written care plan, give approved medications exactly as directed, observe closely, and stay in contact with the medical team through your coordinator.
Short-term / respite
A weekend, a week, or covering for another foster. Even a short stay gives a cat a real break and gives us useful information about them in a home.
The deal, in plain terms
🐈 A&F provides
- A dedicated Foster Coordinator and regular check-ins
- Core supplies — food, litter, bedding, and age-appropriate care items
- Authorized veterinary care through A&F's veterinary team or approved partners
- After-hours and weekend veterinary triage through the approved A&F pathway
- Guidance on feeding, medical milestones, behavior, and adoption promotion
- A full Cat Foster Care Guide for the details you need at home
🏡 You provide
- A safe, clean, temperature-appropriate indoor space
- Daily feeding, cleaning, observation, and a lot of love
- Patience while your foster adjusts at their own pace
- Transportation to approved appointments or pickup and drop-off
- Honest updates on appetite, weight, litter box use, behavior, or concerns
- Photos, videos, and personality notes that help your foster get adopted
The cat foster toolkit
Open what you need. The Cat Foster Care Guide you receive at placement carries the rest.
- One room, door closed. A spare bedroom, bathroom, or office. Not the whole house, not day one.
- A hiding place they can choose. A covered bed, a carrier with the door off, a box on its side. Taking hiding away does not speed anything up — it just makes the cat hide worse.
- Litter box away from food and water, and away from anything that hums, bangs, or startles.
- Vertical space. A cat tree, a cleared shelf, or a sturdy chair. Height is confidence.
- Cat-proof it: no reachable cords, no gaps behind appliances, no open toilet lids, no houseplants you haven't verified as safe, no window screens that pop out.
- Resident pets stay out. Scent-swap under the door first; introductions come later and only when your coordinator says so.
A new foster cat may hide, eat less, hiss, sleep constantly, or avoid you entirely. That is often normal decompression, not a personality.
- Do not pull a cat out from under the bed. Do not force affection or a lap.
- Sit in the room and read out loud, or just exist quietly. You are becoming furniture, which is the goal.
- Keep the environment calm and predictable — same meals, same times, same voice.
- Let trust build on the cat's clock.
Decompression has limits, though. A cat who has not eaten in 24 hours, is not using the litter box, is straining to urinate, is breathing with an open mouth, or has runny eyes or nose is a medical call, not a patience call. Contact us.
Neonatal fostering is specialized care, not just cute. The four essentials are warmth, correct feeding, stimulation for elimination, and weight monitoring.
- Warm first, feed second. A chilled kitten cannot digest. Never feed a cold kitten — warm them slowly first.
- Weigh every single day, at the same time, and write it down. Weight is the earliest warning system you have. Flat or falling weight gets reported the same day.
- Feed on the schedule we give you for that kitten's age, with the formula and nipple we provide. Never switch formula, add supplements, or try a home recipe.
- Stimulate for elimination before and after feeding, as instructed, until they can go on their own.
- Track everything: intake, output, weight, energy, and anything that looks off.
Very young kittens decline fast — sometimes in hours. Never improvise medications, supplements, feeding methods, or emergency treatment. Call the approved pathway first. Guessing is how we lose them.
Pregnant and nursing cats need privacy, predictability, and observation far more than they need your help. Your job:
- Prepare a safe, dark, quiet nesting space before she needs it.
- Keep food and fresh water available at all times — a nursing mom eats a lot.
- Observe labor and nursing without hovering. Interference stresses her and can stall labor.
- Weigh the kittens as directed and log it.
- Contact us immediately if mom or a newborn appears to be in distress, if a kitten is being rejected or isn't nursing, if labor stalls, or if mom stops eating.
Once the kittens are older, the work shifts to safe socialization, handling, play, and getting the whole family adoption-ready.
Time beats pressure, every time. What works:
- Sit at the cat's level and don't stare — a slow blink is a conversation, a hard stare is a threat.
- Let food and treats do the talking. Churu-style lickable treats on a spoon buy more trust than any amount of reaching.
- Use a wand toy. Play lets a fearful cat engage without being touched.
- Let the cat choose every approach. The first time they come to you is worth more than fifty times you went to them.
- Log the small wins — ate while you were in the room, came out from hiding, tolerated a touch. Those notes become their adoption bio.
Follow the written plan exactly. Right medication, right dose, right time. If you miss a dose, don't double up — tell your coordinator. If a medication seems to be causing a problem, stop and call. Never add anything we didn't authorize.
Protect your own cats. Foster cats and kittens can carry upper respiratory infections, ringworm, panleukopenia, and parasites, sometimes before symptoms show.
- Keep your resident cats fully vaccinated and current.
- Keep fosters in their own room with their own bowls, bedding, litter box, and scoop.
- Care for your own cats first, fosters last. Wash hands going in and coming out.
- Consider dedicated clothes or a smock for kitten care, especially with a suspected ringworm case.
- Report sneezing, eye or nose discharge, diarrhea, vomiting, hair loss, or scabby patches right away — don't wait for the check-in.
When to stop reading and start calling
Call the approved A&F veterinary pathway immediately for:
- Labored or open-mouth breathing, blue or pale gums
- Seizure, collapse, or unresponsiveness
- A neonate who is cold, limp, or won't eat
- Bloated, hard abdomen, or repeated retching with nothing coming up
- Straining to urinate, or not urinating at all
- Uncontrolled bleeding, a wound, or suspected fracture
- Hit by a car, a fall, or any dog-to-dog or dog-to-human bite
- Suspected poisoning or ingestion of a foreign object
- Prolonged or stalled labor, or a rejected newborn
- Repeated vomiting or diarrhea, especially with blood or in a young animal
Do not take a foster animal to your own veterinarian or an ER clinic on your own. Call the approved pathway first, even at 2 a.m. — that is exactly what after-hours triage exists for. Unauthorized care is not reimbursed, and our team needs to know before treatment starts so the animal's record and plan stay intact.
Suspected poisoning — time is everything
(888) 426-4435ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. Call them, then call your Foster Coordinator. Do not wait to see if symptoms develop, and do not induce vomiting unless a veterinary professional tells you to.
Early signs of poisoning: vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, agitation or depression, seizures, lethargy, loss of appetite, inability to urinate, nosebleeds, bleeding gums, black or bloody stools.
Put the worst offenders away before your foster arrives. The Foster Library has the complete list of dangerous medications, foods, plants, and chemicals, plus a printable Pet Poison Control Chart for your fridge.
When something isn't going well, tell us early
House-training trouble, pulling, mild reactivity, fear, guarding, growling, a kitten who isn't gaining, or just being overwhelmed — all of it is easier to solve before it becomes a crisis. Nobody loses their foster status for asking for help.
Start with your coordinator
Your Foster Coordinator owns the relationship and routes the question to the right person. You don't have to figure out who to call.
Safety goes to the behavior team, fast
A bite, a serious guarding incident, significant fear, or reactivity gets escalated quickly. Say it out loud even if you're worried it reflects on you. It doesn't.
Medical goes through the approved pathway
Every time, including after hours and weekends. Your coordinator will get you there if you're not sure.
And if you need the animal moved, say so. A placement that isn't working is information, not failure. We would far rather rehome a foster animal calmly than lose a foster family entirely.
How it works, start to finish
- Apply. Complete the A&F foster application for dogs or cats. We require a virtual home check, reference check, background check, and vet check. Approval can take up to a week — start now rather than when you see an urgent post.
- Meet your person. You're assigned a Foster Coordinator who becomes your primary contact, instead of being passed from person to person.
- Complete the approval steps. Screening, references, and the home review are finished before any animal is placed with you.
- Choose the right match. We look at your household, schedule, experience, resident pets, and preferences alongside the animal's needs. For dogs, the foster, Foster Coordinator, Intake Coordinator, and relevant animal-care teams all weigh in. Saying "not that one" is allowed and encouraged.
- Get the plan, then bring them home. Before pickup you receive the care plan, supplies, medical or behavior instructions specific to that animal, and the contacts you'll need.
- Stay connected. Your coordinator checks in, troubleshoots early, routes medical and behavior questions, and helps promote your foster until they're adopted.
You are part of the adoption team
A foster home gives us information no shelter can. The photos, videos, and small details you collect at home are frequently the exact thing that makes an adopter fall in love. Fosters are storytellers — and storytellers get animals adopted faster.
Where to share
Your own social media, the A&F Adoptable Dogs and Adoptable Cats Facebook groups, email to friends and coworkers, flyers at work, and walks through busy areas in an "Adopt Me" bandana. Then send everything to your coordinator so it reaches our website and Petfinder.
Adoption events are required for dog fosters
At least one A&F event per month. It is the single highest-return hour you will spend on your foster's adoption.
Fell in love? Foster parents have first rights to adopt their own foster, as long as you meet our adoption requirements. It's called a foster fail and nobody here treats it as a failure.
Questions people actually ask
Food, litter, bedding, age-appropriate supplies, and all authorized veterinary care are covered by A&F. You provide the space, the time, the transportation to approved appointments, and the love. If money is the only thing standing between you and fostering, tell us — it shouldn't be.
Roughly two months on average. Medical recoveries, seniors, and certain breeds often stay longer. Respite and sleepover placements can be a single weekend. We tell you the expected window before you commit, and we tell you honestly if it changes.
Yes, if you meet A&F's adoption requirements. Foster parents get first choice.
No — most of our fosters do. Your pets need to be current on vaccines, and you need to be able to separate animals by a closed door or gate. We factor your resident pets into every match, and there are plenty of placements specifically suited to homes with other animals.
Yes, for the right placement. Many adult cats, seniors, and settled adult dogs do fine with a working schedule and a crate. What doesn't work with a full-time away-from-home job is bottle babies, young puppies, or an active medical case needing dosing every few hours. Be honest about your hours and we'll match accordingly.
No. Our adoption team identifies and screens qualified applicants. But your input on whether a match is right matters a great deal, and referrals from your friends and family are welcome — they just go through the same application process as everyone else.
Tell us early — not the week before. For short trips we can usually arrange a temporary foster-sitter. You can also have a friend or family member cover, but they'll need to complete a quick foster application and be approved first. What we can't do is absorb a foster animal back on 48 hours' notice when we're full, so advance notice is genuinely the whole thing here.
You will get attached. That's not a bug, it's the reason you're good at this. Most fosters describe the goodbye as bittersweet and then immediately ask who's next, because the empty space in your home is the only reason the next animal gets a chance. And if the goodbye is truly impossible with this particular one, you have first rights to adopt.
Crating your foster dog while you're away is required. Formal crate training beyond that isn't, but we promote it strenuously — especially in homes with resident dogs. A crate-trained dog is safer, easier to place, and better prepared for vet stays and travel. The crate is a safe haven, never a punishment.
Then you tell us, and we work out a plan together. Trying it and discovering it isn't your fit is a completely respectable outcome, and it still helped an animal in the meantime. What we ask is that you communicate instead of going quiet.
Everything else lives in the Foster Library
This page is the quick tour. The Foster section of our Behavior & Training Library is the full playbook — step-by-step guides, the printable packets, and the groups where fosters help each other. It’s free, it works on your phone, and it’s worth bookmarking before your first placement.
Fostering is not about being perfect. It is about being present.
Your yes doesn't have to look like anyone else's.
It might be one night. It might be a weekend. It might be a bottle baby at 2 a.m. or a senior dog who just needs a couch and six quiet weeks. Every one of those is the whole world to the animal it happens to. ❤️🐾🏡
With kindness, dignity, and respect.
Thank you for helping us say yes to those who need it most.
Always & Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary • No Kill. No Kennel. All Love.
Detailed medical, infectious-disease, behavior, and emergency protocols live in the Foster Library and the packets it links to. Placement requirements are set per animal and communicated before pickup.