“I don’t know how you do it”

“I don’t know how you do it. If I fostered I would keep them all.”

This is a phrase I hear all the time when I talk about fostering. It’s one of the most used excuses for not wanting to foster, in my experience at least. I’ll explain later how I do it, but I thought I’d show you why I do it:

This is Ava, my six year old calico that I rescued while living in St. Louis. She was six months old when I found her, staring at me from a cage in a local PetSmart. She was the first cat I saw, and I knew instantly that we were made for each other. Beside her is Stryker, my one and only “failed foster.” He spent the first six months of his life fending for himself on the streets. He only came into my home by chance – I had another foster driving Ava crazy, so I asked if I could bring in another foster to distract from Ava. He took 45 minutes to get into a carrier (and 4 people); spent two days living under my bed; day three, I called the president of the rescue I was fostering for and told her this cat was mine. Both Ava and I knew he was the one to expand our family.

Ava and Stryker are why I foster. If someone had not rescued them, I would not have my furry little family. Now that I am in the position to do so, I want to give back. I want to make sure everyone gets their Ava and Stryker.

“How do you do it? How do you let go?”

Letting go is the best part of fostering. Bonding with your fosters is common, especially when you get those special cases – the shy cats, the ones brought back from the brink of death. However, as a foster, you get to watch that cat create a bond with a potential adopter. It’s generally an instant connection – you will see it in the face of both the cat and the adopter. “That’s the one for me.” Just like when I saw Ava, an adopter will meet your foster and say “that’s my new family member.”

Letting go is the best part of fostering. As much as I have loved many of my fosters, I love creating the moment I had with my Ava and Stryker.

This is why I foster, and this is how I let go. Below are my four current fosters. If I hadn't let the previous fosters go on to their forever homes, these cats could not of been saved:

Becky, 1 year, shy around strangers, I’ve been the last 9 months working with her She spent the first six months of her life outside with her mom and siblings. She came in deemed as “feral,” but after a lot of trust building, wants nothing more than to be pet.

Pepsi spent her first week with us hiding in a wall. She came from a hoarding situation and had very little contact with humans. Now she’s sweet, playful, and will do anything for pets.

Claudia is a little nervous nelly. She doesn’t quite know how to react to changes in her environment, but is good at following the cues from other cats. Once she trusts you, she is an absolute sweetheart who will follow your hand to ensure you can easily pet her.

Wendall is quite the homebody. Every day after work, he greets his foster mom with a hug.

These are my fosters, and just a few of the many cats in our system looking for a forever home. Until then, they will remain much loved guests in the home of myself, Ava and Stryker. I foster so that these four cats, and the many others who have been guests in my home, have the chance for a better life.

-Diana, foster mom for 2 years, co-founder of Broken Tail Rescue

Fostering - A Rewarding Experience For The Whole Family

I know many people are hesitant to foster a dog or cat because they feel they will be attached to the animal and not able to let them go, or they feel that their children may not be able to see the animal off to another home or they have hesitations about bringing rescue dogs into their home with their children.  I thought I would share my foster experience as a mother of a young child.

My daughter and I have been fostering dogs since she was 4 years old.  It has been a great experience for both of us.  Fostering has taught my daughter compassion, generosity and educated her in animal welfare at a young age.  She loves all of the foster dogs that have come through our home and understands we are their temporary home until we can find them their forever home.  She loves that she is involved in helping the dogs find their happy ending and while it is sad to see them go - picking our next foster dog is always fun for her!  I've always explained it to her that letting this one dog go allows us to save many more that would otherwise be homeless.  

Here she is having a blast bathing our foster dog Charley at BYOD in Newton

My first foster dog was named Polly.  We drove out to an animal control facility on the South Shore to meet her.  Her time was up and she was due to be euthanized the following day.  I had my own dog in tow to ensure a successful meeting between the two.  As soon as I laid eyes on this little piglet looking pitbull I knew I could not leave her behind.  She was so sweet and happy to be out of her kennel.  She adored my daughter and the two dogs got along great.  After a temperment evaluation was conducted and little Polly passed with flying colors into the car she went and on our way home we were.  

Fostering Polly was a learning experience and I will admit I thought I was in over my head as I'm sure many first time fosters feel, you have a new dog in your house, the dogs may not get along perfectly at first, there may be some potty accidents in the house as your foster dog learns your routine, you may have to feed the dogs separate to prevent any guarding of their food, you may have to pick all the toys up for dogs that don't share well.  I was overwhelmed the first two days with my new foster dog but we all quickly adjusted and I am so happy I did not give up on Polly - if I had I would not have continued fostering and who knows what the fate of my future fosters would have been.

This is Polly - the little girl that started it all

Fostering after Polly was much easier, we had established a routine and learned a few things along the way.  In the past  2 1/2 years fostered I have fostered over 25 adult dogs and 50 puppies.  This is why it is easy for me to let them go, all these dogs I have fostered would have been euthanized had I adopted one of my foster dogs and not been able to take them into my home.  It is comforting knowing your foster is going to a wonderful home and enabling you can save another that would otherwise not have a chance at a loving family.

One of the perks of fostering for me is that my dog always has a playmate.  They occupy each other and give each other much more exercise and stimulation than I can provide on a daily basis.  If you have a dog that loves to play with other dogs I am sure you will find that fostering is beneficial to your dog as well.

One of my most rewarding fosters was Milo, a young pitbull with a hip injury that had been left untreated for some time.  Milo stayed with me for 3 months.  He was hard to find a home for because he wasn't "perfect".  He was the sweetest dog ever and loved other dogs, cats and kids.  He had FHO surgery to correct his hip and we went through doggie rehabilitation, yes really - we did water rehab!  Milo was finally adopted to a wonderful home and despite the fact that he had surgery he does everything a "perfect" dog can do with his adopters.  Such a happy ending to a dog that otherwise would not have had a chance.

Here is a picture of Milo with my daughter

Milo was not my only foster with orthopedic issues.  Lily, a 10 week old puppy that had severe congenital hip dysplasia was abandoned at an animal hospital on the North Shore by her owners.  Broken Tail Rescue took her in and she had the recommended surgery to correct the the dysplasia and now is coming up to her 1st birthday.  I received an update from her adoptive parents just the other day.  This makes it all worth while.

Hi Trish,

Just wanted to touch base to let you know how Stella (formerly known
as Lily) is doing as she comes up on her first birthday. She's 41lbs
now and absolutely awesome. She's a happy, active, adaptable pup. She
is a major love bug and we can't get enough of her. She has no
hang-ups and we can go anywhere and do anything with her. She even
likes swimming! There's no way we could have imagined how much love
she would bring into our lives when we adopted her last October. It
was kismet that we found her.

Yesterday a photographer was taking pictures out at Jonah's shop and
he fell in love with Stella. He snapped some gorgeous shots of her. I
thought I'd pass one along to you and the Broken Tails team. If you
want to use it in the "happy tails" section of the website please feel
free.

Take care,
Anne

We have also had our share of foster puppies!  As you can imagine they are super cute and fun to foster.  Here are some photos of the some of pups that have come through our doors:

All in all fostering has been a rewarding experience for me, my child and for all the dogs we have been able to help find their way.  Our life would not be the same without them!

Please consider fostering , we promise you won't regret it.

-Patricia - Co founder of Broken Tail Rescue

Welcome To Our Foster Blog!

Broken Tail Rescue has a wonderful network of foster homes that have opened their homes and hearts and saved the lives of many deserving cats and dogs.  Foster homes are the staple of Broken Tail Rescue and we thought a blog would be the perfect way for them to share their stories with you!

We are always in need of new foster homes to join us in our mission of preventing adoptable animals from being euthanized.  We hope our foster parents stories will show you what a rewarding and heartwarming experience fostering is.  We hope you enjoy this blog and please think about opening your home temporarily to a rescue dog or cat!

To get started or for more information visit our foster home page!