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Safe
Harbor Farm’s Fostering Policy
(see our fostering application below)
SHF strives to foster pets in
only the
most responsible homes.
A
responsible home provides:
- adequate
shelter (no dogs chained outside day-in, day-out)
- quality
nutrition (no generic pet foods with questionable protein sources)
- annual
examination of existing pets by a good veterinarian (with supportive
care and treatment as recommended)
- training!
(it’s unfair to expect any animals to follow your rules if you
haven’t spent the time to teach them those rules)
- total
flea control (ZERO tolerance for bugs… don’t let the first flea
in!)
- companionship
(dogs & cats are social animals, not pewter statues)
- adequate
supervision of animals when around children & strangers
Existing
animals in a responsible home are:
- spay-neutered!
- up-to-date
on their vaccines
- free
of fleas and mites
- FeLV
tested and vaccinated (cats)
- heartworm
tested and on preventative (dogs)
Fostering households should have on hand:
- Veterinary
records from all existing pets.
- Crate
suitable in size for the foster pet(s)
- Lots
of interactive toys
- Frontline,
Advantage or Revolution for flea control
- (cats)
extra litter pan (all cats do NOT like to share J)
- (cats)
L-lysine 500mg tablets (an amino acid good for the
immune system and available wherever vitamins are sold)
- (dogs)
chew toys
- (dogs)
leash
New foster homes should keep in mind:
- SHF wants to get to know its foster families. The best way to do
this is to volunteer a few days on site.
- Fostered animals
must be
kept available for viewing by screened adopters during reasonable times
with reasonable notice. This can be done at your place or at
SHF, whichever is most convenient for you.
- Fostered
animals must be brought to PetSmart for display, once or twice a month.
- ALL fostered animals must be
returned to SHF in the case that their primary foster cannot continue to
be the primary guardian.
- In some cases, veterinary
care provided to SHF foster-animals may extend to the other animals in a fosterer’s
household. This is NOT the
rule, however. It should be assumed that any veterinary care needed by an owned
animal resulting from the presence of a fostered animal will be the sole
responsibility of that animal’s owner.
- SHF will NOT reimburse ANY
veterinary expenses that do not have pre-approval by SHF’s director.
- SHF foster-pets may be fed Science Diets at a very low cost via Hill's
Shelter Partners Program. All arrangements must be made with SHF's
director. Beyond this, the cost of any other food or supplies will be
borne by foster families.
- Foster-parents are responsible for the outcome of ALL human-animal
interaction with their foster-pet, and they agree to hold SHF blameless
for such outcomes.
- Fosterers are not to travel
beyond a 50 mile radius with their foster-pets without prior approval of
the SHF director.
- SHF reserves the right to
repossess any fostered animal at any time for any reason.
- Fosterers may not
take in or adopt out
fostered animals on their own. ALL
surrenders and adoptions are strictly through and with the approval of SHF.
- Foster families may
certainly apply to adopt their foster-pet and, if
approved, may adopt him or her! The process is no different than that for non-fostering
families.
- Renters must include a copy of
their lease agreement and proof of paid pet deposit with their adoption
application.
- SHF reserves the right to
refuse fostering to anyone for any reason.
- SHF will never discriminate on
the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
Fostering households are encouraged to read anything by Pam
Johnson-Bennett
(Twisted Whiskers, Think Like
a Cat, Cat vs. Cat, Psycho Cat) & Brian Kilcommons (a
wonderful dog behaviorist).
Safe
Harbor Farm's fostering application
Interested
foster parents should schedule a day to volunteer at SHF prior to filling out
a fostering application, the better to get to know one another.
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