Glaswegians are being asked to consider welcoming a rescue animal into their home by signing up as a foster carer.
The Scottish SPCA has launched an appeal for new volunteers after fostering was initially piloted during the first lockdown in March 2020 when animals were unable to be rehomed. The scheme proved so successful that it was then trialled on a larger scale at the Dunbartonshire Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre in December 2021.
Now, the fostering scheme has rolled out across the west of Scotland and the charity is looking for even more loving foster families to care for animals from their Glasgow, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire centres.
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Scottish SPCA animal fostering coordinator, David McBeth, said: “We’d be delighted if some of Scotland’s animal lovers would sign up to foster for us. We have roles fostering either dogs or cats and we’ll work with fosterers to find animals suited to their homes and level of experience.
“Introducing this scheme will give even more animals the chance to recuperate in a stable home environment rather than kennels, which in turn frees our kennel space up for urgent cases of animals in need.
“Fostering can be beneficial for animals for many reasons whether that’s taking an animal out of kennels who finds the environment too stressful, allowing an animal a quiet place to recover from medical treatment or helping rehabilitate an animal with behavioural issues.
“It’s incredibly rewarding for the people involved too as you’re helping an animal recover from a difficult time in their life and get ready to find a new forever home. All food and any veterinary treatment for the animal will be provided by us.
“If anyone is unsure about fostering we’d urge them to give it a go. You’ll be making a huge difference to the life of an animal and our team will be here every step of the way to support you.”
Anyone interested in fostering for the Scottish SPCA can find more details and apply via the website.
The fostering scheme has helped find forever homes for multiple animals rescued by the charity, including Scarlet, a German shepherd and Rottweiler cross, and Austin, who was only three months old when he was rescued as a sick, stray kitten.
Scarlet
Scarlet came into the care of the Scottish SPCA with her sisters Buddy and Jade. Jade was fostered out to a member of the public a few weeks after arriving while Buddy was fostered by a member of staff as she was very nervous and struggling to adapt to life in kennels.
While Scarlet was a very outgoing girl, she would get over stimulated and mouthed a lot, which could be quite painful. The Scottish SPCA did find her a fosterer but sadly she was brought back as they struggled to deal with her mouthing.
Scarlet was quite depressed when she came back so the team member who fostered Buddy decided to take her home to be with her sister until she could be rehomed.
Being with Buddy and her foster family’s other dogs helped Scarlet immensely. She became much less mouthy as she had the other dogs to play with and loved cuddling up with Buddy too. Her foster carer was also able to toilet train her, which helps dogs get rehomed much faster.
Jade's foster family kept her, and the staff member fostering Buddy decided to keep her too, but the charity still needed to rehome Scarlet. The team learnt that Jade's family was looking to rehome another dog so they phoned them and suggested Scarlet. They went on to rehome her and she now has the forever home she deserves alongside one of her sisters.
Austin
Austin the cat was fostered by one of the Scottish SPCA’s inspectors after he was found as a sick, stray kitten.
He was only three months old and was so weak and underweight that the wind kept blowing him over.
Austin had haematomas on both his ears and was in extremely poor condition. After an initial visit to a private vet, he was admitted into the charity's veterinary clinic the next day as it was discovered he also had an injured leg and gastro intestinal problems too.
The inspector who rescued him would go in to visit almost every day, and Austin loved being made a fuss over. Because he needed so much rehab before he could be rehomed, the inspector decided to foster him.
Austin recovered much more quickly in a home environment than he would have in the cattery. He also learned to get used to living in a house, in addition to living with the household’s other two resident rescue cats.
Once he was fully recovered, the inspector found they couldn’t part with him and decided to rehome him. Despite a terrible start in life, fostering helped him to not only survive but thrive. He’s still going strong 13 years later!
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