Become a foster home

Would you like to help us find new homes for animals and make their wait for a home as pleasant as possible? One way to do this is by providing a foster home as a volunteer. Each year we care for around 4,000 animals in our shelters and foster homes across Estonia. We could not do it without caring, helpful and dedicated volunteers who donate hundreds of hours of their time and energy to us every year.

What is a foster home?
Being a foster home (or foster family or temporary home) means caring for an animal, generally until it can begin its search for a new home at the shelter. Becoming a foster home is 100% voluntary work and brings no material reward, other than the feeling that you have done something for those in need. Becoming a foster home should be carefully considered and not done on a first impulse.

The foster home programme of Varjupaikade MTÜ is intended for animals that cannot, for some reason (usually the animal's health, young age, etc.), currently be rehomed. Most often, the animals spending time in foster homes are cats that need special care or do not get along with other cats. Successfully providing a foster home requires a compassionate nature, an understanding attitude from all family members and from the owner of your home (if you live in rented accommodation), flexibility and a knowledge of the basics of animal behaviour. If you or a member of your family have immune system disorders or allergies, consult a doctor before becoming a foster home. You should also bear in mind that animals placed in foster care often need more attention than other animals. By offering your time, energy and home to an animal in need as a foster family, you help prepare the animal for the move to its forever home.

Varjupaikade MTÜ shelter staff approve foster home applicants where suitable. Shelter staff may remove an animal from a foster home for any reason whenever they consider it necessary.

How long should you provide a foster home?

The length of time a foster home is provided is individual for each foster home. There is no point in moving an animal from one place to another for just a couple of days, as this causes additional stress to animals that have already suffered. If unforeseen problems arise for the foster home, another foster home can of course be found for the animal, or if one cannot be found, the animal can move back to the shelter. Before moving back, however, the animal must definitely have received the combination vaccine, and it must have taken effect for at least two weeks, in order to avoid the animal possibly becoming infected.

Which animal comes to the foster home and how many animals should you foster?

The shelter decides which animals need a foster home. There is no point in sending all animals to foster homes. A foster home cannot choose the animal itself; instead, a decision is made according to the foster home's capacity and the possibilities in the foster home, depending on whether there are children living in the foster home, how many other pets there are, and whether the foster home has previous experience of keeping or treating animals, and so on. The foster home chooses whether to offer a temporary home to one or several animals. The animals sent to foster homes are those that need daily treatment (home life speeds up recovery), have behavioural problems (aggressive or timid, because an aggressive animal is stressed by too much company, while a timid one socialises more quickly in a home environment among people) or unvaccinated young animal(s) and others for whom it is dangerous to be at the shelter due to a possible risk of infection.

For example:

  • Kittens or puppies that are too young or immature for adoption
  • Animals that need to get more used to people before adoption
  • Older animals that are used to a quieter and more comfortable home than the shelter can provide
  • Injured, sick or animals recovering from surgery
  • Abandoned and mistreated animals that need extra love and care
  • Animals suffering from so-called shelter stress
  • Animals that have recently given birth
  • Any animal, in the event of shelter overcrowding.

Where does the foster home get all the necessary supplies?

The shelter offers the foster family its comprehensive support, including taking care of veterinary procedures, pet supplies and, if necessary, providing the food needed.

The borrowing of all supplies must be agreed in advance with the shelter's contact person, who records them in an annex to the foster home agreement.

If the animal needs treatment urgently, the foster home contacts its contact person at the shelter.

All animals go to their new home once they have received parasite treatment, are vaccinated and microchipped and have a passport. Where their age allows, they are spayed or neutered.

The administering of medicines and veterinary procedures are carried out only by agreement with the shelter's contact person. If the foster home wishes to pay for food, litter, medicines and services itself, it can of course do so, but the shelter must definitely be informed of this.

The foster home's tasks

The foster home feeds, waters, cares for, socialises and treats the animal in its care. The foster home cooperates in every way with the shelter in finding the animal a new home. The foster home provides the most important thing of all: time, care and love. Previous treatment experience is not required, but you must have enough courage and initiative if you take in an injured animal or one with special needs. In such cases, the shelter provides precise instructions.

The foster home's main task is to provide the animal with a stable environment where the animal can recover from its previous bad experiences and illnesses, and where it is possible to get to know the animal's character and thereby find a suitable home for it.

The foster home's second task is to take the loveliest possible photos of the animal and write a characterful account of the animal's development and its adventures, and send this to their contact person, who posts it on the website.

When the animals have found a home

When the animals have been sent back to the shelter or to a new home and the foster home no longer wishes to take in new charges, the foster home should return, at the first opportunity, the litter trays, food bowls, transport crate and so on borrowed from the shelter, because new animals and new foster homes need these things.

Before you decide to become a foster home, think through these things:

  • Are you able to keep your personal animals separate from the foster animals? A separate room or space without carpeting is best for this. A new family member could be a potential health risk to your existing animals. Your personal animals must be vaccinated with the rabies and combination vaccines. It would be good if your existing animals are not very old or very young.
  • Cleaning up and destruction. Cleaning up after animals is a big job. In addition, animals in a new and confusing situation may cause destruction and damage. You can prepare for this, but you cannot prevent it one hundred per cent.
  • Can you quickly transport the animal to a vet if necessary? If something happens to the animal's health, it needs to be transported as quickly as possible either to the shelter or to our partner clinic.
  • Are you emotionally ready to return the animal to the shelter? Letting go can be very hard once you have formed an emotional bond with the animal. Be ready for tears and heartbreak when your first foster charges are ready to go to their new homes. But remember that they find a new home precisely thanks to you!
  • Do you trust the decisions of the shelter staff? Sometimes it is not possible to rehome an animal even after it has been in a foster home. When we are forced to euthanise an animal, it is tremendously hard for all of us.
  • Foster animals go through the same rehoming process as the animals at the shelter. If you find a potential new home for an animal that is in your foster care, all the procedures are exactly the same as for animals at the shelter. The prospective owner must fill in the animal adopter's application, talk to a member of the shelter staff, sign the transfer agreement and pay the transfer fee.

If you feel you are ready to provide a foster home for shelter animals:

On a smart device

  • download the Zelos app (Google Play App Store)
  • create yourself an account
  • type "Varjupaikade MTÜ hoiukodud" into the search box
  • fill in the joining application
  • you will receive a notification once the application has been reviewed

On a computer

After the administrator has approved your application, find the Tasks menu in the app or online and open the first task there: Reading the foster home handbook. Read through the handbook and, if you agree with the agreement set out at the end of the handbook and wish to start providing a foster home, then go back to Zelos, select "Sign up" next to the task and then press "Complete".

When new animals looking for a foster home are added to the foster home system, Zelos gives notice of this with a notification.

NB! Until the administrator has reviewed and approved your application, you will not see any tasks.

If becoming a foster home through Zelos seems too complicated, or you have another question relating to foster homes, please write to hoiukodu@varjupaik.ee or call tel. 56897495.