About Fostering
The LA Animal Services Foster program is for kittens, puppies, cats and adult dogs. As long as you can give some love and time to these orphaned animals, any animal you take in will benefit from foster care! For pets, there is no place like home, even if it's only for a couple of days or a few months. Fostering allows our canine companions and feline friends to thrive in a home setting where they are less stressed and can benefit from additional socialization. So whether you're a dog person or a cat person, LA Animal Services has a fostering opportunity for you!
If you have the time and can allocate some space in your home for puppies or kittens, here are the steps to follow:
- Identify one to three animals you may want to foster by viewing the animals on our website and get their Animal ID number or A# (example:A1234567). Each shelter location has a list of animals available for fostering.
- Email the Lifesaving/Foster Liaison at ani.foster@lacity.org with your completed foster application (if you have not fostered before) with:
- the Animal ID number(s) of the pets you want to meet.
- Please select one and only one shelter location on your application. (You will still be able to foster from any location regardless of what you select)
- A scan or photo of your current photo ID. If your current address is not shown on the ID, please also include another form of address verification (picture of mail received, utility bill, etc.)
- We will contact you once your application is reviewed to schedule an appointment.
Already an approved foster? Please contact your lifesaving or volunteer liaison.
Each year, kittens and puppies are born with no one to take care of them. Most humane organizations cannot take care of underage puppies and kittens because they do not have the personnel to provide the special attention for these little ones. They need people who are willing to raise the puppies and kittens until they are 8 to 10 weeks old when they can be returned to the shelter to be spayed or neutered and placed in permanent homes.
At LA Animal Services, our ability to take in these abandoned animals is directly dependent on the number of reliable foster volunteers we have waiting to take these babies home to raise. We believe foster homes are the future of lifesaving. The more foster volunteers we have, the more lives we can save.
Our foster volunteers are a rugged group of very caring people who do everything from bottle feeding orphaned babies around the clock, to socializing little ones to ensure that they look forward to human and animal interaction. The foster volunteers provide care, safety and love.
It will be a labor of love that will leave you with great memories to cherish long after your foster animals have been placed into permanent loving homes.
You can foster a pet like Wilma A2135308 today, here on the right.
LA Animal Services will offer you as much training as you need to help you foster Bottle Baby Kittens. Help from our staff is just a phone call away. Each of our foster parents are provided training in Baby Bottle Feeding of kittens and puppies.
Essential Information for the care of kittens 8 weeks of age and under can be found in our Kitten Bottle Baby Care Manual.
LA Animal Services would love to have your school, office, company, or business become a virtual foster of one of our animals!
You'll place these pets in your marketing materials and on your social media platforms. They can become team mascots, office dogs or cats, or become an organizational goal to get the fostered pet adopted.
Sign up today at laanimalservices.com/virtualfoster
We look forward to hearing from you!
Foster parenting can be more flexible than other volunteer jobs that require people to show up for a specific shift during limited times of the day and for a committed length of time. LA Animal Services Foster program is flexible, fun and rewarding once you’re learned how to take care of your temporary companion animals! Here are more resources for first-time foster parents.
Essential Information for the care of kittens 8 weeks of age and under. Download our Kitten Bottle Baby Care Manual.
The successful rearing of motherless puppies requires a regular schedule of appropriate feedings, elimination, playing and sleeping, all in a safe and healthy environment. Learn to adequately care for puppies.
