Foster

Everything you physically need to care for your foster, like crates, food, bowls, toys, veterinary care, and more, will be provided by the rescue. We ask that you personally provide transportation to any necessary veterinary visits or events, as well as love, time, and patience while your foster pet lives in your home.

The most important part of your job as a foster will be to help introduce your foster animal to a home environment by giving him/her some basic training, socialization, and lots of love. You will also be expected to arrange and provide transportation to and from any of your foster animal’s necessary veterinary visits, as decided by your foster manager. These visits may be routine or emergent. Help with transportation may be provided after coordinating with your foster manager.

You will be responsible for writing a biography and for providing good photos of your foster animal to use on their adoption profile. These items are extremely important in getting people excited to meet and potentially adopt your foster!

You will also be required to help with the adoption process. For more information on what this process looks like, please view the “What role does a foster play in the adoption process?” FAQ toggle.

When a potential adopter submits an adoption application for your foster animal, one of the rescue’s Adoption Application Managers will send you the applicant’s information via email. You are expected to contact the applicant via email, phone, or virtual visit to discuss your foster animal to see if the animal is a good fit for the applicant.As a foster, it is your job to be an advocate for your foster animal. Please go over your animal’s behaviors, habits, routine, and quirks – the good, the bad, and the ugly! Applicants rely nearly exclusively on the information you provide to determine if the animal they are interested in is actually a good fit for their family dynamic.

If it is decided that the animal in question may be a good fit, a meet and greet should be arranged. This meeting can be performed at a location of mutual choosing, including your home, the applicant’s home, or a neutral location such as a public park or pet store. It is up to you to determine a location for a meet and greet that your animal is comfortable with.

The animals Ruff Start takes into rescue come from many locations, including:

• Local impounds like Minneapolis Animal Care and Control (MACC), St. Paul Animal Control (SPAC), Princeton Animal Clinic, Pets Under Police Security in Maple Grove (PUPS), etc.
• Humane societies like Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley
• Owners throughout the state of Minnesota who surrender their animals for reasons like moving, financial distress, or change in family situation
• Found strays who have been put on an appropriate “stray hold” with no owner found
• Out of state partner impounds or animal controls in southern states like Texas, who are run rampant with pet overpopulation
• Reservation Partners

Because of their wide variety of origin, sometimes it is difficult for our intake representatives to know key details about foster animals. We will do our best to communicate their backgrounds and specific needs to you, allowing you to choose which animals you feel may be a good fit in your home.

All Ruff Start fosters receive the following care:

• Age-appropriate core vaccinations like distemper and rabies
• Alteration surgery (spay/neuter)
• Microchip implantation
• Deworming
• Preventative blood work (heartworm testing for dogs and puppies over nine months of age; FeLV/FIV testing for cats and kittens)
• Flea/tick preventative

Case-by-case basis care is also provided, including:

• Routine blood work
• Symptomatic care for sickness, like upper respiratory and urinary tract infections, kennel cough, and parvo
• Heartworm treatment
• Fecal examinations
• Specialty surgical procedures, including but not limited to dental cleanings and extractions, lump removals, amputations, and exploratories

All care is provided by Ruff Start Rescue and its partner veterinary facilities; no expense (beyond travel expenses) falls upon foster families.

Yes! As a foster home it is up to you to decide which animal(s) you bring into your home.

As a foster, it is up to you to provide care for your foster animal until it finds its adoptive home. The amount of time a foster animal may spend in rescue varies, but most animals reside in foster homes anywhere from one week to three months. In rare cases, animals may spend more than half a year with their foster families.

Absolutely! We have many foster homes that would be willing to watch your animal for you while you are away. We just request ample notice to ensure we can match your foster animal up with a good fitting home while you are gone.

Yes! We have many foster homes who are only interested or able to temporarily foster animals whose primary fosters are gone for the weekend or experiencing similar circumstances. Please note this in your foster application so we can ensure you get matched up with the appropriate animals after you are approved.

Because our animals come from a multitude of places, they may have unknown histories – making it possible they are not medically up-to-date. Because of this, we ask that you keep all foster animals away from resident pets until they have had the opportunity to be checked over by the Ruff Start veterinary staff or an approved veterinary clinic. These visits are coordinated by either the Ruff Start intake team (for example, during a large transportation) or your foster manager.

To best ensure your resident animals’ safety, please be certain they are up-to-date on their core (rabies and distemper) vaccinations and flea/tick preventatives. The rescue also recommends resident animals have bordetella (dogs) and feline leukemia (cats) vaccinations as these are conditions that are easily transmitted between animals.

Absolutely, as long as we aren’t currently processing multiple adoption applications for your foster animal!