Smiling brown dog being hugged by happy woman

Fostering saves lives: Be a hero to a homeless pet

When you provide a foster home to an animal from Best Friends or a local shelter, you become part of a lifesaving team working to create a bright, healthy, and safe future for homeless dogs and cats around the country.

A shelter can be a noisy and stressful place, especially for shy and frightened animals. By providing a loving, quiet place for pets to learn and grow, you’re helping to alleviate the burden for a local shelter. 

When you foster a pet, you’re helping to save even more lives by freeing up space in shelters for additional animals. So what are you waiting for? Snuggles, silliness, fun, and friendship await!

Share your home with adorable bundles of love and fuzz

What to expect when you foster a pet

Fostering a pet is an easy, direct, and short-term way to make a lifetime of difference. It simply means temporarily opening your home to pets in need and giving them love and care while they wait to be adopted.

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Foster Volunteer Tasks

Typical responsibilities in the day of a pet foster caregiver include feeding, caring for, and socializing the pet (or pets) you’re fostering.

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Time Commitment

Fostering a pet is a flexible way to help make a difference in the lives of pets because you can foster a dog or cat for just a night or two — or for several weeks — depending on what works best for your lifestyle and schedule.

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Volunteer Requirements

Best Friends (and some shelters) can provide everything you need, including food, supplies, support, and veterinary care; you’ll just need to provide the love.

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Foster with Best Friends

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Foster to make more room for incoming pets at the Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.
Woman petting goats

Best Friends in Los Angeles

Fostering is an incredibly fun, fulfilling and personal way to help save homeless pets in LA.
White dog in front of mural

Best Friends in Salt Lake City

Prepare a pet for life in a home and alleviate the burden on shelters in Salt Lake City.
Two orange kittens in shelter

Best Friends in New York

Become part of a lifesaving team working to create a bright future for homeless pets in NYC.
Two dogs sitting together in city

Best Friends in Atlanta

Foster homes are essential for saving the lives of dogs and cats in Atlanta.
White and grey cat with blue eyes

Best Friends in Northwest Arkansas

Fostering is an easy, short-term, hands-on way to make a lifetime of difference for pets.
Brown dog wearing bandana

Best Friends in Houston

Houston embraces community-based sheltering and our foster volunteers are essential.
Black and white cat

Foster with Best Friends Programs and Partnerships 


No-Kill Los Angeles (NKLA)  •   No-Kill Utah (NKUT)  •   Brownsville, Texas •  Navajo Nation  •   Victoria, Texas

Best Friends partners with animal shelters around the country to save more lives. Not near one of our locations or programs? Foster for a Best Friends Network Partner in your community.
 

Smiling person relaxing on a bed with a cat

New to fostering?

Foster kittens are a great way to get started. Give us your email, and we’ll get you everything you need to know.
Get Started With Fostering

Still have questions? More about fostering »

Lifesaving tales of love and resilience

Meet a few of the amazing animals who've found healing and happiness because of caring foster volunteers.

Pawrie the French bulldog on a Home Sweet Home doormat

French bulldog goes from homeless to home

Pawrie the Frenchie came from a shelter to Best Friends with multiple medical issues, but a loving foster family helped him on his way to a new life.
It was love at first sight
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Hanjae the dog with Caroline Moss and Jeanhee Yu

A senior dog’s journey home

Hanjae was at a shelter with a life-threatening medical condition. Today she’s thriving in her new home.
Cat volunteer brings home a dog
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Lizel Allen with a brown tabby kitten on her shoulder

Foster caregiver drawn to cats with special needs

Lizel Allen has fostered 165 pets (and counting!) since 2014, and she still finds the work incredibly meaningful — and fun.
See how it became her passion
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Silhouette of two dogs, cat and kitten

More ways you can help the animals

As thousands of animals looking for families of their very own remain in shelters around the country, one of the most valuable gifts you can give them is your time.

Smiling person sitting on a couch with a cat next to them

Volunteer from home

From administrative and marketing roles to events and fostering, we have lifesaving volunteer opportunities suited for you and your interests.
See remote opportunities
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Volunteer at our animal sanctuary

Stroll with a dog, spruce up a rabbit run, or simply keep a shy cat company. There are plenty of ways to make a difference at our animal sanctuary.
See sanctuary opportunities
Person wearing Best Friends gear while hugging a dog

Volunteer in your community

There are countless opportunities to help save the lives of homeless pets, no matter where you live in the United States.
See opportunities near me