As the spread of COVID-19 shuttered schools and forced people to begin working at home in March, the Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) shelter, as well as the Richmond SPCA’s facility, closed to the public.
The two organizations put out a call online for area residents to take home as many animals as they could, within the groups’ guidelines, for fostering during the pandemic.
“The big-picture need is one, [to get] animals out of the shelter to make room for animals in immediate need of shelter, [and] two, reduced animal inventory — which equals the ability to reduce staff, which equals less exposure [to] COVID-19 for all,” says Christie Peters, RACC’s director.
People heeded the call. A few days later, 73 of the 141 animals in RACC’s facility had been placed in foster care. By mid-March, according to Tabitha Treloar, the Richmond SPCA’s director of communications, 40 people had stepped up to take animals into their homes.
Sarah Johnson responded to RACC’s call for fosters in mid-March and began to care for Coco in her home. She and her boyfriend have since fallen in love with the dog and recently adopted her. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Sarah Johnson and her boyfriend had been thinking about fostering a pet for a while, and Johnson says RACC’s Facebook post spurred the couple to act. “We made an appointment and went in and told them what we were looking for, but really, we were willing to take any animal because we knew they needed help,” she says. The couple met a 60-pound brown Pit-terrier mix in the visitation room and were smitten. They took the dog home to foster, and after a few weeks, signed adoption papers to make “Coco” theirs for good.
“She’s our missing piece,” Johnson says. “It’s weird to think she didn’t always live here. Our phones are already filled with pictures of her, and she has certainly made herself right at home.”
Even after Gov. Ralph Northam issued a stay-at-home order in late March, RACC found a way to continue to place animals in foster care via virtual meet-and-greets and delivery of pets to homes that were a good match.
The criteria for RACC’s foster parents include people who, of course, like animals, but also those who do not already have any pets because, Peters says, the shelter’s canine population is mostly made up of dogs that need to be the only pet in the home. The other requirement is that fosters cannot have traveled out of Virginia in the previous three weeks, as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus from other areas.
“[It] has nothing to do with capabilities of fosters,” Peters says, “just taking precautions to keep our staff safe.”
After applications and evaluations, meetings were initially set up by appointment only, to eliminate crowds congregating. Peters says hundreds of people had come forward, with over a dozen people each day scheduled to visit the shelter to pick up the animals in need. There is never a cost to foster. Dogs and cats were sent home with provisions, including crates and toys.
Fostering solves two problems, Peters says. “The staff can be off, and the animals get a social interaction with humans and get to be in a home. The stories [of people who foster animals] vary. Some people say, ‘I lost my dog’ or ‘I’m lonely.’ ”
For the humans, pets provide more than a fluffy, furry creature to love, “They help us get fresh air,” she says. “They make us get up and walk and exercise. They bring us closer to nature. They bring us companionship and love. They allow us to take care of them. It can be rewarding. Animals show us we have the capacity to love. They give us constant loving companionship. Fostering allows us to be a part of the solution.”
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Flash, pictured here on a run with SPCA volunteer Stephen Carter, is being fostered and is available for adoption. (Photo courtesy Pete Maxwell/Richmond SPCA)
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Connie Hartmann began fostering this kitten at the end of March. (Photo courtesy Connie Hartmann)
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Last year, Aris Sydnor fostered 14 puppies at one time, all rescued from the same home. “As long as we can financially handle helping and fostering these babies, we will never say no,” she says.“We want people to know there is a safe place for puppies to go.” (Photo courtesy Aris Sydnor)
Temporary Pet Placement
Fostering animals is an ongoing issue for animal-focused organizations, with RACC and the Richmond SPCA holding workshops throughout the year to show people how to master the necessary skills and knowledge. The SPCA works with municipal animal shelters in Richmond’s surrounding counties.
RACC’s requirements to foster vary by species and type of pet. For example, "bottle-baby" kittens require someone who can feed them every four hours, Peters says, whereas a hospice dog that has cancer just needs a comfy place to sleep until his last day comes. “There’s a very large range of requirements, but basically it’s basic care, sometimes medication and lots of love,” she says.
Last year, RACC found Richmonders willing to foster 2,500 of the 3,400 animals taken in by the shelter, with one of their most popular programs being their Thanksgiving holiday foster program.
In 2019, the Richmond SPCA cared for 4,091 pets, with 985 placed into foster care — 783 kittens and puppies and 202 adult dogs — with 219 foster volunteers caring for dogs and cats in their homes.
“With foster care, the SPCA provides supplies and training — all the things you need, including a crate for a dog, bottles and formula, blankets and towels, as well as training,” Treloar says, adding that pet food is included in the supplies provided. “The one obligation is to return for scheduled appointments. It could be surgery appointments or, for adult dogs, providing additional veterinary care. You may need to travel to specialists like an orthopedist. We need it if a pet has a long-term serious medical condition. It’s great to place a foster so that the animal has a little bit of experience being in a home.”
The organization C.A.R.E. (Cat Adoption and Rescue Efforts) has facilitated feline adoptions, rescues and fosters for nearly 20 years, focusing on cats from area rescue shelters — 8,000 total cats and kittens over its 20-year history, with 10 to 30 foster parents helping out at any one time. C.A.R.E. pays for medical care, including vaccinations, spaying and neutering. The organization also provides all supplies to the fostering families, including litter boxes and food.
Alice Key has fostered 100 kittens over the past four years. She posts photos and videos frequently on Instagram at @foster_kittens_rva.
Stress Relief — Mostly
In the time of the coronavirus, C.A.R.E. volunteer Amy Takoos says, fostering an animal can reduce stress: “Animals help people calm down. [Fostering] helps people extend themselves and care for something outside themselves. It’s great for kids to care for an animal. It makes them empathetic and more compassionate. Snuggling an animal lowers your blood pressure. Pets perceive peoples’ mood.”
Many who foster pets say their furry companions have offered a welcome distraction and a sense of comfort during the worldwide pandemic.
“If I get overwhelmed with what’s going on or am feeling like I can’t do anything to help, I snuggle my puppies, and they calm me enough to [let me] figure out what I can do to help,” says Aris Sydnor, a serial foster parent who was nurturing a litter of beagles in March. “Dogs and puppies are a huge de-stresser. They are always there with love or distractions to keep you from having an anxiety attack.”
Fostering animals in need also helps people prepare to deal with stress, says longtime C.A.R.E. foster parent Connie Hartmann.
“Many of us live with a relative high level of stress, anxiety and worry, especially when fostering kittens,” she says. “In a nice fairy-tale world, every kitten or cat that we take in is healthy. Unfortunately, this usually isn’t the case. A lot of kittens are sickly or are so young that they are already compromised. As a foster [caregiver], you stress quite a bit in getting them healthy and ready for adoption. So maybe being a foster prepares you to deal with higher levels of anxiety, as many live in that state day to day as we take care of a vulnerable population.”
German shepherd lover Cara Marshall’s dogs are all former fosters, sometimes known as “foster fails” because her attachment to them grew to the point where she could not let them go. “Being at home can drive you crazy, so I think being able to get out and get some sun is healthy, [and] walking your dog is a great way to do so and still stay away from people.”
When you see dogs in a kennel, Marshall says, you are not seeing their true personality.
“Our fosters learn so much about the pets they care for, and that experience in a home gives our adoption counselors information they can convey to potential adopters,” Treloar says. “Especially for pets who may be stressed in the shelter, knowing more about how they behaved in foster care can help adopters envision those pets as part of their own families.”
“Fostering allows us to be a part of the solution.” —Christie Peters, RACC Director
Alice Key has been fostering kittens for four and a half years, with her current litter bringing her to 100 kittens to date. Early in March, she received five 7-day-old bottle babies to foster. Key posts photos of her foster kittens at the @foster_kittens_rva Instagram feed, offering followers respite from the stress of bad news related to the coronavirus, something they seem to appreciate, based on comments left online, such as, “I’m not coping well with everything, and these little babies remind me of everything wonderful still happening,” or, “Such a sweet reminder of life while things all around feel so bleak.”
“I adore bottle babies, and seeing that we could likely be stuck inside for weeks, I figured I’d have plenty of time to devote to them,” Key says. “My 20-year-old daughter was sent home from college and is here taking her classes online. The kittens have been a wonderful distraction for us. Yes, they require round-the-clock feedings, pottying, laundry, etc. But they also provide comfort, entertainment and [a] sense of purpose.”
