Celebrating National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week
Monday, November 7, 2011
By: Deborah Kern

As we celebrate "National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week", we honor our volunteers and foster home families by spotlighting the animals that need care outside of the shelter.

The Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV) helps thousands of homeless animals find caring homes every year.  Many of the pets that come into the shelter will spend time in one of our caring foster homes. Typically pets that need foster care fall into these categories:

• Too young/small to be placed for adoption and they need time to grow
• No room for them at the shelter
• Have had surgery and need quiet time to heal
• Have a medical concern that can be cared for best in a home environment
• Need consistent training to work on a manageable behavior modification program
• Simply need a break from the shelter because they have been here too long
• Can’t relax and are stressed in a shelter environment and must be adopted from a foster home

As we celebrate "National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week”, we honor our volunteers and foster home families by spotlighting the animals that need care outside of the shelter.

Last year over 1,400 pets needed foster care for varying lengths of time. We can’t imagine the fate of these animals without the families that give countless hours and their own homes to care for our communities homeless pets. A simple thank you is never enough.

While most animals will spend about one to four weeks in foster care, some will require a far longer commitment.  These are the pets that fall into the last category from our list above. If you have paid attention over the last year to the list of adoptable animals on our web-site, no doubt you have become familiar with certain names - like Carolina, Starly, Natalie, Iceland and Willow. They have been waiting for a home of their own for months and a handful of them for over a year.

Our “Pets-of-the-Week” are all animals that are in foster care now. Please take a moment to read their stories, or better yet, email us at fosters@hshv.org and tell us you would like to meet them. You can also visit our adoptable animals lsit and see all the the pets that are in foster care. Adopting a pet from foster care helps HSHV in so many ways, but the best reason is that it opens a foster home so they can care for another pet that needs their help!

If you or your family would like to be considered as a foster home (you will need to pass certain guidelines), please sign-up for the next open volunteer orientation.