Foster a Pet

Your home is just a stop along the way, but for them it's where everything changes. A few days or a few months, makes a lifetime of difference.

How Fostering Works Browse Foster-Ready Pets

THE NEED IS REAL

Why Foster?

Fostering is one of the most direct ways to save an animal’s life. While in your care, a foster animal receives essential socialization, learns to trust again, and heals – both physically and emotionally. Your home becomes a crucial step on their journey to adoption.

You’ll gain insight into an animal’s personality and behavior, helping us find the perfect forever home. And you’ll be part of something bigger: a community of foster families supporting the Pennsylvania SPCA’s lifesaving mission.

The PSPCA provides the animal. You provide the love.

Our Foster Programs

Whatever your schedule, space, or experience level, there's a foster program built for you — and an animal waiting for it.

Puppies

For puppies, a foster home isn't just preferred - it's where they belong. Going into a foster home protects them from the stress and illness that a shelter environment can bring. After they've grown big and strong, you can continue fostering until they find their forever home - or return them to us when you're ready.
Kittens

Kittens are one of the most vulnerable populations in shelters. As a kitten foster, you'll be assigned a volunteer case manager, gain hands-on training, and have access to our foster community for support.
Nursing Moms

Nursing moms and their babies need a calm, safe space to grow and thrive. The number of open foster homes directly equals the number of neonatal animals we're able to properly help. Fosters receive hands-on training and a volunteer case manager for support.
Medical Needs Animals

Some animals need time to recover from illness or injury outside the shelter environment. All medical care is provided by the PSPCA; foster parents simply provide a quiet home for rest and healing.
Behavioral Needs Animals

Cats and dogs working through fear, reactivity, or under-socialization often need more time and structure than a shelter can offer. In a foster home, they can build confidence at their own pace — with support from our behavior team every step of the way.
Couch Potato Program

A short-term foster experience — just a few days in your home helps us learn a dog's true personality in a real-world setting, so we can make better adoption matches.
We Rescue Them All

Horses, pigs, rabbits, birds, and more — if they need us, we're there. Sometimes that means they need a foster home too.
Protective Custody

These animals are caught in legal limbo — seized by Animal Law Enforcement and awaiting their day in court. Fostering gives them a home instead of a kennel while they wait.
Unicorn Fosters

Dogs who are large, can't live with children, and can't live with other pets. These animals truly are so special and deserve their time to shine!

Foster Questions Answered

Everything you need to know before bringing a foster home — and if we missed something, we’re just an email away at foster@pspca.org.

Nothing! The PSPCA provides supplies including food (dry and wet), crates, toys, litter, litter boxes, medications, and other basic supplies you may need. We also provide free veterinary care, behavioral support, and adoption services for all foster animals. All you need to provide is a loving home.

Protective Custody (PC) animals are part of an open court case — they’ve been seized by our Animal Law Enforcement team but aren’t ours to adopt out yet. Because of that, PC fostering works a little differently: these pets need to stay in Pennsylvania, aren’t promoted for adoption or shared on social media while their cases are open, and all their care is provided through PSPCA. It’s often a longer-term commitment, but it means an animal spends that time in a real home instead of a kennel. PC fostering is open to fosters who’ve already fostered with us before, live in PA, and pass a background check.

It varies by program — anywhere from a few days (our Couch Potato Program) to several months (Protective Custody fosters awaiting a court decision). Medical Needs fosters typically last as long as recovery takes, whether that’s a short adjustment period or ongoing care. Puppies and kittens need fostering until they’re old enough for adoption, typically around 8 weeks. Your foster team will walk you through what to expect for your specific placement.

Yes — browse the pets currently listed who need a foster, or tell us the types of animals you’re most interested in, from nursing moms and orphaned kittens to large dogs and animals like rabbits, birds, or farm animals. Either way, our foster team will help match you based on your preferences, experience level, and home environment.

You’ll be paired with a foster support manager for guidance throughout your foster’s stay, plus access to a community of fellow foster families to lean on. We’re here to help with supplies, questions, and anything else that comes up along the way.

Contact our foster team right away — veterinary care for your foster pet is provided by our shelter’s veterinary staff at no cost to you. For urgent needs, your foster support manager and our medical team are just a call away.

Foster parents bring their foster pet to and from scheduled vet visits, adoption events, and other appointments. If an emergency comes up, your foster support manager is there to help — you’re never navigating it alone.

Life happens — if you’re ever unable to continue fostering, even temporarily, just reach out to your foster support manager. We’ll help make arrangements, which may include returning your foster pet to us.

Foster parents get the first chance to adopt their foster pet — you already know them better than anyone. If adopting isn’t the right fit, you can also help match your foster with an adopter yourself; the photos, notes, and behavior insight you gather at home often help them find their family faster. The adoption itself is always finalized with our team.