Kamloops SPCA urgently seeking more foster volunteers

“We’re pretty much always recruiting for fosters for everything. Mums and kittens are a big one, puppies are also a big one… The main push is just because it is summer, which is usually when we see a much higher number of kittens coming into care.” Daria Evans, Kamloops SPCA manager says.

While fostering gives the shelters much extra room for incoming animals, the biggest benefit is for the outgoing animals themselves. Young puppies and kittens spend some of the most important weeks of their development learning how to interact with the world around them.

“Especially with puppies and kittens when they’re under eight weeks old. That is a really key time for their socialization. We just don’t have the ability to expose them to all those things in the shelter,” Dana Coulter, an animal care supervisor with the SPCA says. “Oftentimes if an animal has to spend a long time in the shelter and they’re quite young, they’ll develop some behavioral problems later on in life that could be avoided if the proper socialization is done when they’re at that critical age.”

The SPCA covers food, supplies and vet care, meaning that foster volunteers simply need to focus on providing their animal with a safe home until ready for adoption.

For staff such as Coulter, the responsibility quickly turned into a best friend.

“We had this cat who was on crate rest for having two back broken legs and he ended up in a wire crate in the middle of our intake room because we had completely run out of kennels. So I figured if he has to be in a wire crate in the shelter, he might as well come hang out in my house.” Coulter says.

Even though saying goodbye can seem difficult, the SPCA says many foster volunteers quickly realize they’re helping create space for the next animal who needs it.

“I hear from a lot of people, ‘oh my gosh, how can you give them back at the end?’ and it’s like, well, it’s in some ways surprisingly easy because it means, ‘okay, they’re going to a nice home and now I get to help the next one.'”

Anyone interested in becoming a foster volunteer can apply through the BC SPCA website. Training is completed online, with the organization saying even short-term foster homes can have a lasting impact for animals waiting for their forever families.

by Jeremy Russo

Kamloops SPCA urgently seeking more foster volunteers

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