What Fostering Looks Like: Before and After.

This is a photo of Cairo, a one year old Mastiff/Pit mix in his "euth list" photo. (A euth list photo is what the shelters send out to all of the rescuers in a last minute attempt to place their pets the day before they are killed. ) It appeared on the blog of an animal rescuer that I knew. She had no room for him, and since he had kennel cough, a very curable yet very contagious doggy cold, the shelter put him in their sick ward to be put down.( Dogs and cats and momma cats with their litters who have kennel cough are not shown to the public for adoption, they are immediately killed.) I couldn't let this face go. I called up Patty the rescuer and she brought him straight from the shelter to me. This is Cairo, sitting under my desk:

Upon seeing him run free and happy with other dogs at the dog park on the first night across the street, I cried. He went from that miserable soul to a happy carefree dog.
A few weeks later a really sweet family drove from three hours away to see him at my apartment. The young son claimed him immediately, and I was very happy about who would be adopting him. The family and I drove to Patty the rescuer's apartment uptown with Cairo in the back of the minivan to have the family sign the papers. Immediately when the car started Cairo crawled to the front with us and laid his head on the little boy's lap for the duration of the ride.
Here is Buddy, formerly Cairo, at his forever home:




Fostering is giving the life back to a helpless animal. There is never the perfect time to do it. Their lives can't wait for that...For every lucky Cairo, there are thousands just like him who never make it out of the shelters. They are not there at the shelters because they are bad dogs and cats, they are there because most of them are owner surrenders for "no time," or "new baby." If people have to rehome their pet, the best way to go is to find someone they know to help. Otherwise they become a statistic.