Thank you for your interest in helping one of our orphans. At this time, until our home is built, BlueMoon can only accept orphaned dogs and cats that fit in one of our foster homes and are eligible for our adoption services. We are in desperate need of more foster families and are now taking applications for new foster homes. Please read the information on this page and if you agree with the duties, please fill out our foster application below.

Foster Home Responsibilities Not only do foster homes have the joy of seeing their foster dog or cat placed into a new forever home, but also there is the additional joy of seeing the happiness of the new family: many of these homes need the pet as much as the pet needs them.

What is Foster Care?

Being a foster home means sharing your home with a orphaned pet: providing food, shelter, toys, walks and lots of attention, until a permanent home for the pet is approved. We count on our foster homes to evaluate temperament and observe behaviors in a variety of situations, and we welcome those updates so we can assess the pet and enhance the description on the web site. Positive reinforcement training is encouraged. Most foster care situations require 2 weeks to months of residential foster care, and in some cases where the pet is ill or older, several months.

What Do You Need to Foster?

The most important requirements are time and attention. You must be willing to include the pet in family activities, allow the pet to live as a house dog with much human companionship, and provide some daily one-on-one time with your orphans, including cuddles, play, and walks.

Although being from a previous home, some of dogs may not be completely house trained. Crates are an invaluable piece of equipment for rescue people. It is also a cozy den and a place of refuge for most dogs. We will loan foster homes a crate if necessary. Our dogs must be kept indoors except for exercise and elimination. At no time are our dogs to be confined in the yard while caretakers are away. Cats are expected to be kept inside at all times.

Apartment homes can also be excellent foster homes for both dogs and cats. For some dogs, providing several leash-walks daily for the dog as well as adequate off-leash exercise in a safe area when possible.

Kids and Foster Pets If you have children, never introduce a new pet to them without assistance. Never leave a dog and a child unsupervised. Sometimes, even though we make every attempt to uncover all available history on each pet, we may not have the full truth about the pet. For dogs, It is preferred that foster homes have experience with dogs, and that children in the foster family are over the age of 5 years. However; we do realize many children even younger have a special rapport with animals. We will work with the family and pet on a case-by-case decision.

Though many dogs and cats, especially those used to their owners' fostering, welcome the new pet. Please keep in mind that there may be a period of adjustment for the first few days up to 2 - 3 weeks depending on the rescued pet's history and personality and the resident pet's willingness to accept the "new member". As the foster becomes more confident, your foster may change his behavior towards resident pets, beginning to play and explore the pecking order. As the resident dog accepts the foster, the bonding becomes beneficial for both. We provide each foster family detailed guidelines on how to introduce your foster into your home.

Your Foster Pet's Vet Care

BlueMoon provides top notch veterinary care for our residents.  Every effort will be made to have each pet up-to-date, treated for internal and external parasites, altered and on flea/tick prevention before they enter a foster home. However, some orphans can be just recently vaccinated and still be in a "incubation" or "treatment" period. Due to this all resident pets must be up to date on vaccinations and for dogs, on heartworm preventative. At this time, BlueMoon will not accept cats that test positive to Feline Leukemia.

BlueMoon also recommends that all resident dogs be inoculated for kennel cough (bordetella) along with their regular vaccinations. Also, some dog owners mistakenly think heartworms are directly contagious: they are not. Your dog is protected if they are on heartworm preventative during mosquito season. For more our heartworm visit the American Heartworm Society web site for the explanation of heartworm disease and treatment. Finally, BlueMoon requires that all resident pets in the foster home are neutered or spayed. BlueMoon only supports professional breeding of purebred dogs and cats. We believe the only reason for breeding is to improve the breed's standard, therefore there is no reason to keep mixed unaltered pets. If you are a reputable breeder, we will make an exception on a case by case situation The majority of the time our orphans will all ready be altered or will be altered within 14 days; however in rare cases when our pets are very ill, we need to wait to spay/neuter them until they are well.

What To Do in a Medical Emergency

We will try to place 'easy' pets in new foster homes and will not place a seriously ill dog in a foster home until the family has gained experience. But if you do feel you have an emergency, and you cannot reach BlueMoon Coordinators, you should take the injured or ill pet to the nearest vet who can stabilize the animal until BlueMoon can authorize further treatment.  For dogs, this is particularly necessary if your foster dog is going through Heartworm treatment: any vomiting with listlessness must be reported immediately, and the dog taken to a vet as quickly as possible. BlueMoon Coordinators are the only persons who make major medical decisions for program dogs. You don't want that responsibility, and we have years of experience in making those decisions with the clinics.

How Expenses Are Handled

The foster home is responsible for food, toys, and in-home bathing and grooming. Most vetting expenses will all ready be taken care of during you pet's stay. However, if an emergency happens BlueMoon will reimburse you for approved emergency veterinary care and medications (save all your receipts). Also keep all your receipts, essential items such as food for a BlueMoon orphan is fully tax deductible

If you have any questions regarding fostering please call 585-624-9328 or email Dee: dee@bluemoonmeadows.org