Balancing Medical and Behavioral Needs in Foster Homes
Foster care is a valuable resource that allows animals to receive medical care in a home-like environment, while providing behavioral benefits and increasing their socialization. Animals may need foster care because they are young, sick, injured or experiencing stress in the shelter environment. These animals may be ready for adoption or perhaps waiting for an upcoming veterinary appointment.
Since animals in foster care may acquire or transmit contagious diseases, it’s important for foster care providers to follow recommendations regarding the separation of animals. Generally, newly arrived foster animals should be separated from pets in the home for 14 days. Foster animals who show signs of contagious disease (e.g., vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, sneezing, discharge from eyes/nose) should be separated from resident animal(s) until clinical signs resolve and a veterinarian indicates that risk for disease spread is minimal.
However, in certain circumstances, the behavioral and welfare benefits of co-mingling foster animals with resident animals outweigh the risk of spreading contagious disease and a strict 14-day separation period may not be necessary. Shelters may consider decreasing the length of the separation period for low risk foster animals who meet all the following criteria:
- Apparently healthy and more than 5 months of age
- Arrived at shelter more than 14 days ago
- No known exposure to contagious disease within the previous 14 days
Sometimes, the small risk of disease is worth the behavioral benefits—like when healthy kittens or puppies interact with adult animals during their key socialization period.
Ideally, shelters should discuss the following with foster caregivers:
- Best type of housing to help foster animals adjust safely to a home setting
- Recommendations on if and how to separate foster animals from pets at home
- Risks
Preventive Care
Regardless of the situation, all foster animals should be appropriately vaccinated, receive parasite prevention and receive any necessary screening or diagnostic testing. Pets who permanently reside in a foster home should also be up to date on preventive veterinary care before introducing them to foster animals. Of course, throughout an animal’s stay in a foster home, they should be monitored for any signs of disease, and, if noted, fosters should immediately report issues to the shelter and isolate the foster animal(s) from the resident pet(s).
Minimizing Disease Transmission
Contagious disease can spread from one animal to the next through direct contact. When items such as clothing, brushes or hands become contaminated with pathogens, they serve as fomites and are a significant source of disease transmission. Foster care providers can decrease the risk of disease transmission by limiting the number of foster animals in their home at any given time. Caring for multiple animals from different shelters or rescue groups increases the risk of infectious disease transmission and should be avoided.
Sanitation Considerations
It is important to utilize effective sanitation procedures to prevent transmission of disease, especially when fostering animals with a contagious disease. Sanitation involves both cleaning (manual removal of dirt and organic matter) and disinfection (chemical inactivation of viruses and bacteria). The following sanitation measures should be followed in foster homes:
- Practice good hand hygiene and appropriate hand washing before and after handling animals who have a contagious disease.
- Clean surfaces, bowls, litter pans and toys with a product that has detergent activity. Dish soap and water can be utilized for cleaning. Rinse soap with water.
- Apply an effective disinfectant at an appropriate dilution and contact time. Examples include:
- Rescue (accelerated hydrogen peroxide) diluted to 1:32 (10-minute contact time) or 1:16 (5-minute contact time).
- Bleach is an effective disinfectant; however, some of its properties make it less desirable. If bleach is determined to be the best option for a foster setting, it’s important to follow these guidelines for Using Bleach Properly.
- Other types of store-bought disinfectants are not effective against several viruses that cause contagious diseases in animals. Phenol-based products are known to be toxic to cats and should not be used; avoid using products if the name contains “sol.”
- Remove organic material from bedding and towels before they are machine laundered, using detergent and bleach (1/2 cup per laundry load), and dried.
- When a separate room is used to house sick foster animals, keep dedicated equipment and supplies in this area.
Effective cleaning and sanitation, along with medical and behavior care, help animals stay healthy in foster homes, get adopted faster and open foster homes more quickly to help more pets.
Related Resources
We have lots more on this subject: