SPCA Whanganui is asking for more fosters with large numbers of kittens and puppies in the centre. Photo / Supplied
SPCA Whanganui is asking for more fosters with large numbers of kittens and puppies in the centre. Photo / Supplied
A rapid increase in kittens and puppies brought into SPCA Whanganui has centre staff calling for more people to provide volunteer foster homes.
SPCA Whanganui centre manager Francie Flis said the increased numbers were putting pressure on staff.
“We’re definitely having an extended kitten season this year and we’re seeing an increase in puppies as well, so all of this is putting pressure on the centre,” she said.
The extended breeding season may be due to people not being able to desex their pets during the Covid-19 lockdowns and the warmer weather may also be to blame for the increase in breeding, Flis said.
“The breeding season tends to go around the weather patterns and [with it] being quite a warm winter for the last couple of years, they may have been breeding right through.”
The centre could use as many new fosters as it could get to provide the animals with a loving temporary home where they could get more socialisation and enrichment before being put up for adoption.
“They can experience a home life and have the freedoms of a home and the love and care of families who put that in for them until they’re ready for a new home,” she said.
SPCA provides fosters with all the supplies needed to care for the animals including litter, cages, blankets, food, beds, medication and anything else the animals need.
“We just ask them to have a warm, dry, safe room in their home for them and then we will provide everything that they need supplies-wise,” Flis said.
The centre is also flexible on how long fosters spend with the animals and how many animals they foster at a time.
“We have some people who only do it in the holidays, they might only be able to do it for weekends or two weeks once a term, so it’s not a fulltime role, for some people it is, but others it’s just sort of ad-hoc.
“Some families will take in an individual animal or some will take a few.”
Two of the kittens at SPCA Whanganui needing a foster home. Photo / Supplied
Fosters keep the animals well-fed and healthy, with them going to SPCA every two weeks for regular checkups and weigh-ins. Once the animals are up to a healthy weight, they are given back to the centre for desexing and adoption.
Nikki Booker has been a foster for SPCA Whanganui for around 18 months, fostering about 80 animals in that time.
She got involved with fostering when she took in two abandoned kittens.
“I took them in and I fell in love with them and I’ve still got them now,” Booker said.
“In that time I did all the caring for them and, after they’d grown, I thought I quite like this ... so I thought I’d get in touch with the local SPCA and see if they needed fosters.”
She said the work was very rewarding, raising young and sometimes sick kittens to health without having to worry about finding forever homes for them.
“When you’ve had them and you do all that that work with them and then you bring them back and they’re all really good and healthy, it’s just really neat to see, like the difference you’ve made with them.”
The support of SPCA Whanganui had also been great for her, being in regular communication with her and providing support if one of the animals died.
“They’ve always been really supportive, they don’t blame you, they always make sure you feel good yourself,” she said.
She said anyone interested in becoming a foster should give it a go, as people could decide how many animals they could take on.
“You’re not going to end up having 50 cats that you’ve fallen in love with and don’t want to get rid of ... it’s just really rewarding.”
