Foster Care
Welcome!
The Rhode Island SPCA Foster Care Program has been established to help with animals that require short-term (2-8 weeks) care for recovery to an adoptable age and status. Reasons for placement include pregnancy, animals less than 8 weeks of age or less than 2 lbs in weight, mildly ill animals requiring general medical care, and animals recovering from an injury or trauma.
**At this time, our biggest need is for foster homes for many of our large breed adult dogs that are available for adoption, but have been here for more than 6 months.
Foster Opportunities!
**Temporary Homes for Adult Animals: In some cases, dogs, cats, and even small animals have a difficult time in the shelter environment and just would do better in a home environment. We look for families and individuals to provide a short or long term place for these animals to stay while we search for a forever home for them.
For adult dog foster opportunities, please e-mail our Dog Care Manager at hugh.tucker@rispca.org
For adult cat foster opportunities, please e-mail our Cat Care Manager at olivia.warburton@rispca.org
Below are opportunities with moms and kittens. We will be accepting new kitten foster homes in Spring of 2025.
Please stay tuned for further information and trainings!
Bottle feed kittens: less than 5 weeks old. Must be fed every 2-3 hours. The individual would have to be able to bring kittens to work or be home most of the time.
Pregnant Moms or Pregnancy Hold: At any given time we may receive a mom who is waiting to give birth. We place all of our pregnant mothers in a foster home to have a stress free upbringing for their young. Fosters are required to help with the birthing process (24 hour assistance is available if needed). Fosters are also required to keep mom with babies till babies are fully weaned. We will then take mom back for spay and request you keep the young till they are of age for adoption. This may require bottle feeding if a baby is having trouble latching onto mom.
Socialize Kittens: 5-8 weeks old. Kittens/puppies need to be socialized to prepare them for adoption.
Feral Kitten Foster: For the spicy kittens. These kittens require a patient foster who is able to slowly spend ample time with their fosters preparing them for adoption. These kittens are not human friendly and need an experienced foster family.
Help Support our Foster Care Program
It takes a village to provide the round-the-clock care for the animals who need it most – the puppies and kittens. We can’t do this without the compassion and generosity of our community friends. Please consider donating an item or two from our Foster Care Wish List at Amazon or to make a donation to support our community programs including foster care, visit Support RISPCA. Every gift, big or small, will make a difference and we thank you for helping us to save even more animals this year!