My foster boys!

[snowyangel]

Recently I've joined up with a pet shelter and now due to my knowledge of things i now help run it! I handle any unwanted rodents or fish that come into the shelter and these handsome lil' devils came up for adoption. So I'm fostering them until they find homes.
Here's JB(John Baptist b/c when he was younger he had a white cross on his head).

and Knickers. Gotta love those flared nostrils

No i didnt name them, they came with these names
Hope you like!

 

[MAM]

awwwwwwwww, love the nostril shot!!! hope they find their forever homes soon!!

 

[tekknocolor]

I bet it's difficult being a foster family for animals... not to mention people. But how do you deal with knowing that once you've become so attached to them that someone will be able to come and take them away?

I think it's great what you're doing though. The flared nostrils.. they're adorable! I don't know much about rodents, but is that his tongue or his lip?

 

[snowyangel]

Thanks for the compliment MAM.

tekk, the theory of the animal needing a place asap puts my feelings or attachments aside. I would rather be a foster home than have them live with their original neglecting family untill a home comes up. I can live with seperation, cant be no worse than losing a fish. I sell my guppies away all the time. Sure i get attached to the gups but thats life, nothing to cry over. Whats my loss is someones elses enjoyment and could mean alot more to some child. I've never kept guineas and havent been especially drawn to them before so i just plan to give them cuddles, care for them, whatever their other home couldnt do for them so they're suitable for a new home.
Oh that's his lip.

 

[MAM]

it IS tough when you've developed a real attachment, you come to know the animals quirks and habits and such. but knowing that theyre going to a good home, to people you can share all this knowledge of this pet with, knowing that they've found their forever home where thye'll be loved and spoiled and treated like family, makes it all worth it. i love to get back pictures of my fosters with their new families. i fostered a pit bull that i fell head over heels for (so much so that at the time, we were trying to figure out how we could swing the fee to terminate our lease early so we could somewhere that would allow us to keep him...). but when the adopters showed up for their interview, the look of love on the guy's face told me that mikey was going to a home where he would be the king of the house, the baby, the most loved dog. so despite my tears, i wished him well. i've had other fosters i still kick myself for not adopting, but i know theyre in the home theyre meant to be in. the best was getting pics of a spaniel mix i fosters, he was a golden blonde color, and his whole family were blondes, and they had three boys. it was the perfect home for him, and the family portrait was too cute.

its very rewarding, but its not for everyone. many fosters end up becomign adopters and can't foster anymore, which is great for the dog they adopted, but sometimes a bit unfortunate for future animals in need of foster............... but i love to do it, it makes me feel like i'm doing something worthwhile.

more pics snowy!!!!

 

[snowyangel]

lol mam. More pictures will come when i pick them up today. The owner dropped the guineas off to the owners of the shelter so i'm going to her house to pick them up. I promised the original owner i would keep her updated with pics as will I with you.
I can't wait to go get 'em! Heee hee, I'm counting down the minutes.

 

[Sasha]

They're adorable!

 

[snowyangel]

Thank you sasha. Okay i got 'em! BUT no camera batteries . I let them run around on my bed with the rats and they absolutely love eachother, I almost cried it was so precious. It was the most perfect Kodak moment ever. The rats would try cleaning them and their lil heads practically fit all inside their ears. Then the guineas would start chirping like they got lil girlfriends or new babies or something, lol. Man this rules! Right now the cats always stare at them, for hours on end "They're not food and they're too small for a playmate, so what the hell can i do with it?!?! " kinda pondering.

 

[Maya~4Ix12chen]

I would rather be a foster home than have them live with their original neglecting family untill a home comes up.

I used to work at a shelter too. I was the Animal Care Technician & Staff Supervisior for 2 years.
Not every animal that comes into a shelter had neglecting previous owners.
This is one of the main reasons why most people don't take thier pets to shelters when they can no longer care for them because people automatically assume they were being neglected.
Yes, it is true to say that a percentage of the animals being brought in come from homes where they were neglected terribly. One example was "Sweet Pea" a Pit bull Terrior whose owners took it upon themselves to put rubber bands around her ears in the hopes that her ears would eventually fall off instead of paying the money to have them properly cropped by a vet. (Sweet pea remained true to her name and was even in the newspaper, she healed quickly & found a forever home soon after)
But some pets come into the shelters due to other reasons aswell,
one example is 2 adult cats (I don't recall thier names at this time) thier owner had cared for them for many years, she came down with cancer and could no loner care for her babies, she was alone and did what was best for her cats.
Some pets came into our doors because they had lost thier caring owners due to illness & death.
True there are alot of animals that get seized from homes because they are mistreated and misunderstood.
but the stereotype that ALL animals came from neglected homes are just not true. it is because of believing this that many people who have nowhere else to turn to,don't want to take thier pets to the shelter in fear of being accused of neglecting.
Also, alot of shelter animals get a bad wrap from this other stereotype;
that All animals in the shelter are there because they are unfit or unsuitable to live with. not everyone wants to adopt a "problem pet" and most seem to assume that they all have issues and that's why they were brought to the shelter in the first place.
for these reasons people don't choose to bring thier animals to the very shelters that are there to help & most animals will go unadopted from the 2nd stereotype.

Just remember if any of you go to a shelter to adopt, that not every one there is there because they were neglected or unmanageable.


I commend you on opening your heart and home to being a foster parent!! there should be more people willing to do that since alot of the animals the are in shelters are very scared and confused. being in a home enviorment makes it less stressful & healthier on the adoptee.