Become a Foster Carer for RSPCA NSW

RSPCA NSW’s Foster Care programs provide temporary homes to animals who need a helping hand. This might be because these animals are too small or young to be adopted, recovering from illness or surgery, are undergoing rehabilitation or even just finding the shelter environment too stressful. Our foster care programs also support animals in regional locations that do not have RSPCA NSW facilities. By placing animals into foster homes, it provides them with the care and support they need until they are ready to be adopted into loving forever homes.

Becoming an RSPCA NSW foster carer is an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of some of the state’s most vulnerable animals.

To become an RSPCA NSW, foster carer, we ask that you:

• Are aged 18 or older, with all residents of your household agreeing to foster caring
• Can provide a safe and secure environment for fostered animals
• Have reliable transport, especially in the case of an emergency
• Can provide daily care for the animals in your care
• Attend or complete foster care training sessions
• Follow all RSPCA NSW policies and procedures

Below are some urgent foster care programs that we need your help with:

Kitten season carers:

As warmer weather sets in, we enter kitten season, and our shelters are faced with an overwhelming influx of litters due to undesexed cats and roaming pets. Each week, RSPCA NSW welcomes up to 500 to 600 cats and kittens, creating significant pressure on our facilities.

This is where foster caring becomes vital. By opening your home to a kitten, you provide them with the love and care they need to thrive. Your support helps us manage the overflow in our shelters and ensure these young lives receive the attention they deserve.

We need your help! Kitten carers for neonates, older kittens and ringworm positive kittens. Along with the fun parts like playing and cuddling, you’ll also need to carve out time for regular feeding and taking your fosters to the veterinary hospital or clinic for vaccinations or other treatments. Complimentary vaccinations are offered to foster carers own pets if they are an active ringworm carer.

For more information, please visit:
https://www.rspcansw.org.au/how-you-can-help/foster-care/
or
Find your closest RSPCA NSW Shelter or Adoption Centre:
Sydney Shelter   Illawarra Shelter   Coffs Harbour Shelter    Orange Shelter   Hunter Shelter

Feline Ringworm Adoption program (glow):  

Ringworm is a fungal infection. Ringworm attacks hair follicles, resulting in hair loss and sometimes scaly, round lesions on the skin, hence the name!  

It is contagious to other pets, as well as humans with immunocompromised pets and people are at the highest risk of infection. With appropriate hygiene and environmental management, the risk to most people and other pets is low. 

Since stress can lower the immune system, shelter pets are at an increased risk of infection when exposed to Ringworm spores. Meeting a cat’s environmental needs within a home environment can reduce stress and optimize wellbeing. This is because living in a home allows cats to perform species-specific behaviours (like predatory play) and to engage with humans in their preferred way. 

To help pets heal faster and shorten their time in care at the RSPCA NSW, we have implemented the Feline Ringworm Adoption program, called ‘Glow’. In this program, pets can be placed into their forever home whilst they are being treated for Ringworm, and we will cover the costs of their medication and tests for Ringworm (as set out in your adoption Indemnity Waiver). You must comply with this Guide and the Indemnity Waiver for the costs of your pet’s Ringworm medication and testing to be covered by RSPCA NSW.

For general queries about the Glow program, email:
cso@rspcansw.org.au (Please provide email subject line: Attention Glow Advocates)