By: Alyssa Duran
Email: Lyssd2004@gmail.com
SAN MARCOS- As the holidays approach, the animal shelters in Hays County are extremely overcrowded and need people willing to foster during the holidays.
The animal shelters in Hays County have reached the maximum number of dogs that they have kennels available for. As the holiday season approaches, they are in need of people willing to foster an animal. Fostering an animal allows space for new animals at the shelter while also providing the animals being fostered with a much-needed break from shelter life.
Minnie Buchholz, communications manager for the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter, says that due to the business of the holiday season, the shelter typically sees fewer foster applications coming through to them. This can make things hard for the shelter since they continue to receive animals, but don’t have the kennel space to house them. Fostering an animal during the holiday season can help the shelter with this issue because it frees up space for more animals to live.
The PAWS Central Texas Animal Shelter is dealing with overcrowding as well. Since it is a smaller shelter, they often don’t have enough space to keep up with the number of animals they are receiving on a daily basis.
Anastasia Martinez, the PAWS fostering coordinator, says that with the holiday season comes kitten season. During the winter months, kittens are ready to be born and need someone to take care of them.
“Kittens are going to be coming in very frequently, and we’re going to need lots of fosters to place them into homes with” Harris said.
Fostering is also in high demand during the holiday season because of the cold weather. Shelter staff do what they can to make the animals feel as warm as possible. They provide warm blankets and heaters, especially during freezing cold temperatures, but sometimes that is not enough because they are in concrete kennels.
Martinez says that she believes the number one reason to foster an animal during the holidays is because of the freezing weather.
“We make it as warm for them as possible,” Buchholz says, “but nothing beats a couch or a home.”
Additionally, fostering provides animals with a much needed break from their life at the shelter. By bringing a foster animal into their home, fosters are giving them a chance to experience what their life will be like once they are adopted. Many animals need a change of scenery, and fostering provides them with that.
“It helps our dogs get a break from their kennels,” Martinez says, “and it also helps any animal that is super stressed or even needs a little bit of training.”
Buchholz says that any length of time that someone fosters is good for their mental health, whether it’s short-term or long-term.
Olivia Smith, A volunteer at the San Marcos Animal shelter, has also worked with many animals and knows the benefits of fostering as well. Smith has seen many pet owners that skip the fostering stage and go straight to adopting an animal.
“Adoption seems to spike during the holidays because people buy animals as Christmas gifts,” Smith says, “but when it doesn’t work out people are more susceptible to bringing animals right back to the position that they were originally in.”
This is another reason why fostering during the holidays is in high demand. By fostering an animal, pet owners are able to socialize with an animal and see if it is the right fit for their home before fully committing to adopting.
“It’s a great idea to introduce the animal to your home by fostering first so that pet owners can get a good idea of how the animal works in their familial household.” Smith says.
Fostering an animal also helps to prepare them for their forever home, even if it isn’t going to be with the person that is currently fostering them.
“Just getting a dog into a home in leaps and bounds helps them get adopted,” Buchholz says, “you can take a dog home and notice that they love couches or something, and that is something that we would never be able to learn at the shelter.”
Those who are interested in fostering through PAWS can go online to fill out the application form. The form will then ask basic questions about the potential living situation and reasons for wanting to foster.
Those who are interested in fostering through the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter are able to fill out an online application, and can also choose how long they wish to be a foster for.
“We just want people to come foster and help these animals, so any length of time is great” Buchholz says.
