DSPCA Looking For Foster Homes For Christmas
Families are being urged to consider fostering a dog or cat for Christmas.
The DSPCA has launched an appeal for homes this festive season, to give pets some time away from the shelter before finding their forever home.
The charity says fostering increases adoption rates by 30%, and gives cats and dogs an easier transition into a new home.
Gillian Bird from the DSPCA, says fostering can be a great introduction to pet ownership.
" A lot of the people who foster animals for us, especially over the Christmas period, they're not pet owners themselves, and they're doing this for the first time.
"They have time over the Christmas, and what they're really trying to do is to see how an animal would fit into their lives.
"So a lot of people use the fostering as a trial basis to see what it would be like to have a pet in their house."
She also says it can be a valuable experience for the dogs and cats involved.
"What's happening is it's experiencing people, children, the noises of what goes on at home in life.
"The families, spend time with the animals and they actually often come back to us with these beautiful descriptions of what they like and dislike, and the things that their new owners would really find useful when they are adopting them".
