Fostering with AGPR
If you are considering taking on the rewarding and incredibly helpful task of fostering a guinea pig for us, we ask that you carefully review the following guidelines.
Foster parents and families are the backbone of AGPR. We cannot exist without people who are willing to bring animals into their homes while we search for their forever homes. Fosters have our undying gratitude and our deepest respect and admiration. There are never enough foster homes to go around, so each is precious to us and the animals we are trying to save.
Below is an overview of our foster program, and we hope this will help you decide whether fostering is for you:
Beyond these guidelines, please direct any questions, concerns, comments, insights, and ideas to our foster coordinator (email us at [email protected]).
If you don't have any questions for now, you can go ahead and complete our online FOSTER APPLICATION FORM.
Again, thank you so very much for your willingness to consider fostering a rescued animal until a loving home can be found. Your compassion and caring are both a rarity and a gift!
Foster parents and families are the backbone of AGPR. We cannot exist without people who are willing to bring animals into their homes while we search for their forever homes. Fosters have our undying gratitude and our deepest respect and admiration. There are never enough foster homes to go around, so each is precious to us and the animals we are trying to save.
Below is an overview of our foster program, and we hope this will help you decide whether fostering is for you:
- We will provide supplies (e.g., cage, carrier, bowls, water bottle, fleece liners, etc.) to you. Foster families typically provide hay, pellets, fresh veggies and fruit, and litter if not using liners without reimbursement from us.
- When you get your fosters home, gradually introduce them to your household members. Do not try to make the foster an immediate part of your family. Let him/her settle into the new place, and we ask that you keep your pets separate from the fosters.
- Of course, it’s most important that you feed your fosters and keep them safe. We also ask that you do the following:
- Keep their cages clean. At a minimum, sweep once a day, switch out pee pads every other day, and do a full-cage launder once a week. It’s important that they don’t live in a wet, soiled environment.
- Interact with them and socialize them. Talk to them and let them have supervised floor time. Love on them! We want them to be acclimated and inviting so that potential adopters fall in love with them. It’s also important that you know their behaviors so you can spot problems if they arise.
- Weigh them and report back to us (in grams). If you’re fostering adults, please weigh them once a month (using a kitchen scale, if you have one). If you’re fostering babies, weigh them daily.
- Take pictures of your fosters, at least one group pic and one solo pic of each. We need these pics so we can post them for adoption, and we can use the pics on social media.
- We will be in contact monthly to prompt you for your foster’s weight and behavioral or wellness changes. If you’re fostering a guinea pig who has behavioral problems or a medical issue, let us know how they’re doing (especially if you think they are adoptable now).
- Once a month, we would like you to weigh your fosters and report that to us, trim their nails (instructions) or schedule a nail trimming with us, and attend a foster call, if you can.
- When an adoption applicant is approved and expresses interest in your fosters, we will send an email to you so you can arrange a meetup. (If you do not want to host the meetup, let us know so we can arrange for another location.) We will generate a contract before the meetup so that if the adopter wants to adopt your fosters, he/she can sign the contract before they take the guinea pig(s) home.
- Fosters may also be asked to participate in transporting animals or assisting in wellness checks. Whenever you transport an animal, make certain you have him/her in a secure carrier.
- If your foster animal becomes ill or gets hurt, contact the foster coordinator immediately. We have relationships with various vet offices and we will pay approved bills.
Beyond these guidelines, please direct any questions, concerns, comments, insights, and ideas to our foster coordinator (email us at [email protected]).
If you don't have any questions for now, you can go ahead and complete our online FOSTER APPLICATION FORM.
Again, thank you so very much for your willingness to consider fostering a rescued animal until a loving home can be found. Your compassion and caring are both a rarity and a gift!