Surprise foster pets--what to do?

[fuzzypicklehead]

So DH came home from work with a dog and a cat yesterday evening. He works for social services, and was contacted about a vulnerable person with adog and cat in urgent need of a place to stay immediately (actual owner has just gone to prison for a very long time and had to leave them with an acquaintance who can't actually care for them) They'll new permanent home in the longer term.

So sharing our lounge this morning are:

-a very friendly (and intact) ginger tom who enjoys lots of grooming and had at least one accident in the house last night, but otherwise used the litter tray. He has a white cloud across one of his eyes that doesn't seem to bother him. He's not sure about DD's and Resident cat is not sure about him. (usually very accepting of other cats, but I think ginger cat's bollox may be the problem.)

-a medium sized, long-haired (and intact) male , long-haired terrier of some description. He's 4 or 5 years old and was pretty manky looking, but after a bath and trimming of mats he's quite the charming chappie. His ears are in need of immediate treatment for mites/infection. I'm planning to take him in to the vet today for the ears and to be scanned for microchips from any previous owners in case he's been lost or stolen.

Any ideas what else I should be doing for these guys? I'm willing to help them find a new place, but I have no intention of handing them to a shelter who may end up euthanizing one of them. Even in a humane shelter, I'd hate to see them distressed in kennels if there's an alternative.

Contact the Dogs trust/Battersea dogs and cats home - they will possibly be able to help you, you wont necessarily have to take them there. Cats protection league might be able to help with the cat - they may even help with castration (more important for the cat than the dog at the moment).

Dogs trust wont euthanaise, battersea will.

Small independent rescues generally work with foster homes. If you can tell us where in the country (roughly) you are we will be able to give you details of such places.

Under no circumstances should you try to rehome these pets yourself. A rescue will vaccinate and neuter and home check and offer lifelong back up to the new owners.

The cat needs to see a vet about his eye.

Definitely a rescue and not a pound eg Battersea who put to sleep thousands of animals each year.

Whereabouts are you?

We're in East Anglia. I don't want to rehome them myself, but I know a couple of MN'ers are rescuers who have really strong opinions about certain rescues--so I want to contact the right one and make sure they end up in a good place, (but still keep them happy and comfortable in the meantime.)

It sounds like they're already in a good place

I only have personal experience of rescues close to me (NE) but someone will be along soon with some suggestions.

I think the CPL is quite good, although cat rescue is not really my thing. They've helped us when we've found feral or stray cats.

Oh wow. Just spoke to cat's protection and the waiting list for rehoming is approximately 8 weeks. In the meantime, ginger tom has begun spraying, and resident cat is not best pleased about it. Booking him in to the vets for a snip in the am, and have calls in to all of the local rescues, but those I've spoken to thus far have said that the time of year means they are inundated. But they also said that ginger toms are very desirable, and he is quite a sweet lad, so maybe we'll be lucky.

You could try feliway for the spraying. My neutered does it when he's stressed. Feliway sorts him out.

A sneaky way to rehome the cat MAY be to tell the vets you need him rehomed, and if they are anything like the vets where i worked, the work experience person will have a new cat by the end of the week!!! Seriously though, do tell them as they often have clients who have lost pets who are looking for a rescue, the vets will be able to vouch for the new owners.

I'd love a big fat ginger cat, but i have two terriers who would just think he was lunch.

Hmmmm, 8 weeks until someone can take them, we did this with our stray that followed me home, after 2 days she wasn't going anywhere. Although RSPCA did pay to have her spayed as I kept her. :)

Good luck finding homes for them ;)

We have a puppy that is only staying a few days until a rescue can be found that was almost two years ago

Are you anywhere near Hertfordshire?
(excuse my geography but I live in London so anyway outside is far away )

There is an animal rescue who takes dogs and cats and are very good at finding the right owners for their rescues.

www.animalrescuecharity.org.uk/

I have a dog who was here for a week til he went to his "real" home.

That was 3 years ago

To be honest (and knowing my DH) as soon as I set eyes on the dog I thought "yeah, sure. Only temporary " But with two young DC's and a resident cat we need to take the process slowly and make sure we end up with the best result for everybody.

Having watched him since last evening, I can see that this is a really wonderful, well behaved and charming dog. Any family would be really lucky to have him.

Ginger tom will probably be equally lovely once all these nasty hormones are gone.

One thing that I'm sure your DH will be on top of is the paperwork. Try to make sure that the owner of these dogs has clearly assigned a relinquishment and change of ownership to, presumably, Social Services? I am currently dealing with a similar case due to hospitalisation rather than prison, and the paperwork issue is causing us some headaches, but it's important to get right for a number of reasons.

SS near us are wary of staff keeping pets in these circumstances as it can be seen as a "personal benefit" - not entirely sure I agree with this, but for your DH, I'd make sure he's got full written authorisation from his manager to act as temporary emergency care. Make sure there is clear written authorisation for expenditure on vets bills etc, and keep receipts for things like food.

I've asked Valhalla since this is her neck of the woods, but one of the rescues she volunteers for, and is DEFINITELY no kill, is Poplar Farm Kennels. Contact Dave there - email [email protected] and they will help you find loving, responsible homes for these creatures. Hopefully Val will be able to provide a couple of other suggestions.

In the longer term, it would be worthwhile for DH's department to build up a list of local charities and emergency kennels, and a protocol for when this happens - it's a regular occurrence. Most rescues are delighted to help if they can and getting procedures/contacts sorted out in advance makes things a lot less stressful.

In the case I'm currently dealing with, many kennels have now refused to deal with SS, because they are so chaotic and badly organised that it can take at least six months of badgering for payment to be sorted - for small businesses this can be a real issue.

As expected, Val has come up trumps. She recommends two rescues that are fairly close to you..
Heathlands is in N Hertfordshire - see website here for more details.

Hallswood also comes highly recommended - site here

Finally, Val says that if you are desperately stuck, she herself is willing to be a foster carer for mr tom - can't say fairer than that, and knowing her, any cat will be treated like royalty and will be very lucky indeed if it goes to her.

Any update, OP?

Aw, yay, I was hoping valhalla would be around since I know she can identify the best places to help.

Yes, the paperwork has been an interesting experience, and might become even more so! The pets have all been relinquished appropriately, and I think the usual protocol would have been to bring in the dog warden and send the animals to the pound, where they would quite possibly be euthanized. But since it was after hours and rescues etc. were shut the person on duty had to come up with a solution and they happened to be the kind of person who would look for a humane alternative.

It's true that the team really does need to form a better protocol for these situations, as it's not the first time DH has come home with an animal in an emergency! At present, the solution seems to be relying on the goodwill of the staff team, which fortunately is abundant.

Interesting development at the vet's though--turns out that Mr Dog has been chipped, and not by the owner in prison! Though he's not been reported lost or stolen to the chip company, they're going to try to get in touch with the registered owner and see if they're missing him. In the meantime his poorly ears have been treated and he'll have lots of games of fetch while we sort out his situation.

One of the sanctuaries has a possible lead for Mr Tom. Apparently there's an older couple on a farm who are looking for a Tom who is ok with dogs, so that's a nice thought too.

I have heard of Ravenswood Rescue in Wisbech, not far from Kings Lynn. Don't know what their reputation is but you could look on Rescue Review website for reviews of people who have homed animals from them. Not sure if they do cats as well.

They are on my list of rescues, but almost everywhere is full up with cats because of the seasonso many queens and kittens that it's very tough to find a spot. But it turns out there's even a small cat rescue in my village which is used to dealing with everything from pedigrees to semi-feralsI never would have known about them if I hadn't been looking!

Hopefully we'll know by the end of the day if this couple is a match for Mr Tom, so it could be a very happy ending.

Mr Dog spent nearly two hours this morning showing us his tricks, and is patiently lying next to his toy until we have the energy for more. He'll definitely need to be kept busy and active to keep him out of mischief, but his character really shines when he's given direction.

Well, ginger tom is off to his new home, where he'll be treated to a bollock removal and a child-free environment. In return, he is treating us to a new sofa (if we can't get the pee-smell out of it) and a valuable life lesson for DD1: When mummy says "stay out of that room and don't touch that cat" it's best to comply. She tried to pick him up and got a firm nip, and a trip to the out of hours GP and antibiotics for her trouble. (She thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience)

Mr Dog is proving interesting. He's apparently never been lead-trained and is very dog aggressive. But he's also very keen to learn and responsive to training and we're hopeful that with castration and obedience training he could be rehabilitated. The rescues nearest us are full up, but I'm still waiting to hear back from one of Val's suggestions. In the meantime, we're going to go ahead and get him fixed and work on his lead training and take advice on dealing with dog aggression. Anybody have any good resources for that?

Try you tube kikopup for clicker training, she's great. I think Mr Dog may be growing on you