Volunteer With Us
The LA County Animal Care and Control Foster Program plays an integral part in helping animals at our seven Animal Care Centers.
Fostering is a wonderful experience. You can feel good knowing you helped an animal in need and are giving back. Fostering is an ideal activity for those who are unable to have an animal long term or someone who wants to provide a temporary home. Even better, foster animals provide companionship and purpose.
Did you know kitten season is yearly from about March to November in LA? This is the time of year when thousands of kittens are brought to the animal care centers by concerned residents. The animal care centers should be a last resort for a kitten as they are much better off staying with their mother or in an individual home.
Check out our kittens section on our website for more information on how you can help kittens before they come to the care center.
When kittens do need to come to the care centers, we are in dire need of foster caretakers to care for them until they are old enough to be adopted. The kittens are under eight weeks of age and may be eating on their own or they may need to be fed with a bottle or syringe.
The other type of animal we need help with are large-breed dogs, particularly pit-bull mixes. Small breed and purebred dogs get adopted very quickly, but it takes longer and more effort to place larger dogs. This is where you come in – can you open your home to a large breed dog?
If you want to help vulnerable kittens or large breed dogs, please scroll down to learn more and fill out the Foster Application below.
Thank you for your willingness to help.
Medical or Unweaned Fosters: Animals that have special needs that would be best monitored in a home. Foster length varies.
Humane Case Fosters: On occasion we have a humane case that does not allow for the animal to be adopted. Rather than stay at the care center while the case is being investigated, sometimes we can send them to a temporary foster. Foster length varies and fosters must understand that the animal may or may not be released for adoption when the case is closed.
Adoption Agent Fosters: Sometimes we have animals that just need time out of the shelter to decompress and for us to learn more about them. Fosters who take these animals will be expected to help us promote them for adoption by attending special events, taking pictures and videos, and providing notes on in home behavior. Foster length is usually 1-3 months unless otherwise discussed.
Additional notes:
To become a foster caretaker, you will need to do the following:
All of this will be sent to you after you submit your application.
If you are interested in fostering unweaned dogs and cats, please review our manuals to learn more about what to expect.
One important note:
Fostering can be extremely rewarding but sometimes it’s tough business, and it can often be unfair. Young kittens are vulnerable and sometimes, even the best foster parents will lose one or more of their kittens. It is important that you are emotionally prepared to deal with a potentially undesirable outcome. The Fostering Kittens Guide will go into detail about how to care for kittens that are declining so please read the manual thoroughly. Be aware that DACC will not reimburse fosters for any medical care, including emergency treatment that has not been pre-approved. You will be provided with an emergency number to call if you have a fading kitten and will more than likely be directed to bring the kitten back to the care center.
If you have found a litter of kittens and would like to care for them yourself, see below for some great guides that can help you in the process. We can provide you with a starter kit that contains supplies to get you started, just go to the animal care center closest to you to ask for one!
How to Care for Unweaned Kittens
DACC staff may also demand the return of and or remove a foster animal from a foster home for any reason they deem necessary.
