Love animals? Become a volunteer at shelter

The Anderson Animal Shelter, 1000 S. LaFox in South Elgin, welcomes volunteers interested in joining the foster program for dogs and puppies or cats and kittens.

Each spring, summer and fall, the shelter is inundated with kittens. During "kitty season," the shelter needs foster homes to care for these tiny feline babies until they are ready for adoption, usually about two weeks. During "kitty season", they may receive more than a litter of kittens each day so they need lots of fosters. As with all the fosters, Anderson Animal Shelter will provide all the veterinary care, food and as many of the supplies as they have available.

This area does not have a dog or puppy overpopulation problem. Throughout most of the southern part of the United States, however, dogs and puppies are overwhelming the capacity of local shelters. In these areas, the rates of spay/neuter are so low that thousands of unwanted puppies are born each year. Most of them end up in animal shelters, with very little hope of adoption, unless they can be transported to a shelter with a higher adoption rate, like Anderson Animal Shelter.

Anderson partners with several animal welfare groups in Oklahoma, where homeless pets far outnumber adopters. With very few resources, Oklahoma shelters are overwhelmed. They need your help.

Without help from local foster volunteers, these adoptable dogs and puppies would have no chance at all. Volunteers make the 12-hour journey to the Oklahoma partner organizations about once a month and save the lives of over 700 dogs and puppies each year.

Anderson Animal Shelter needs foster homes to provide care for puppies and adult dogs transported to Anderson from partner groups in Oklahoma. They range in age from newborn pups who usually (but not always) have their mom with them, to weaned pups and adults who just need to stay in their foster home for two weeks so we can make sure they're healthy.

Anderson staff will vaccinate, deworm and provide flea/tick treatments. Once they're old enough, the veterinarian will spay or neuter them, and then they'll be ready to come back to the shelter for adoption. The more foster homes available, the more dogs can be saved.

Typically, most foster pets will stay in their foster homes for a period of 2-3 weeks. Some animals, including pregnant and nursing moms with their babies, animals recovering from surgery and those undergoing heartworm treatment, will require longer foster commitments.

As a foster volunteer, you will be allowed to choose which type of pet you would like to foster, based on your experience, training and comfort level. Because they cannot guarantee the health of foster animals, make sure that your own pets are up-to-date on vaccinations before considering the foster program.

They also require that your pets be spayed/neutered prior to becoming a foster volunteer. Note: the Illinois Department of Agriculture requires that foster volunteers pay a $25 annual fee to become a licensed foster home. After the first year, Anderson will pick up the cost of this fee, should you continue to foster for us, but they ask foster volunteers to pay this fee for the first year, at your orientation session.

For the online foster application, visit www.andersonanimalshelter.org and click on "How You Can Help."

Follow their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AndersonAnimalShelterIL.