Show notes
Mimi Dietderich is Foster Care Coordinator for the East Bay SPCA in Oakland and Dublin, California. Mimi shares her story and covers a wide range of topics, including fostering, some interesting animal facts, and compassion fatigue. She also shares two touching stories about Miso and Frankie. Resources https://www.eastbayspca.org/ https://www.facebook.com/EBSPCA/?fref=ts https://www.instagram.com/eastbayspca/ http://www.oaklandzoo.org/ http://lindsaywildlife.org/ - an organization oriented around wildlife health and education SPCA SPCA stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. SPCA's in general are independent organizations. The first one was founded in the early 1800's in England. What requirements do you need to foster? 1. Patience! A new place can be stressful for an animal. Each animal is unique with its own behavior and character. 2. A place to live 3. Time. Be available for the pets. Dogs in general need more time than cats due to the need to go outside. Why is fostering so important? Fostering an animal, even for a couple weeks, opens up a space in a shelter to hold another dog, cat, or other pet. The animal(s) you foster will hopefully get adopted by a permanent or forever family. There are so many reasons animals benefit from fostering which include: 1. letting puppies and kittens grow old enough for spay / neuter 2. giving an injured or sick animal time to heal 3. socialization Some other foster-related advice 1. The first foster is always the hardest, since saying goodbye and returning the animal can be very difficult emotionally. 2. After the first foster, it is a little easier to say goodbye and prepare for the next one. 3. Plenty of people do end up adopting a foster. It even has an endearing term, "foster fail," or "foster failure." Education Educate your children on animals, including behavior and care, through your local shelter. Some offer day camp programs! Compassion Fatigue Compassion fatigue is a term for burnout. Compassion fatigue can impact anyone involved with "caring" work such as animal rescue. Ways to cope with compassion fatigue 1. Take time for yourself. 2. Follow your outside interests that do not involve as many caring activities. 3. Live healthy. Avoid junk food, alcohol, and drugs. Shopping and gambling are other activities to monitor so they don't get out of control. 4. Even with that, it can still be overwhelming, recognize that you can't fix every situation and meet every need. Kittens and Puppies
- When the number of kittens spikes, it's called Kitten Season. Depending on where you live, it often starts in the Spring, and usually starts to slow down around the end of Summer.
- If you find a litter of kittens in your neighborhood, don't assume they were abandoned by their mother. She may have simply gone away to find food.
- KMR and Esbilac are brands of kitten and puppy meal replacements. For very young cats and dogs.
