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All underage animals at HES are on a two-week vaccine cycle until they are 20 weeks of age since the shelter environment can expose them to a high number of diseases. We cannot give a vaccine before the two week period so please plan accordingly with scheduling vaccine appointments. Spending time in foster before they are available ensures they are healthy before adoption. Foster kittens/puppies should be separated from resident pets for at least two weeks

For the safety, and well-being of your resident animals and our foster animals, we encourage you to talk to your vet about vaccine recommendations for your family pets. The shelter animals you are fostering are at high risk for disease and you do not want to put your pets in danger.

We understand that things come up that require you to leave town before your foster kittens are ready to be returned. If this happens, you can fill out the foster relief form located at in the important form section so that we can be notified and start working on a replacement foster situation. You can opt to take the animals back when you have returned. Please try to give us at least a week notice, although we know that is not always possible in emergency situations.

Adult animals must have food and water withheld after midnight the night before surgery. Puppies and kittens can have a half meal the morning of surgery. Animals can be dropped off the day before surgery 8 am-5 pm or the morning of surgery, between 7:15-8:00 am to the back door.

Adult dogs may go outside supervised. Dogs are not allowed to be left unattended outside. Cats and kittens are not allowed to go outside. Puppies can go in the grass after TWO dhpp vaccines unless you are in an apartment setting, then they need to stay indoors.

Remind yourself that "good-bye is the goal". If you adopt will it alter your ability to foster? Sometimes they are meant to be a part of your family, but if you cannot any more pets then you have to make the decision that is best for you. You can save hundreds by fostering. Watch this kitten lady video : https://youtu.be/xXWUCKB5zQY

We encourage you to have appointments at the shelter unless you feel comfortable with potential adopters coming to your home. If you are fostering an adult dog and the potential adopter has a dog, please schedule a meet and greet at the shelter.

We have a foster team member on call 24/7 so please call right away in the event of an emergency. We have emergency clinic that we collaborate with and can send you to with your foster pet

What is transport? We have a few partnerships with organizations on the eastern side of the country that allow us to send out easily adoptable animals so that we can keep our kennels and fosters here open. There is a huge population of great homes up north who want to adopt a shelter pet. Shelters up north typically have a lower amount of stray intakes due to their harsher winters and more robust spay and neuter laws. So they have all these empty kennels and are willing to bring our animals in to fill them. Are we sending them to another shelter? Yes. But, typically, the animals we send out find homes in a fraction of the time that they do here. I know people are clamoring for kittens now, but we will reach the point where our supply outweighs our demand. Last December, we had several "kitten season alumni" who had been available for adoption for months go out on our big flight. Almost all of them were adopted a week later once they completed a short quarantine period. Who can go on transport? For kittens, the golden rule is at least 8wks and 2lbs on the day of transport. For puppies, the golden rule is at least 8wks on the day of transport. Adult animals should be generally well mannered and in good health. Puppies and kittens do not need their second shots! We have special protocols in place to protect our littles who aren't fully vaccinated while they're on their journey. Why didn't your foster get picked? Some of these shelters have very sticky rules that I have to comply with. Some shelters won't accept an animal that came in with a wound of unknown origin so I can't send them any animals with scars or even the tiniest scab on intake. Others won't accept hounds. Others won't accept pits. A lot of our adult dogs get bumped for minor behavior issues. What do you need to do? First: If you, your friend, your coworker, your neighbor, etc, are serious about adopting one of your fosters and that foster is transport eligible, you need to send a message to the foster number and put in an application. Once the application is reviewed and approved, the fosters are put on hold. When I'm making transport lists, if the animal is not on hold and they are otherwise eligible, I'll put them on the list and they will probably be accepted for transport. Once they are accepted for transport, I'm not really allowed to pull them or else I risk damaging the relationships I have with these shelters. This is why I'm giving y'all this heads up now. Second: all fosters with submitted animals will be given a drop off window for pre-transport health checks. We try to do these on Friday mornings since most of our transports are on Mondays or Tuesdays. Most of the time, cats and kittens will stay on site if they are cleared medically for transport. I will usually ask if dogs and puppies can go back to foster for the weekend and be dropped back off closer to the departure date since we don't often have the extra kennel space. I'm really excited to work on transports this summer and get all of our little furry friends into their forever homes