Can’t Adopt?
Consider Fostering!

Almost Home

GIHS’s Foster Program, Almost Home, is critical to our rescue work. It enables us to increase the number of homeless pets we can save by placing them in temporary homes. Foster homes also give pets a warm, loving environment to heal, grow, and flourish. As a foster parent, your role is to welcome a pet, or pets, into your home and provide food, water, toys, and lots of love.

There are many reasons a pet may need a foster home:

Underage: Puppies and kittens are not ready to be adopted until they’re at least eight weeks old. They need time for their immune systems to develop. They may need to receive life-saving medical care and be healthy enough for their spay/neuter surgery.
Sick/Injured: Foster homes are a great place for our sick or injured animals to heal, whether they’re recovering from something as routine as a spay/neuter surgery or something more complicated, like orthopedic surgery.
Behavior/Socialization: Our shelter can be overwhelming for some animals with people and animals constantly coming and going. They might need a home environment or some one-on-one attention. Animals often come to us that have been abused, neglected or simply lacking the training or socialization they need to find the right home. Our foster homes provide the enrichment, training, or behavior modification needed for these loving pets to attract the perfect family for them.
Senior or Hospice Care: Often we take in pets who are seniors or at a stage where their health indicates their days may be limited. These special foster parents provide a home life, either until they are adopted or until the end of their life.
Overcrowding: At high times, our shelter can become overwhelmed with animals and run out of humane space for homeless pets. Foster homes allow us more kennel space to assist more animals in reaching their forever homes.

Foster Application

The Basics of Fostering

In order to foster a GIHS animal you must:

Be 18 years or older
Have reliable transportation to our shelter for minor medical needs and check-ups, to local vet clinics for surgeries and emergency hospitals in the event of an after-hours emergency situation.
Complete our foster application. Your responses allow us to best match the pets to your interests, schedules, and abilities. We pair up foster pets and parents based on the pet’s needs and the foster family’s experience level.
Let us know if you prefer canines, felines, or both. We will have someone who needs you.
Please be sure your family is on board for this rewarding experience.

How We Support Our Fosters:

We are committed to providing you the support you need for the duration of the foster period.

We will provide your foster pet with medical supplies and work with you to ensure you can administer any in-home care required.
We will also provide you with all of the food, especially with kittens, puppies, or nursing mothers. A consistent diet is important for their health.

We work hard to ensure that you have a positive, rewarding experience with the Almost Home Foster Program. We do our best to meet the needs of both the foster animal and your family.

Ready to open your heart and home to a vulnerable pet today?

Apply now to foster. Once your application has been reviewed and approved, we will notify you and begin sending you emails with animals available for fostering.

If you need support or have additional questions, please email foster@galvestonhumane.org or call 409.740.1919.

Join our Evacuation Foster Team!

Evacuation Fosters are community members willing to foster a dog or cat in the event of a hurricane evacuation. As an Evacuation Foster, you would be expected to provide: