Your dog will receive an intake exam before going home and we will alert you of any needed appointments. 

All preventatives, vaccinations, and other medical care are provided for our dogs in foster homes. We will not be able to reimburse fosters for costs at a private veterinarian. Please reach out to dog-foster-care@austinpetsalive.org for any medical questions about your foster dog, including routine care. We have a Weekend Wellness Clinic for routine care on Saturday from 9-11am and Sunday 2-4pm. 

To request a refill for your medications, please email clinic@austinpetsalive.org

For medical emergencies: Call Medical Team: 512-466-0720 (during Clinic hours 9:00AM-7:00PM) or (737) 384-2994 (before 9am and after 7pm). 

The Dog Foster Care Team is your primary contact for all things medical! If you feel like your dog is experiencing symptoms of an injury or illness, view here to learn how to proceed. (This also includes what constitutes a medical emergency or what can be handled over email)

Please review your foster dogs’ portal for more information on picking up preventatives, seeing when vaccinations are due, and to see general information about your foster dog and the foster program. This will be emailed to you whenever you pick up your foster dog. 

We will inform you of all known behaviors of your foster dog prior to taking them home. There is always a decompression time as a dog is getting used to a new environment and should be given patience and understanding through this time. Please view and download this Dog Decompression Guide. 

Notify our Behavior Team (dogbehaviorfollowup@austinpetsalive.org) if your foster dog is having any behavior issues. We rely on our fosters to learn more about their foster dogs and their in-home behaviors. We would like for fosters to regularly communicate and work with our Behavior Team on any behavior-related matters. They have a ton of helpful supplies and resources (such as our Bringing Home a New Dog resource) they would be more than happy to share to help troubleshoot and make the day-to-day with your foster dog as manageable as possible! You can view our Behavior Team's page and resources here! 

EveryDog Training also generously offers free training classes to our fosters. You can Learn more and Sign up here! 

Our Dog Foster Support Team (dog-foster-support@austinpetsalive.org) is here to support you in every aspect of your fostering experiencing, primarily in giving you support in getting your foster dog adopted! The specific type of support varies based on your needs, but typically it's a combination of marketing, guidance on how to talk about your dog's particular behavior or medical challenges, what type of home they might need, and screening adopters. Be sure to utilize this team, and connect with them even if you just need help figuring out who to reach out to. 

You can consider the Dog Foster Support Team your #1 foster contact for any general needs!! 

Now that your foster is safe in your home, your priority is to help complete their profile on the APA! Available Dogs page. What we need are photos, a bio, a video, and behavior details to show off their personality and highlight what will make them happy and healthy in their forever home. The Dog Marketing page offers a schedule, tips, and other helpful links and resources to help you in the first steps! 

We’d also love to get you plugged in for an event! Fill out this Event Interest Form or email dog.marketing@austinpetsalive.org so your foster dog can attend an event! 

Some links for you to save and use: 

• Dog Bio and Score Submission Form - Enter information about how your foster dog does in the home so that we can update your dogs’ bio on the website! 

• Photos and Videos Submission Form -Give us fun photos and videos that capture your foster dogs’ brilliant personality! We aim to have 5-7 quality photos, and 3-5 videos that are at least 10 seconds long.

We are always in need of fosters for our Pregnant and Nursing Moms, our Orphans, and our Bottle Babies. If you'd like to foster any of these special groups, please email dog-foster-placement@austinpetsalive.org and let us know!

What to Expect When Your Foster's Expecting provides you an overview of maternity fostering and answers some frequently asked questions. If you are already a Neonatal foster, please download this quick reference Neonatal Resource Page.

Many dogs that arrive under APA's care, paralyzed or incontinent, have typically been involved in accidents, like being hit by a car, or have experienced some form of trauma. Austin Pets Alive! stands out from most shelters by offering specialized care for these extraordinary dogs. We devise medical plans and equip these dogs with wheelchairs to aid in their mobility. Austin Pets Alive! will also provide drag bag, sling, and any other supplies needed to care for your special foster dog. 

Typical care for a wheelie dog may include:

• Lifting your dog in and out of their wheelchair;

• Monitoring for rub wounds from dragging, and where the wheelchair may rub the dogs body;

• Incontinent care if they are not able to potty on their own

Interested in fostering a dog with special needs? Email dog-foster-placement@austinpetsalive.org

Already fostering a dog in this special population? Email differentlyableddogs@austinpetsalive.org

Five Star Fosters provide a temporary home for APA! dogs that may be more challenging to place, many of whom might have behavior or medical needs that require extra patience, training and support. Austin Pets Alive! takes in around 5,000 dogs every year that are at risk of euthanasia in shelters that don’t have enough space or resources to care for them. Many of these dogs find loving forever homes relatively quickly after making their way to safety at APA!. Others, however, may have a harder time adjusting to life inside and outside of the shelter. These dogs, in particular, need a dedicated foster home where they can decompress, heal, learn and let their true personalities shine through. The Five Star Foster Program was created to support and celebrate the incredible group of fosters that go above and beyond for this most in need population of dogs. 

Learn More Here!

There are several incurable conditions or scenarios in which a dog would need to be hospice, but we would never consider a dog hospice for anything that APA! could still step in to treat. Some examples that would be hospice are cancer, organ failure, progressive neurological conditions, and senior pets at the end of their life. A foster is needed to make their last days as comfortable as possible. It takes a selfless, compassionate, and strong foster to do this. You are taking these dogs who need specialized care and rest, and loving them fiercely for the rest of their lives. 

If you'd be interested in learning more, you can view this handout about Hospice Fostering, and connect with our Dog Foster Hospice Group at dog-foster-hospice@austinpetsalive.org

APA! is lucky to have a network of foster volunteers that will make themselves available to our fosters to provide information, support and hands-on assistance when needed.

• For General Support, email APA! Dog Foster Support  (dog-foster-support@austinpetsalive.org)

• For support with your Distemper positive or Distemper Watch dog, email APA! Distemper Angels (distemper-angels@austinpetsalive.org)

• For support with your Maternity and/or Neonatal dog(s), email APA! Dog Foster Maternity & Neonatal Mentors (dog-foster-neonatal@austinpetsalive.org)  

• For support for dogs that are considered hospice: email our Dog Foster Hospice Group (dog-foster-hospice@austinpetsalive.org)

• For support with dogs with special needs or that are differently abled (paralyzed, wheelie, etc), email differentlyableddogs@austinpetsalive.org

If you'd like to become a mentor, we'd love to have you! Email any one of those groups and let them know you'd like to help.