Foster a Pet
Foster Friends volunteers prepare underage or injured pets for their permanent and loving homes. Foster Friends volunteers provide an invaluable service for the animals in their care, who, for a variety of reasons are not yet ready for adoption. The Foster Friends volunteer experience is rewarding for both animal and foster parent alike. You can also volunteer for Doggy Day Out, Pajama Pawties, or if you are interested in adoption, you can Foster to Adopt.
How to Help:
- Fill out the SPCA Foster Friends application
- A foster coordinator will respond to applications in the order they are received via email. If you have questions about your application you can direct them to fosterprogram@spcamc.org. Thank you for wanting to help animals in need!
- The SPCA will provide all the food, supplies, and veterinary care – you supply the love!
- Fostering can last anywhere from a few days to a few months, depending on the age and health of the pet. Examples of pets needing help from fosters include bottle-feeding kittens, kittens with their mother, orphaned puppies, an adult dog with a broken leg in a cast, etc.
- All fostered animals are placed through The SPCA’s regular adoption process. This requirement ensures that animals are placed appropriately as well as spayed or neutered, licensed, microchipped, etc.
- You can also volunteer for Doggy Day Out, Pajama Pawties, or if you are interested in adoption, you can Foster to Adopt.
Foster Training Opportunities:
The SPCA provides specific training to assist our Foster Friends volunteers, as needed. Please contact us for help!
Kitten Resources:
- How to bottle feed kittens
- How to wean kittens off the bottle
- How to stimulate kittens
- How to litterbox train a kitten
- How to set up your space for foster kittens
Mom with Baby Kittens:
Semi Feral Cats and Kittens:
Puppy Resources:
If you would like to request more information about our foster program or have any questions for our foster coordinators, please email us. For the fastest response time email is preferred, however you can also contact our foster coordinators at 831-278-5876 or 831-708-5846. Thank you for your interest in becoming a foster volunteer!
MEET OUR FOSTER TEAM
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Abigail DominguezAbigail Dominguez, Lead Foster and Transfer Coordinator
Abby grew up in Gustine, California. Growing up, her older sister and her would keep any animal they could convince their parents of including dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, fish, lizards, a turtle and a frog. One of the most memorable was a border collie named Mollie that Abby’s dad gifted her and her sister when Abby was 5 years old. Abby had Mollie until Abby was 20.
Before coming to the SPCA in 2016, Abby worked with dogs at a dog daycare and boarding facility where she learned a lot about canine behavior and large-scale care. She also volunteered as a Sea Otter care giver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She began her career at the SPCA as an Animal Care Technician and eventually became the Lead Foster and Transfer Coordinator.
Abby has a passion for working with vulnerable, underage kittens and puppies and loves the work she’s doing in the Foster Program at the SPCA. She also loves that she gets to work with her husband Ben Shaw, Shelter Manager. They currently have 3 indoor cats named Alfred, Nora and Wallace, a turtle named Sheldon and a puppy named McCoy. Their puppy and cats all came from the SPCA!
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Destinee LopezDestinee Lopez is the Foster and Transfer Coordinator at SPCA Monterey County. Destinee grew up locally and discovered her love for animals while caring for her first pet, SPCA adoptee Buster the Boxer. Destinee joined the SPCA in June of 2019; she started as the adoption and Intake specialist, spent some time working as Animal care, Veterinary Assistant, Shelter Health Evaluator, Client Care receptionist, Community Outreach and now does Foster and Rescue work full time. Destinee's dream has always been to help people and animals; she is very grateful to work for an organization that not only advocates for the animals but also does so much good for the community. Destinee's favorite part about working at the SPCA is finding new ways to lower stress levels for shelter pets, she finds joy in lifting their spirits and seeing them blossom before heading to their forever home.
Destinee shares her home with her 10 year old Siberian Husky Dakota who is full of personality and spunk! Together they spend their off time traveling, camping, and hiking in national parks as often as possible.
