Happy Tales: Meet 10 Shelter Pets Who Wiggled and Snuggled Their Way Into Their Foster Families’ Hearts

By Andrea Powell

Dogs and cats are always there for us, no matter what life throws at us. Currently, shelter dogs and cats are helping us relax as “quarantine buddies” during the global pandemic.

Animal shelters sent out desperate pleas a few months ago when the pandemic caused states to go on lockdown. People across the country stepped up to foster a dog or cat until shelters could return to normal. However, many of the pets have won over the hearts of their fosters and may end up being foster fails. Fingers crossed!

Photo: GreaterGood

GreaterGood wanted to help shelter pets in need, so #StayHomeAndFoster was created. The idea was to connect people willing and able to foster with shelters in need of fosters. People simply filled out a form and it was sent to shelters in their area. The program was a huge success and there are many wagging tails and soft purrs to prove it.

Hundreds of people shared their story of how they heard about #StayHomeAndFoster and what led them to foster their new best friend. Thousands of shelter pets were saved from euthanasia and they are showing their appreciation in sloppy kisses. Scroll down to meet 10 happy shelter pets who found their forever homes when they became foster fails.

Meet Mama:

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🚨 Alert: Foster Failures! No, foster failures aren’t bad; 😊 it simply means that the foster parents fell completely in love while fostering and ended up adopting! Meet Sarah and Mama from Nashville, TN. When Sarah got “Brandy,” now Mama, she was pretty sick for the first week with irritated skin, tapeworms and an infection. Sarah wouldn’t leave Mama’s side while she was recovering, and now she’s better than ever. The two have created an inseparable bond. Although Sarah doesn’t know what the future holds for her, she is sure that Mama will forever be a part of her life. 💕 Link in our bio for the full blog and to read about our second foster failure with Erin and three-month-old puppy, Gibson!

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Cha Cha:

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Sometimes you realize you’re already home. You may recall that our Director of Shelter Medicine, Lisa Germanis, was fostering Cha Cha during the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, her family made it official that Cha Cha would be staying with them #furever, no matter how long that may be. “We made it official today and signed her adoption papers! We pretty much knew we would be foster failures as soon as we brought Cha Cha home, but we put in the effort. We know nobody could love her as much as we do and she totally thinks the kids are her babies. Sadly, we found out that the cancer that was removed has spread to her lungs, but we’re enjoying the time we have left together. Her forever might not be as long as we hoped, but we’re so thankful this amazing creature has become part of our lives. Welcome to the family (officially) our sweet girl!” #animalwelfare #animalrescue #dogsofinstagram #dogs #pittiesofinstagram #pitbullsofinstagram #fosteringsaveslives #stayhomeandfoster

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Cricket:

Scrappy-Doo:

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Before and after training time with our TOP Dogs crew! 🤣😴⁠ ⁠ 🐶Scrappy-Doo came to @Pima_Animal_Care_Center with some neurological issues. Balance, learning, sight deficit, stiffness, an unusual gait that led to him being diagnosed with a malformation of the cerebellum. ⁠ ⁠ 😍His foster family fell in love and adopted him, but was having a hard time teaching him basic commands like sit, wait, etc. ⁠ ⁠ 👨🏼‍🎓Our TOP Dogs volunteers were there to help and this is what Scrappy-Doo’s new mom had to say: “The lovely ladies with TOP Dogs helped me to understand how Scrappy-Doo learns, rather than with visual commands or audio commands we worked on body language and clicker training. He did amazing and they gave us several handouts to continue training at home. Watching them work with Scrappy-Doo was really awe-inspiring!”⁠ ⁠ Your donations help support life-saving projects like TOP Dogs!⁠

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Cassidy:

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Adoption Update on Cassidy 🐶 “The past 2 weeks have been absolutely amazing and we love her more and more everyday. We couldn’t have asked for a better first dog to join the family!” Cassidy came to us a stray in February then went into foster in April and was adopted by this awesome couple directly from foster care! Cassidy is now living the best life and we’re so happy for her. Cassidy was constantly overlooked in the shelter but once she was in a foster home her true personality came out and she found her forever home so fast! Fostering is a magical thing 💕 #adopted #fosteringsaveslives #foster #stayhomeandfoster #adoptdontshop #adopt #savepetlives #homewardbound #goodbyeisthegoal

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Permanent Roommate:

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TAKEOVER 🤩 “I originally intended to foster a dog while working from home, but quickly found that, thanks to the generosity of Long Beach folks, all but 6 dogs 🐶 at the shelter had been fostered out. So, I reached out to an amazing organization called @thelittlelionfoundation which rescues cats and kittens 🐈and then finds foster/permanent homes for them. So, now I have a permanent room mate who, within one short week, has trained me to know when she wants to eat, play and cuddle. ⁠ ⁠ I’m grateful to be working with such an amazing team ♥️ who, somehow, manage to be even more productive and creative when working from home (probably because they don’t have as many interruptions from me 🙃) . I’m absolutely thrilled that within 3 weeks of schools closing, our staff have developed and are now delivering real time, Virtual STEAM programs to our underserved gifted middle school students. ⁠ ⁠ – Christi, Dramatic Results Executive Director and Founder⁠ ⁠ #StayHomeAndFoster

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Harrison:

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Harrison has been through a lot; he was an abandoned junk yard dog who spent a year in the shelter (that second picture just shows how he was feeling after a year in a kennel). But today he was told by his foster parents that he’s staying there forever. Today Harrison was ADOPTED 💗 Harrison now has the best family to call his own and even has a fur sister 🥰 • • • It’s been a rough couple of months and today was one of those days where you wonder if you’re on the right path and all that. This news just reminds me why I do what I do. Happy endings like this. We all need to remind ourselves of the good things that are still happening 💕 Way to go Harrison 👊🏼 #adopted #adoptdontshop #shelterpetsrock #savepetlives #fosteringsaveslives #foster #stayhomeandfoster

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Amelia:

Otis:

Yoda:

We would love to hear your story about how you stayed at home and fostered. Use #stayhomeandfoster to be featured on our website and tell us your story in the comments. Thank you to everyone who opened their hearts and homes to shelter pets!

Animal shelters are always in need of fosters and adopters, so feel free to fill out the form here to be sent to your local shelter. Adopt don’t shop!

If you are unable to foster or adopt but still want to help shelter pets, donate below.

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Andrea Powell
Andrea Powell is an animal enthusiast who resides in West Michigan. When not writing, she is exploring the great outdoors with her dogs and horses.
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