Volunteers house foster pets to better their chances for adoption

WEST PEORIA, Illl. -- Cassie Shepherd thinks it's easier by far to have a house full of cats than a house full of children. That's why she chooses to be a foster parent to the four-legged variety.

"Animals are very appreciative of what you do for them," said Shepherd, a West Peoria resident who's been fostering pets for the Tazewell Animal Protective Society in Pekin with her husband, Don, for the past three years.

The Shepherds are among a few families who currently foster pets for TAPS, according to the no-kill shelter's manager, Sue Taffar. The program was started about eight years ago as a way to take in more animals and help socialize skittish pets.

"There's always a plus when they go into a home situation," Taffar said. "It helps us learn more about the animals, especially when they're strays. And it helps socialize them and gets them more used to a home environment and being around people."

Currently, about 15 dogs and 25 cats are in foster homes all around the area. Cassie and Don Shepherd are fostering three adult cats and three kittens, in addition to their own three cats and one dog.

"The shelter setting is chaotic, and the pets are in a cage," Cassie said. "I don't think you can see their true personality at the shelter like you can in a home setting."

As an example, Cassie points to an older cat named Fancy, whose original owners had raised her from a kitten but took her to be euthanized at 13 years old because they wanted to travel.

"TAPS heard about her and went and got her, but she didn't adjust at all to the shelter setting," Cassie said. "They called and told me that if she didn't get into a foster home, they thought she might die in the shelter."

The Shepherds rescued Fancy a year ago, and she's still part of their home as a foster pet.

"Not too many people want a 14-year-old cat, but they don't know what they're missing because she's wonderful and she's quite healthy," Cassie said.

Deb Kelsey of Kingston Mines became a foster mom for TAPS late last summer after she found a pregnant boxer-rottweiler mix near her home.

"At the time they didn't have room for her at the shelter. She was a good dog, so I thought I'd try fostering her," said Kelsey, who has four dogs and a cat of her own.

The two puppies born at Kelsey's home found new homes at 7 weeks, but their mom died Jan. 13, apparently from cancer, Kelsey said.

A longtime TAPS volunteer, Kelsey said fostering pets benefits everyone.

"It's good for the animal, but I think it's good for the person, too," she said. "I think it helps the dogs get a home quicker because a lot of them don't do well in a shelter being in a cage 24/7. In a home, you can teach them different things to make them more adoptable."

Don and Cassie Shepherd guess they've fostered about 90 pets over the past three years. Most have been adopted; although, like Deb Kelsey, not all their stories have happy endings.

"When we first started I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue because we took in several kittens that didn't have a mom, and they didn't make it," Don said. "They were just a few days old and didn't even have their eyes open."

Despite the Shepherds' efforts to bottle feed the babies around the clock, the kittens were just too tiny to survive. Not long after that, however, the couple took in another tiny kitten that was blind.

"We got up every few hours to feed her, and she did make it and got adopted," Cassie said proudly. "(Her owners) just love her."