Foster Care & Adoption
Team IDA India is always very keen about getting our rescued orphan pups, kittens and abandoned dogs into, as we call them 'good and safe homes'. The animals we rescue whether infant or adult have usually gone through some trauma; some of them suffering from a very young age – just a few weeks old at times. Abandoned adult dogs, mostly high maintenance breed dogs, who have been thrown out and reduced to a miserable state due to this cruel separation from those they love the most, go through excruciating suffering. They have to be tenderly treated and slowly taught to trust humans again.
After two decades of rescue work like this, we understand exactly what they go through and this motivates us to go all out to ensure a happy and contented future for each one.
We now have the entire exercise down pat; whisking the little one out of the hospital environment and into a safe foster home and care. It is there that the pup or kitten grows up in a home environment and becomes thoroughly socialised with humans and other pets. This has become a well practised routine with those of us involved in the foster care / adoption process.
We are always on the lookout for good foster carers. Foster care is extremely expensive for us, hence we try to persuade good people, skilled in looking after young pups and kittens, to do this vital work free for us, and many times we succeed.
Once pups are in foster care, we turn our attention to finding homes for each new candidate. This takes time and patience. Once two lovely pups had to wait a whole year, but we managed to get them a good home together where they are much loved and well looked after. For adoptions we use a number of strategies:
Taking attractive pictures and posting the pup's details alongside. Pictures are taken with care, with props being used. After this, the details are posted on as many forums as possible. We always try to get videos from foster homes as these also show the pup or kitten in action 'at home'. As we keep getting calls, we finally settle on a person who seems to meet all the requirements to adopt our precious little one. The elders in the family are always involved and enquiries made, as they might soon be primary care givers for the pup or kitten being adopted.
Next comes the home check and getting the two together for purposes of bonding. There is also a lot of paper work involved but all this serves as safeguards for the little animal in question and his or her safe adoption. The Adoption Form is filled in and proof of residence is obtained, along with other documents for identification. We hand over vaccination certificates and the Adopter is assured of all assistance in future should any problem arise. Any adult animal is first spayed or neutered and only then given in adoption. All care is taken to see that the adoption works and the animal becomes a part of the family for the duration of his or her life.
In this way we have managed a large number of successful adoptions over the years. The small "Adopted" stamp on each picture displayed on our website is proof of that. Pups and dogs are now grown up and happy in their homes here and even in some foreign countries, where Indies are highly admired and appreciated. We have managed to even place our blind cats in wonderful homes where they are treasured and very happy. Similarly several animals with special needs have been welcomed into loving families.
This is the most rewarding work as all these animals have been rescued from the street. Each happy ending is what fills us with enthusiasm and makes us work even harder to find homes for these wonderful animals who we know from long experience, are good for the family that adopts them, in the best possible ways.