I’ve been fostering for a number of years, now.
I had originally planned to do just “cage blocking” neutered boars who’d been neutered by the rescue and needed to wait out their 6 weeks, but rescue life doesn’t always work out that neatly and in fact I have had very few post neuter boars in my time as a foster carer. You really do have to be flexible as it’s hard to predict where the next batch of rescue pigs are coming from, what age and sex they are and also what health issues you may find them to have.
As a first time foster carer you suddenly find yourself with an incredible sense of responsibility for your charges. You don’t know them and their little quirks; you don’t know what they like or don’t like to eat; you don’t know their personalities and how they interact with humans or other piggies. You don’t know whether they are hiding illnesses or bringing you gifts of lice, mites, fungal and respiratory infections. You suddenly become acutely aware of the importance of quarantine and hygiene measures and become an avid reader of Wiebke’s guides.
Despite their nervousness (and yours) you have to be hands on from day one - checking teeth, ears, eyes, genitalia, grease glands, teeth, weighing them and dealing with any health issues they have. It can feel overwhelming at first until you get used to them and they to you. If you can remember the anxiety you felt the first time you bought piggies home, then that’s pretty much how you will feel with your first few fosters. That does ease with time, but to be honest I still get anxious every time a new set of foster piggies arrive.
And once you’ve got them ready for rehoming with nice healthy weights, glossy coats, spent hours handling them and making them handleable for someone else and taken lovely photos there’s every chance that you will have fallen in love with them. And then you spend hours trying to work out how your own set up could be altered to accommodate them whilst trying to ensure you can still be a help to the rescue by not blocking all your cages. Because there is an endless supply of piggies coming into rescue.
You’ll get to hear every possible excuse known to man for the reason they are being surrendered. Some are honest, some dishonest, some are genuinely heartbreaking for the folk doing the surrendering and some are heartbreaking to you. But you have to just take it all in your stride.
And then you have to do home checking (if your rescue asks you to) and suitability considerations and deal with people coming to meet your fosters and adoptions. You may have to do supervised dating or bonding sessions. You have to keep your own piggies and the fosters immaculate almost all the time (in case you want to risk being judged) while maintaining a swan like air!
Every now and then I look back at photos of all the piggies I’ve fostered in the past Every single one has tugged on my heartstrings because as a foster mum I’ve invested my time and care into them. And every single one has deserved the best home. The trick is to realise that that home isn’t always with you. And when they come in you have to prepare yourself for them going again. I often tell them how lovely they are, but they aren’t mine and they aren’t staying. It’s as much for my benefit as theirs.
Fostering isn’t for everyone but it is very rewarding. Nothing better than seeing a piggy blossom under your care and then go to the best home.
. I was just looking for someone who has gone through the experience as well. Some extra moral support. My rescue gave me information and told me exactly how everything works.
