Pet tales: the joys of fostering

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lisa Nguyen is a longtime dog lover and volunteer for the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society.

She began fostering in June 2018, and since then, has fostered a total of 30 dogs.

Lisa is an important medical foster for WVHS, as she takes in fosters who have certain health needs that require individualized care. “I became a foster because of my passion for dogs and I just wanted to help the dogs in any way possible,” Lisa said. “It didn’t matter what the reasons for fostering were, as long as my dogs could co-exist with them.”

In her time fostering, Lisa has seen transformations from shy to confident and sick to healthy. Her work has given her foster dogs the best preparation for their next step in life. after rescuing cats, dogs, and the occasional reptile all her life, KC St. John brought her first foster home on Oct. 20, 2020.

She had been entertaining the idea of fostering as a way to get her kitten-fix and give back to the community, so she thought, “Why not?!”

Currently on her fourth litter, she is fostering bottle babies. Bottle babies are kittens who were separated from mom and need to be fed formula every few hours, and the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society is always in major need of fosters to take little ones like these.

Initially, KC opted out of being a bottle baby foster but in the peak of kitten season, she decided to help out.

“I just love being a part of these kittens’ lives so early on and then being able to send them off to their new homes happy and healthy. The little kittens that I’ve fostered in my very short stint as a foster for the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society have all been in a situation where they were not thriving,” KC said.

“Being able to invest my time and energy in changing these little kittens’ future from bleak to beautiful is the most amazing feeling ever.

“It’s even more rewarding when a friend or family member is able to adopt one of my fosters because then I can see them grow and flourish in their new home.”