Foster homes are urgently needed as the Humane Society of Kitchener-Waterloo & Stratford-Perth see an influx of pets.
Spokesperson Calla James says some have medical needs like cats that just had kittens and the kittens need time to grow but others have higher medical needs.
"We have pets like Peach who is currently going through heartworm treatment and needs to be kept really quiet and calm," said James. "So she's looking for a very specific home where she can be nice and safe and kept on her strict rest orders."
James says the rise in pets being turned into the shelter is just the typical increase they see every spring and not due to people returning pandemic pets.
"We kind of braced for impact when we first started hearing about people returning pets whether that be in other countries, it was coming out in the media," said James. "But the one thing we were actually seeing was no, we weren't seeing people bring back pets or returning pets after adopting them which was really great. People were understanding that it was a commitment."
If you live in Perth County you can volunteer to foster a pet by filling out an application on the Humane Society's website.
"In particular right now if we have anybody that really is interested we want them to apply right away," she said. "They can also give us call to state that they are interested and that they have a home where they would be able to take an animal pretty quickly."