Joy the cat is six months old and has been spending much of her time at the RSPCA Wangaratta shelter looking for her forever home.
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Luckily for Joy, she was fostered by Benalla couple Sarah Northey and Jesse Rhodes and has become great friends with their daughter Elodi.
Sarah also works at the Wangaratta RSPCA shelter and is keen to let the community know the benefits of becoming a foster parent to a homeless pet.
“Joy has a medical condition, which (we believe is) cerebral hyperplasia which can cause a head bobble,” Sarah said.
“But she functions like a normal kitten, but with a little bit more movement.”
To highlight the difference to Joy’s life, being in a loving home rather than a shelter, Jesse said the instances of her head bobbles had reduced dramatically since they had had her.
“RSPCA provide the cat litter, food and everything you need to foster an animal, so none of the associated costs will come out of your pocket,” Jesse said.
There's always lots of affectionate pets available for adoption from RSPCA Wangaratta, but most can be fostered, too.
So if you are looking to give a cat, dog, puppy, kitten or even a rabbit a temporary home, you just need to call the shelter.
The other benefit to fostering is if you are unsure if a pet will fit into your household you can look after one to see how it goes.
Sarah said that there was no issues if you already had other pets.
“It doesn’t really matter,” she said.
“So long as you’re able to separate them if you need to. We have another cat Malekai, and at night we separate them by closing the lounge room door.”