Animal-welfare groups across Los Angeles are urging residents to foster pets during the holiday season to help save homeless cats and dogs and ease overcrowding at local animal shelters.

Shelters, the organizations say, can be loud, unfamiliar and stressful places, particularly for shy or frightened animals; temporary homes give those animals time to relax, build trust and better prepare for permanent adoption. Fostering pets, including during the holiday season, provides long-term benefits such as reduced stress and cortisol levels in shelter animals and improved behavior on multiple measures, including increased confidence and friendliness. New Research Indicates Shelter Cat Fostering Reduces Loneliness …

That message is central to a push underway this month by groups working across the city. Best Friends Animal Society and Pasadena Humane Society are among the organizations encouraging people to consider short-term fostering this season. Best Friends Animal Society described fostering as a key tool to reduce shelter pressure while improving animals’ prospects. They highlight that, based on studies, fostering can lead to significantly higher adoption rates.

“Fostering can play a critical role in saving the lives of homeless cats and dogs while easing overcrowding at local shelters during one of the busiest times of the year,” Best Friends Animal Society said.

The groups emphasize that fostering need not be a long-term commitment. “Fostering is a short-term, hands-on commitment that can last anywhere from a single night or weekend to several weeks or months,” the Best Friends Animal Society statement added, laying out the program’s flexibility.

Officials backing the campaign noted the outsized impact even brief placements can have. “Even a brief fostering commitment can make a lasting difference, giving homeless pets a better chance at finding permanent homes while spreading compassion during the holidays,” stated officials. However, they also noted that animal shelters typically face reduced foster availability during the holiday season due to factors like people traveling or attending parties, which limits their capacity to intake new animals.

Advocates point to several practical benefits: animals removed from kennels often show calmer behavior and more natural social traits when placed in quiet home environments, and shelters gain immediate space to accept more incoming animals. Those effects, the organizations say, increase the odds that a pet will connect with a new adopter. To find a local animal shelter to foster a pet, residents are encouraged to search online for shelters in their area or use tools like Google Maps to locate resources akin to “animal shelter near me fostering.”

Local shelters are describing the current effort as a seasonal push, timed for a period when intake can rise and available foster placements typically decline. Pasadena Humane Society is participating in those efforts alongside Best Friends, offering support to people who sign up to foster and highlighting how temporary homes can help pets decompress and demonstrate their personalities.

Community volunteers and staff at the participating organizations are coordinating placements and answering questions from potential fosters. Groups involved in the campaign are also sharing practical details on how to apply and what to expect from a short-term placement, while repeating the core message that a range of time commitments can still produce meaningful results for animals in care. Unfortunately, there has also been an uptick in animal surrenders post-holidays due to impulsive gift giving, contributing to the overcrowding of shelters.

For animals living in shelters, the organizations stressed, time in a home environment can lead to a better chance at finding a permanent home. The push from these groups is aimed at turning holiday goodwill into concrete placements that relieve shelter strain and give cats and dogs clearer paths to adoption.

As the season progresses, the organizations continue to encourage Angelenos to consider opening their homes temporarily to animals in need and to consult participating shelters for details about available programs and timelines.

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