Pet foster care a win-win, good for mindfulness and loneliness, and it’s on an upward trend with families confined to home

Fostering pets, even for a short stay, provides purpose, as carers develop a sense of responsibility and accountability

Creative play and bonding with an animal lowers stress levels and feelings of loneliness and isolation

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Agnes Ng with her children, pets and fostered rabbit at her home in Stanley, Hong Kong. Pet fostering has become common around the world, and in Hong Kong now there are more would-be fosterers than there are pets needing fostering. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 5:45pm, 9 May 2020Updated: 8:00pm, 10 May 2020

Agnes Ng has always had pets in her life. Growing up in Hong Kong, her family had goldfish, turtles, hamsters, rabbits, budgies, a cat and a dog. When she set up her own home and started a family she made sure it included pets. “I think all children should be brought up with animals,” she says.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit early this year and she was spending more time at home, she decided to add to her already busy household of three young boys, two cats and a dog. Rather than adopting, she decided to foster two hamsters from Hong Kong’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). It needed a temporary carer for Cocoa and Pebble, to learn whether they were pregnant before putting them up for adoption.

“After three weeks, we decided to adopt them,” says Ng. “Our current guest is a baby rabbit, Sassy, who we have been fostering since early April. She will stay with us until June, and by then she will hopefully be strong enough to be neutered and ready for adoption.”

Fostering pets has become a trend in many parts of the world, and Ng is among a growing number of Hongkongers welcoming animals into their homes for short periods of time.

Dr Fiona Woodhouse, deputy director at the Hong Kong SPCA. Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong SPCA

The SPCA has more available foster “parents” than animals in need of care. “In terms of new inquiries and people coming forward to offer to foster, for this time of year we’ve seen an increase of about 60 per cent,” says deputy director Dr Fiona Woodhouse. “We’ve got around 20 people on the waiting list at the moment.”