70% of families reported that obtaining a pet increased family happiness.

68% of the families viewed their pets as full family members.

62% reported that their pets usually-to-always had “people status.”

60% of families reported that obtaining a pet increased expression of affection in their family.

52% of families reported that obtaining a pet increased family time together.

77% of the families reported that pets understood what family members said

73% of the families reported that the pet communicated back to them.

50% of families reported that the pet stayed close when family members were upset.

44% of the families said that their pets sometimes-to-always tried to diffuse tension when between two family members. (Example: A dog trying to get a couple’s attention away from their fighting.)

(Source: Cain (1985) employed the conceptualization of family therapist Bowen (1978) who contended that the family comprises a system that can include pets. Cain surveyed 896 military families with pets throughout the United States.)

I am coming to you tonight with a request. You are all probably thinking, "here she goes again - asking for my time". Although your time volunteering is extremely important to the animals in our shelter, this is something a bit different. This time I am asking for your homes - or that of a friend or family member.

Let me explain. I am sure some of you have been or know someone who has been hit by the hard economic times that this country is dealing with. Because of these bad times, our shelter, as well as every shelter in the tri-state area is getting to the point of overcrowding. As they say, "there is no more room at the inn".

For those of you who do not know, we at HCAS have been working very hard at establishing our Foster Program. I have to say it has been very successful, but not successful enough. "What does this mean to me?" you may ask. What this means is that you can help out by opening your home to become a foster parent to our needy animals that may be stuck at the shelter for quite awhile. You would care for our animals in your home until they are go to their "forever home". This gives the animals a chance to get out of the shelter for awhile. Alot of times when an animal is at the shelter for a long time, they lose their personalities and become a bit unsocialable. This may cause them to become "unadoptable" in alot of people's eyes. We do not want that for our animals.

Maybe you have room for a cat. How about a mommy cat and her kittens? Are you a dog person? We have all kinds of dogs and puppies to choose from.

Any animal that you would have room for would make a huge difference in the life of an animal.

I have attached a list of some of our dogs and cats that are currently at the shelter. I have also attached the form to become a"Foster Parent".

If you could please pass this email on to your friends, family, work colleagues, etc., and then they pass it along, we could cover a good bit of the tri-state area. Someone out there wants to become a foster family, we just need to find that person! With your help, we can do it.

For more information on our foster program, please click here. For a foster care application, please click here

Again, thanks for your help.

Regards

Michelle