Stray to Foster Resources

If there is a medical emergency and you need to bring your foster dog to a vet after hours, please text the foster coordinator and vet tech number to let them know that you are going and why. These phones are turned off at 5pm but will allow the staff to check in with the emergency vet and the foster provider about the animal.

The county contracts with Happy Tails Emergency Veterinarian Clinic as well as Carolina Veterinarian Specialist and will pay for the costs of any medical bills at these facilities for our foster dog. Do not pay for a shelter dog to be seen at one of these facilities. You will not be reimbursed. If you need to bring a shelter dog to one of these facilities, please bring the medical records that are in your bag with you as proof that they are a shelter dog and not your personal dog.

The following is what we consider to be an emergency and will require you to take your foster dog to an emergency vet:

• Trauma –sustaining a severe injury or suspected poisoning or burn
• Difficulty breathing –struggling for breath, gasping, or shallow breathing
• Seizures
• Deep cuts and gashes that will not stop bleeding with pressure
• Extreme lethargy and the animal is not able to waken or move
• Extreme instability or falling over
• Liquid diarrhea with blood and vomiting
• Rectal temperature 104.5 or above.
• Pale and tacky gums paired with slow capillary response time (CRT)

If your foster is not having a medical emergency, please contact the Foster Coordinator and they will get back to you for an appointment during business hours.

Happy Tails Emergency Veterinary Clinic
336-288-2688
4525 Lawndale Drive 
Greensboro, NC 27408

Carolina Veterinary Specialists
336-632-0605
501 Nicholas Road
Greensboro, NC 27409

If there is a behavioral concern and you do not feel comfortable handling your foster pet, please call Animal Control at 336-641-5990. If you need to return your foster pet due to an emergency that is after-hours, please contact Metro 911 non-emergency number (336-373-2222) and request an Animal Control Officer- be sure to mention that the dog is a foster animal. For true emergencies, call 911.

If the dog bites you, even a play bite, and it breaks skin and draws blood, we must report it. Please alert the Foster Coordinator if you are ever bitten by a foster animal. It is extremely important to document an animal’s behavior and ensures that GCAS can continue to make sure all foster families have a safe experience. North Carolina law requires any animal that bites and breaks skin to undergo a 10-day rabies quarantine under the supervision of a veterinarian.

If you choose to keep your foster pet for adoption or for long term foster, your foster pet will need to come back three weeks after initial intake to receive vaccine boosters and deworming treatment.

Please contact either the foster team or vet tech number for assistance in scheduling a time to bring your foster pet to the shelter to be looked at.

If a potential owner of the animal contacts you, please do not hand over the animal to the potential owner. They will need to go to the shelter and provide proof of ownership. We also ask that you bring the animal to the shelter for any sort of hand off for everyone's safety.

State law requires that we hold an animal for 72 hours when they come in as a stray to allow potential owners to reclaim them. In those 72 hours, the animal still belongs to the potential owners. After 72 hours, the animal legally belongs to the county, and we are allowed to adopt the animal out. If an owner comes forward after the 72 hours, we do our best to reunite the lost pet with their owner if they have not already been adopted.

All fosters will be supplied with food, bowls if needed, leashes and collars if needed. We will do our best to also supply crates and/or carriers, though these are often used by our long-term foster team and we may not have any available.

We try and mitigate any possibility of this happening, making sure doors are shut securely, not leaving a dog unattended for long periods of time outside of a crate, and using barriers to avoid the foster dog from slipping out. But, things happen. In the event that a foster dog does get out, the most important thing is to not panic. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your foster pet may escape from you or your home. If this should happen, please contact the Foster Coordinator immediately with the following information:

• The animal’s Animal ID (EX: A012345) and Name (this can be found on your foster pet’s paperwork)
• Last known location
• Date and time of escape
• What the situation was when escape occurred (opening the front door, walking the foster pet, etc.)

We suggest that you put up fliers around your neighborhood and place ads on local lost and found websites, Facebook pages (including your personal page and the GCAS page), Pawboost, the Nextdoor app, and Craigslist.

Should the animal be picked up by an Animal Control Officer of GCAS, the Foster Team will be notified and will contact you immediately. The Foster Team can request that an officer be sent out to survey the area if the animal was lost within Guilford County. Always keep the Foster Coordinator informed with any updates.

We strongly suggest that you keep the new foster away from any resident pets as we are unsure of their vaccine history or temperament. If you do choose to introduce them, please use caution introducing shelter pets to resident pets. We do not always know how a dog or cat will act in a new home with new friends. For the safety of your feline friends, we strongly suggest you do not introduce your cats to a shelter dog. If you do, please exercise extreme caution and never leave a shelter dog alone with any resident animals. If you choose to continue fostering or to adopt, we can provide guidance on safely integrating a foster into your home with resident pets.

Social media is a phenomenal tool on helping reunite pets with their owners. Facebook, Next Door, Instagram, TikTok, X, or any other social media platforms are a great way to get the word out about the pet you have found. Hanging flyers and speaking with neighbors in the area is also very helpful. Many pets go missing within 2 miles of their home so searching the area they were found in may be most helpful.

We will place your foster in a kennel and assess if they are an adoption candidate or find alternative placements for them.