When Nanci Johnson picked up the litter of six semiferal kittens from the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) near Seattle, the kittens were huddled on one side of the crate, too terrified to come out.

Over the next few weeks, Johnson, a social worker, often sat on the floor, gently encouraging the kittens to play with her. Three weeks later, she had a breakthrough.

"The first time one came up and voluntarily climbed onto my lap and purred, I bawled," she said.

Johnson, a foster parent to more than 250 cats and dogs over the past 12 years, admits she often gets teary eyed.

Opportunities for fostering -- typically dogs and cats but also other animals -- have been increasing steadily in recent years because of a number of factors, said Alice Villalobos, DVM, a veterinarian based in Hermosa Beach, Calif., who founded The Peter Zippi Fund for Animals, which needs adoptive and foster parents.

Those factors include crises such as the foreclosure problem and hurricanes, which increase the number of homeless animals. Shelters nationwide have stepped up efforts to find foster and permanent homes to reduce the number of animals being euthanized. Military personnel who are deployed often need a foster arrangement, said Steve Albin, who runs Net Pets and provides such programs. If fostering sounds appealing, here are some things to know.

Foster opportunities

Organizations that train dogs for individuals who need service or assistance dogs often need foster parents. The time commitment varies and can be three months to a year or longer.

Shelters across the country that run foster programs need foster parents for varying amounts of time, said Sheri LaVigne, the foster care coordinator for PAWS near Seattle. "We send young puppies out to foster care until they are eight weeks old," she said. Then the dogs come back and are later spayed or neutered. She sometimes needs foster parents for dogs who develop kennel cough or for animals recovering from an injury.

Fostering: What it takes

A love of animals, obviously, is most important.

Volunteers for fostering are also screened to be sure they will provide a good home and have other necessary qualities, said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals--Los Angeles, which has an extensive fostering program.

Organizations often accept applications online and then interview prospective foster parents. Home visits are sometimes conducted. It's crucial to weed out people with unhealthy agendas, say Villalobos and Bernstein, including those who tend to hoard so many animals that they can't care for them properly.

Volunteers go through training about what's expected and how to take the pets to emergency care if needed. Depending on the needs of the pet to be fostered, training is tailored. For instance, those who sign up as "bottle feeders" caring for motherless newborns learn they have to feed the newborns frequently, plus mimic what the mother cat or dog would have done.

Volunteers must also be emotionally prepared for the fact that if they are caring for an entire litter of newborns, they may lose one or more.

Typically, the foster program takes care of vet bills, and the foster family pays for food, toys and other incidentals.

Parents' stories

Most foster parents agree that the hardest part is returning the animal, even though that typically means a permanent home has been found.

"It's sad for me but it's sad for them (only) momentarily," said Becky Norris, a hairdresser in Seattle who has fostered about 40 kittens and a half dozen dogs. But she focuses on the good news that the animals get a permanent home.

Nanci Johnson has also learned how to cope. "I think happy thoughts about them in their new home," she said. Sometimes, someone she knows adopts them and she gets to visit. But with most, it's the last time she sees them once her foster care is done. She starts thinking about the new batch she'll foster.

Foster pets typically get along with existing household pets. Norris and her husband have a rottweiler, two pit bulls and two Persian cats and introducing the foster pets has gone smoothly, she said.

Reviewed by Susan E. Aiello, DVM, ELS, and John A. Bukowski, DVM, MPH, PhD

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