As we hit the Spring breeding boom the SPCA is expecting room to fill up fast, so the hunt is on for foster parents.
In the past financial year more than 10,000 SPCA animals spent time in foster care.
Puppies and kittens are by far the most popular but pigs, horses, goats and sheep have also had fosters while waiting for their forever home.
Would you make a good fur foster and what does it take?
SPCA support services manager Laura Millar told Checkpoint despite what people may assume, you do not need to be someone who stays at home to be a foster parent.
"The vast majority of our foster parents, they work, they've got kids, they've got families, they like to travel, all of those types of things.
"It's great for people who can't commit to an animal for the whole span of their life.
"And that's often a barrier for animal lovers - they're not in a position to take on that lifetime responsibility but they still want to have an animal in their life, in the lives of their children and to enjoy that interaction."
It was what the animals needed too, she said. "They need to know what it's like to be in a family."
The SPCA has such a wide range of animals they are often able to find one to match your lifestyle.
When you foster, the SPCA takes on the cost of food and other things you might need like a cat litter tray, lead or scratching post.
One-off and ongoing medical care like flea and worm treatment is also covered.
One of the SPCA dogs visiting the Checkpoint team. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Sutherland
But what if you become emotionally attached?
Millar said a large number of foster parents end up adopting.
"Because they find just that one special animal... that really fits in so well with their family they don't want to give it back."
Foster parents get first dibs on animals too.
SPCA always needed more fosters, she said.
"We have so many animals that need our care, we have animals that come to our door every single day in need of our help and fostering helps us take on more animals.
"At any one point about 40 to 50 percent of the animals in our care are actually out at foster homes and so if all of those animals were to come back into our SPCA centres we just wouldn't have the room for them.
"The more fosters we have the more animals we can help."
Lisa is a SPCA dog in need of fostering. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Sutherland
Millar said while all animals went through a health check first, some did have medical needs and required regular check-ins with a clinic.
"We keep an eye on that and we like to make sure we don't overwhelm people so if at any point the care [becomes challenging] either it be from a behaviour perspective or a health perspective, our SPCA team is there to help."
