Our org does both cats and dogs, and we've had some escapees! I've been managing the program for a little under 2 years, and in that time I think we've had 5 animals total who got loose--4 dogs and 1 cat. (Rough math puts that at about 0.5% of foster placements, for reference.)
In almost all escaped animal cases, once the animal is recovered, we have a quick conversation about what happened and ensure the foster has the tools they need to prevent it in the future. Sometimes that's a really quick "okay, so we all learned not to open cat carriers while outside!" kind of thing; more frequently, it's something like "since these guys have already gotten out once, we're going to be extra diligent about checking all external doors before unclipping leashes." Addressing really common mistakes that only rarely result in actual lost animals, that kind of thing. We've only had one animal escape more than once, and that dog was an extremely prolific escape artist no matter where he was. We had multiple conversations with his foster family, and nearly pulled the plug on that placement once or twice, but ultimately figured out solutions that worked and kept him out of the shelter. It helped that he was an all-around social dog, and every time he got out, he beelined for the first person he could find to say hello, so he was very easy to recover!
We treat all escaped or found foster animals as an emergency situation. If an animal were to be lost outside of business hours, we have an answering service for our main number that routes all lost/found foster animals to my phone. It's an immediate staff-hands-on-deck kind of situation, typically me (+/- other staffers) going out to help physically assess the area, place signs/traps, and come back to the managers to build a plan. While I'm doing that, one of the managers will post lost dog/cat information to local Facebook groups and NextDoor. If a thorough search of the area doesn't immediately locate the animal, then procedure splits depending on whether it's a dog or cat.
For dogs, we focus more on posting and getting information out there. All dogs have been found in less than 24 hours by another member of the community.
For cats, we focus on trapping. We're lucky to have a couple older SD-card trail cameras, as well as volunteers with fancier (cellular!) trail cameras that will lend them to us. Our one lost cat was trapped with the assistance of the cellular trail cameras. She was a tricky trapper, so being able to get phone notifications when she showed up was super helpful. In general, the cat process starts with zip-tying some traps open, baiting them, and trying to confirm the cat is still in the area (this is where cameras are very helpful). From there, we personalize depending on what we know about the cat and how they behave around the traps.
I'm the on-call staffer for lost foster animals partially because I'm managing the foster program, and partially because I'm the staffer in the org with the most knowledge of lost animal behavior (shoutout to all the information MARN has available online). We include fosters in the lost animal recovery process, but I tend to take point on it because while I've got the info, I'm not quite so good at it that it's easy for me to explain what to do to other people. Right now, it's easier and faster for me to go assess the situation than it is for me to walk someone else through that process.
We don't do home checks--like you said, it would take up an unreasonable amount of time and wouldn't have prevented any of those escapes. Plus, we're always working to make foster lower-barrier and more accessible to more people. We do technically have a general written protocol for lost animals, but it hasn't been updated for several years, and I'm not sure how much of it is still accurate. Something for us to work on!
If I'm reading your post right, it sounds like your main challenge is that staff consider it a regular problem, but based on numbers it's actually a very infrequent issue? Correct me if I'm wrong there! I can't speak to what's happening in your organization, but I can give you some insight on why I think our staff consider it an infrequent issue:
1) While lost animals are an emergency in that we need to act promptly, they're not an emergency that calls for panic. We're fairly relaxed about it; this is a thing that happens, and while we're often concerned about the animal, we try to be lighthearted as well. After the animal has been found, it's often a silly story we retell. It's the cat who gave us the runaround for two weeks, or who showed up three miles away a year later, or the dog who we had to go collect from the local police department. Some of that may be that we're a group of people who cope with humor, but I do think it helps us reframe these situations mentally as less frightening than they might have been in the moment, and therefore less notable.
2) Michelle is right on target with the org culture aspect. When we talk about foster animals getting loose, we never place blame on the foster families, regardless of personal feelings. Consistently framing lost animals as something that can happen to anyone (which has the benefit of being true) helps them become something sort of routine. And while we never want it to be a frequent situation, it is definitely a fact of life.
3) We don't notify the whole organization when an animal escapes a foster home. The relevant people are pulled in to address the situation, and sometimes we ask if there are staff who have time to help search and put up signs. Often, staff not involved in the situation don't hear about it until it's been resolved. We're not hiding it from people, but it's really not something where we feel everyone needs to be on alert when it occurs. Some staff may not hear about the situation until after it's been resolved.
4) Honestly, we've got other things that are more frequent and more stressful for us! We do a lot of work with dogs who have significant behavior challenges, and animals with significant medical needs; the complications that arise from those are far more frequent and far more stressful for staff than the occasional lost foster animal, especially when those animals are usually recovered before most staff know they've gone missing. If 0.1% of your foster animals going missing is your biggest (perceived) issue, maybe that's not a bad thing? Or, to put that in a less joking manner--staff being so concerned about a tiny portion of foster animals going missing could suggest that your other big challenges are managed in such a way that they're not the most significant stressor, which could be a sign that you're managing other challenges really well.
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Emma Fraser-Koehler
Foster Coordinator
Homeward Pet Adoption Center
WA
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