Heading Home Animal Rescue

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Aptos, CA
Heading Home Animal Rescue

We help local Cats and Kittens in our community through Adoption, spay/neuter, TNR, & barn placement.

Heading Home Animal Rescue is a local non-profit animal welfare organization. Harnessing the power of our community through our dedicated volunteers, fosters, and experienced animal welfare professionals, we support the health and safety of the animals of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties in California and the people who love them. Our programs, such as Working Whiskers, HHAR Spay/Neute

r Clinic, and our dedicated trappers and adoptions volunteer teams, truly make a difference. We proudly offer cats and kittens for adoption at PetSmart in Santa Cruz and San Mateo and please contact us directly for barn placements. Learn more about how we support our community at
https://www.headinghomerescue.org/

12/08/2024

UPDATE: WE JUST GOT A CALL THAT MATHIEU HAS BEEN RETURNED IN A CARRIER ANONYMOUSLY TO THE STORE. We are overjoyed that he is safe and will get to go home in the next few days after being examined by a vet. Thank you all for your help getting this information out there, and helping to apply pressure and get him back. We can’t thank you enough!

REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE RETURN OF MATHIEU

At about 8:25pm on 12/7, the couple shown in these photos broke into a kennel housing this sweet, shy guy named Mathieu. They ran out the front door of the building with him, and we are deeply concerned for his welfare. To make matters worse, he was expected to be adopted today with his brother.

Mathieu is about a year old, all gray, medium haired and has a tail is only about 2/3 length (something he was born with that adds to his charm!) He was wearing a light blue collar at the time he was stolen.

A police report has been made with Santa Cruz PD. If you recognize the people in the photos please reach out. We just want Mathieu back safely, he deserves the loving home he was headed to today with his brother. 😞

04/08/2024

Perfection needs no adjustments, only recognition. 🤣

04/05/2024

We hadn’t quite gotten a chance to introduce you all to this girl, but you saw her on all of the news coverage of SBC Neglectapolooza. We named her My Goodies - 14 pounds of biscuit making, belly rub requesting, chatty story telling, GOOD GURL.

She got her happy ending a couple days ago, and we are so glad.

One by one, until we’re done.

04/04/2024

In October, a woman named Jennifer who had rescued cats from the streets and loved them dearly, passed away. Her cats were found with her body by paramedics and taken to their local shelter, then picked up by her boyfriend. For several months he cared for them, until his housing situation changed and they needed a soft place to land. Janet (Jennifer’s momma) put together a Facebook post, hoping to find her daughter’s kitties new homes, as she was unable to take them in due to cat allergies. Thankfully we had room in our program to take them, and now Starsky, Suzy and Little Boy are with us looking for loving homes as their momma would have wanted.

Starsky is huge, maybe 17 pounds of…well, he’s chunky, let’s just leave it at that. He is a senior, somewhere between 10-15 years of age, likely. All black, friendly and good with other cats.

Suzy is a fluffy brown tabby, currently shaved with a lion cut due to matting in her coat. She’s very sweet and also good with other cats. We can’t be sure of age for her, but she’s likely somewhere between 3-7 years old.

Little Boy is black and white, talkative, and friendly. We are unsure of his age as well but likely in that same range as Suzy of 3-7 years old.

They do not need to be adopted together, and we’d love to find homes for them sooner rather than later as they’ve been through so much change and loss in the last few months, they deserve to be settled in and loved as Jennifer wanted for them.

They’re at Petsmart in Santa Cruz, adoption hours daily, come on by!

04/03/2024

Bautista went from a disgusting f***s and urine filled cage at SBC Neglectapolooza to us for care and recuperation then on to a loving home last week.

One by one until we’re done.

04/02/2024

When we met Mr. Samuel Buffington*, he was in a trap at Hollister Police Animal Care & Services, having been caught and removed from SBC Neglectapolooza along with a couple hundred of his friends and acquaintances.

He was pretty worried, and before Rick and Susie deleted their “rescue” facebook and Petfinder pages we were able to find photos of him from when he was up for adoption previously. They had him listed as very shy and so we weren’t sure what he would be like after he had time to decompress.

Well, jokes on them because turns out he is a complete goofball and sweetie pants who loves petting and attention. He’s one of the kitties that it was hard to get photos of because as soon as he sees you he’s trying to come over for pets and cheek rubs.

He’s at Petsmart in Santa Cruz, go get him. He deserves the best, this boy!

*this is not the name he had at SBC Neglectapolooza.

04/01/2024

Allie from SBC Neglectapolooza was adopted last week! No more worries about mats or whether or not you’ll have a clean litter box and plenty of food and water, sweet girl.

03/31/2024

Gino (don’t worry, he’s nothing like the Gino from 90 Day Fiancé) is still looking for a home! Gino is sweet and friendly, but maybe not confident enough to live with young children. He does well with or without other cats, and definitely enjoys petting and attention but isn’t a needy dude. He’s over at our PetSmart in Sand City, waiting patiently for the right folks to come along.

The right folks look like: cat-experienced, owners of (or willing to purchase) a good car tree, aware of how to help a shy guy get comfy in a new place, have good foods, feather/string toys.

03/30/2024

These are somehow still available? 🙃 We don’t understand it, but maybe you guys didn’t get our message about them existing in this fine world of ours last week?

Garbanzo, Chickpea and Ramen are tiny, perfect, and homeless. *cue Sarah McLaughlin music* Go get them at Petsmart in Santa Cruz!

03/27/2024

The photo is terrible, but the action is superb! Caught the final straggler out on the Hawthorne location in Watsonville that we were working. One more pocket of unfixed feral kitties addressed, this one with the help of the wonderful folks over at the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter who were able to get her in for spay so she can be returned home today! This location utilized every way of helping that we have — equipment and trapping provided, spay and neuter (for free!) provided, the two social cats taken into adoptions and found homes, and the homeowner educated on the vacuum effect! Eight more kitties helped, and a neighborhood hot spot resolved!

03/26/2024

Garbanzo, Chickpea (twins, of course) and Noodle and Ramen are two month old baby kids that landed in adoptions at PetSmart in Santa Cruz today. Three boys, one girl, four PERFECT kittens. These four came to us from a caring family in Salinas that had kitties that needed to be fixed. (Of course that is being done as well, courtesy of AFRP and Karen G.) Come down and meet them, we’re pretty sure they’re going to have a long line of adopters by the time the internet realizes this post exists. 🤣

March Adoption hours at Santa Cruz Petsmart:
Monday 5-7pm Tuesday 6:30-8:30pm Wednesday 5-7pm Thursday 5-7pm Friday 5-7pm Saturday 2-5pm and Sunday 1-3pm.

03/25/2024

This handsome, goofy boy is Bentley. He came to us from the capable hands of Marina Gordon after she found him dumped in San Juan Bautista. Marina and her husband Erik take in a lot of cats in the San Juan Bautista and Hollister areas, getting them patched up and ready to find loving homes. Those communities are almost as lucky to have them as the cats are!

Bentley hung out with us at our Petsmart in Gilroy for a week, maybe two charming literally everyone who saw him. He was one of many kitties adopted this past weekend during Petsmarts quarterly National Adoption Event. Congrats to Bentley and his new home, and three cheers for Marina and all the work she does to help kitties in need! 👏👏

03/24/2024

Yesterday we had our March spay and neuter clinic! 26 cats and kittens were fixed, feral and friendly, almost all public owned. Thanks to those folks who let us help their kitties get care yesterday, and to our awesome clinic team for all their hard work on behalf of the community. One more clinic in early April and then it’ll all be focused on kitties that we’ve taken in from the shelters and are finding homes for. Kitten season is practically here!

03/21/2024

This is Ruby - she came to Rick and Susie two weeks before they were busted. A caring person in the community asked them to take in this gorgeous girl after she showed up stray in their neighborhood in Hollister. When we got her, she was thin and shut down, covered in fleas and missing that light in her eyes like all the others.

It took a couple of days of consistent care and interaction, but Ruby started to show signs of interest in petting..and then the next morning she was 100% all about talking to us and requesting cheek rubs.

She went to adoptions at the tail end of last week and met Anna, who had been visiting the adoption center regularly just waiting for the right cat. When they met, Ruby gingerly put her head into Anna’s hand for pets and the tears started to fall. Anna found her girl. Two days later she had documented landlord approval and Ruby was on her way home.

Worry no more, sweet girl, you are home. ❤️

03/20/2024

The third cat from SBC Neglectapolooza we want to introduce you to is Bautista. Bautista came to Susie and Rick after his owner passed away and her friends entrusted the care of her three beloved kitties to Susie. Unfortunately we have no idea what happened to the other two cats from this home after they disappeared into their care.

Bautista was “living” in the disgusting kennel in the second photo. He only had food and water because animal control put it in the dishes when they came to get the cats out of there. The built up f***s and urine in the litter box he tried to continue to use (despite the horrendous stench) is a testament to how much he wanted to be a good boy and do what he’s supposed to do.

Bautista is a bit thin, but the stench of that kennel has been washed off of him and he’s ready to find a loving home again. He’s a BIG boy, and was used to being indoor/outdoor at his previous home, so would probably enjoy a catio or safe indoor/outdoor location. He enjoys petting and attention, and is waiting for you at our Petsmart in Santa Cruz.

03/19/2024

This little furball is Leah, she’s the second kitty from SBC Neglectapolooza that we want to introduce you to.

When we met her she was shut down, thin, covered in fleas and it just seemed like all the light that kittens are supposed to have in their eyes was missing. 😢 You can see why after looking at the first photo - she was “living” in that disgusting cage, and didn’t even have any toys or bedding. (The food was put in the bowl by animal control.)

We got to work getting her all fixed up as soon as we got her home. Flea meds, dewormer, a vet visit for exam and vaccines, and all the food and water she wanted. When we gave her her first mouse toy, she came alive and the magic of kittens started to show itself in her.

She made her way to adoptions in Santa Cruz last week, and last night this couple made it official and brought her home. They have another kitten that was adopted from us a few months back so Leah will have a play mate, and all the love and care she’s deserved all along. Oh, and you can bet that she’ll have all the toys she’s ever wanted from here on out too!

03/18/2024

This week is the week a lot of cats from SBC Neglectapolooza* have been waiting a long time for. Most of the cats we pulled out of there will be heading to adoptions and finally get to meet their people. The first one we want to introduce you to is Allie. Allie is at most a year old, she’s very petite so may be a kitten but does have all of her adult teeth. She was living in the disgusting kennel in the first photo, not getting up or moving around much because her back legs were matted together with litter and f***s. 😢 She was also flea infested, her skin scabbed from all of the bites and irritation. Needless to say as soon as we got her home we started addressing these issues. Now she is flea free, the scabs are almost gone and she’s been freed from the mats she developed. The only signs of her previous neglect now is the staining on her fur, her “haircut,” and the fact that she’s a bit underweight. All things that will resolve with time and care.

We don’t know how she ended up with Rick and Susie, but she’s incredibly sweet and affectionate, uses a litter box well, and is ready to finally have a loving home. She deserves the best, come and meet her at our Petsmart in Santa Cruz.

*okay, okay that’s not their “real” name but maybe it should have been

Address

PO Box 2852
Aptos, CA
95001

Website

http://www.headinghomerescue.org/

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Videos

This is HeiHei, “helping” the morning volunteer clean his room. 🤣 He’s pure chaos but in the BEST possible way, and available for adoption at our PetSmart Santa Cruz location. Go get him! Adoption hours there today from noon to 2pm!