Calico Hearts Foster & Rescue
Small Lives.
Big Second Chances.
We're a foster-based rescue giving vulnerable kittens the time, love, and medical care they need to heal — and helping them find families who'll cherish them forever.
Every kitten deserves a soft place to land. We provide the shelter, the vet care, and the patience — until the right home finds them.
Founded and operated by Ashley Schausten, Calico Hearts Foster & Rescue is a community of foster homes, volunteers, and adopters working together to save lives, one kitten at a time.
Who we are
Calico Hearts Foster & Rescue
We're a foster-based rescue, which means there's no shelter building and no rows of cages. Every cat and kitten in our care lives in a real home with a volunteer family until their forever family finds them. We're based in Clifton, Colorado, and our foster homes, our volunteers, and the kittens we save are all right here in the Grand Valley.
We take in the ones with the fewest options: orphaned bottle babies, pregnant and nursing moms, kittens with treatable illness or injury, and cats pulled from overcrowded local shelters. We do this because those are the animals most likely to be euthanized for nothing more than a lack of space and time.
What we can accept comes down to one thing — how many foster homes we have open. Our capacity is measured in spare bedrooms, not kennels, so we prioritize the most fragile cases: neonates, medical cases, and cats on euthanasia lists. When our homes are full we can't take owner surrenders or healthy adult cats, and we aren't equipped for cats with a serious bite or aggression history. That isn't a judgment on them — it's an honest limit of a home-based network.
Our goal is simple: get every kitten healthy, socialized, vaccinated, and into a home that will keep them for life — and chip away at the number of kittens euthanized in our local shelters just for want of a place to go. When a cat still needs to be spayed or neutered, we help their family get it done affordably with a low-cost GVPA voucher at Cottonwood Vet or Arrowhead Vet in Fruita.
What's next
A cattery and kittenry on North Avenue
Our big dream is buying the old ABC building on North Avenue and turning it into a cattery and kittenry — a warm, cage-free space where the community can come in, sit down, and spend real time with the fluffballs. A couch, a cup of coffee, a lap full of kittens, and the chance to meet each one properly before you fall head over heels.
It's the biggest thing on our horizon, and it's going to take all of us. Every donation, every wishlist item, and every foster home gets us a little closer to unlocking that door.
Help us get there
Urgent need
We need kitten foster homes urgently!!!
Kitten season doesn't wait, and our foster homes are full. Every open door means one more kitten gets the quiet, safe space to grow. You bring the love — we cover the supplies and every vet bill, and we can help supplement food whenever it's needed.
Kittens do so much better with a buddy, so we foster them in pairs unless we truly can't find homes for both. We can split a pair up if we absolutely have to, but two kittens together means a calmer, happier, better-socialized cat.
Call or text Ashley directly at 970-697-5126 with any questions, or to join our foster network. We'd love to have you.
Adoptable Pets of the Month
This month's heart-stealers
One boy and one girl, hand-picked by us — the two who've been waiting the longest for someone to notice them. Meet Gizmo and Padmé.
Pet of the MonthGizmo
Kitten · male · Black
A tiny tornado with a secret soft side
Gizmo is a fearless little black kitten with enough energy to power a small city, and he is — in every sense of the word — all things cat. The pouncing, the climbing, the 3 a.m. zoomies, the unshakeable belief that every countertop was built specifically for him: that's Gizmo. He's first to start a play-wrestle and last to back down, and he has never once met a box, bag, or cardboard tube he didn't need to conquer. But here's the secret nobody expects: when he finally wears himself out, he melts into a lap, purrs like a little motor, and lets you hold him like a baby. He's the kitten who will make you laugh out loud every single day and curl up with you every single night. Personality for days, love for years — that's Gizmo.
- Best traits
- Fearless, hilarious, endlessly confident — and secretly the sweetest lap cat in the house
- Favorite nap spot
- Wherever he last knocked something off the counter
- Dinner
- Whatever's on your plate. He's just checking. For you.
- Favorite toy
- Boxes, bags, and anything that crinkles — bonus points if it was expensive
- Signature move
- The 3 a.m. hallway sprint, followed immediately by a full lap-melt
Pet of the MonthPadmé
3-5 months · female · Brown calico tabby
A talkative snuggle queen with a raspy little voice and a whole lot of opinions
Padmé is the sweetest little girl, about 3 to 5 months old, and she is a talker. She has opinions, and she would like to share them — all of them — in a delightfully raspy little voice that will have you wrapped around her tiny paw from day one. Ask her anything; she'll answer. For all her chatter, Padmé is above all a snuggle queen: her favorite place in the whole world is curled up against you, purring, ideally while being told she's the prettiest girl in the house. She's thoroughly enjoyed her reign as the only lady in the house, a position she takes very seriously, and she loves her catio time and hanging out with her foster big brother, Scooter. If you're looking for a cat who'll greet you with a whole story and then nap on your chest, Padmé is your girl.
- Best traits
- Chatty, affectionate, and takes her reign as the prettiest girl very seriously
- Favorite nap spot
- Your chest, ideally while being reminded that she's the prettiest girl in the house
- Dinner
- Anything, as long as she's eating it right next to you
- Favorite toy
- Hair ties and her foster brother's tail
- Signature move
- The full conversation — you ask, she answers, in that raspy little voice
Still waiting
Everyone looking for a home
12 cats and kittens are in foster care right now, waiting on the right person to walk in. Tap a face to meet them.
From the journal
For Dexter: The Side of Rescue Nobody Posts About
We lost Dexter this week. I've started this post about six times and closed the tab every time, because writing it down makes it real. But the grief is part of this work, and it's the part we almost never talk about.
Why fostering matters
A foster home is a lifeline.
Shelters are full, and kittens are the most vulnerable. A foster home gives a kitten the quiet, safe space to grow, heal, and learn to trust — often the difference between life and death. You provide the love; we cover the vet care, food, and supplies.
Start Your Foster Application40
Cats rescued & counting
Supply fundraiser
We're actively fundraising for supplies.
Formula, litter, warming pads, playpens — the everyday things that keep rescued kittens alive and comfortable. Send an item straight to a foster home, or give toward our supply fund and we'll shop the list ourselves.
Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR)
OrderKitten food — Royal Canin Mother & Babycat or Science Diet
OrderWood pellet litter
OrderNon-clumping litter
OrderPee pads
OrderOdoBan
OrderOrder any of these from Amazon or a large online pet store — or buy them locally and we'll arrange a drop-off.
