Meet Heidi Shoemaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heidi Shoemaker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heidi, how does your business help the community?
My rescue helps rescue community cats and cats around the country. I have rescued from Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Florida and Louisiana. Once they are ready, they are adopted out to wonderful families, who are so happy and blessed by their new family members. The impact on our world is to help the over population of cats, one cat family at a time. Spaying and neutering every Mom and baby prevents hundreds of more cats from being born into homelessness.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started with signing up to foster for a rescue in Florida. After a year or so I realized I could do a lot more good on my own. I had built up a pretty good following on Instagram and Facebook by then, and took the leap. It was scary wondering how I was going to pay for everything, but I took the jump anyway. Thankfully I’ve had the best supporters or “Foster Friends” as I call them. They help me with food, toys, medications, medical bills etc. I currently have over 91k followers on Instagram. Sometimes people are pretty cruel (especially other rescuers) and can be rather nasty in the cat rescue world, so I’ve had to learn to deal with that. It’s not easy but I always keep moving forward for the kitties sake. Something that helps me run an entire rescue is good organizational skills. From arranging cat intake/transport, to caring for medical needs, scheduling vet appointments for spay/neuter, then finding adopters and finally arranging adoption day for every cat, takes a lot of organization. I want people to know they can rescue without having to do all this, even just one cat or cat family, helps tremendously with the heavy load we carry.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well it’s obvious I love animals!! I would definitely take them to both of the zoos we are closest to, Denver and Cheyenne. They are both incredible in their own ways. We also like visiting the Rocky Arsenal Wild Life Refuge and doing that beautiful drive. Seeing the bison so close up is amazing. Attending concerts is another fun pastime. We love finding good places to eat and will drive to places such as Mochi Thyme donuts in the Springs, Mellow Mushroom in Denver for pizza or as former Californian’s stay right in Castle Rock for some In N Out!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A huge shout out to my family! Literally couldn’t do all of this without them. My husband Craig has stuck by me through all of the craziness the rescue has brought us and over the amount of growth. In 5.5 years we have rescued over 600 cats and everything is done in our home. I also have 5 kids, 3 of whom are 18 and over now, and they help a bunch. They help with feeding, cleaning, health, play and overall care for our fosters.

Website: https://www.fosterkittenmama.com/

Instagram: Foster Kitten Mama

Facebook: Foster Kitten Mama

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@fosterkittenmama1?si=Yr7tEA-EHj2YUDaI

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@fosterkittenmama1?_t=8rDEslIrvfq&_r=1 TikTok

Image Credits
Heidi Shoemaker