About James A. Hueholt
Jim Hueholt loved life and appreciated both animals and people. He offered courage to everyone he met through his example of living life to its fullest, even under adversity.
Jim died at age 37. Castaway Critters continues his legacy of acceptance, appreciation for life, and giving.
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Our Mission Statement
Our Mission is to save the lives of and provide new beginnings for lost, sick and abandoned companion animals through rescue, rehabilitation, adoptions and spay/neuter programs. Our Mission is to be the help that these animals would not otherwise have.
Castaway Critters, The James A. Hueholt Memorial Foundation for Animals is a No-Kill animal rescue formed by friends and family of James A. Hueholt, who died in 1994 at age 37. Jim rescued and cared for many animals himself. Our work in lessening the suffering of companion animals is a tribute to him and to his love of life.
Castaway Critters has a unique focus on sick, hurt, and special needs animals. We never turn our backs on the “hard cases”, and in fact open our arms to them.
We are a volunteer and foster network. We do not have a public shelter. Our rescue animals stay in the homes of our foster caregivers until they find their forever homes.
We believe every life is worth saving !
We provide professional veterinary care, emergency care and spay/neuter our animals prior to adoption The cost of this high quality care is often overwhelming, therefore we depend on the generosity of our community and friends to help support our mission. With your help, Castaway Critters has assisted more than 7000 animals!
Many of these animals are rescued from standard shelters or found abandoned or in dire circumstances. Others have lost their homes because their owner is no longer able to care for them due to illness or severe circumstances.
Often those that come to us are terrified, some have given up hope. They don’t know, or have long forgotten what it’s like to have basic care, compassion and kindness.
We at Castaway Critters welcome them with patience and understanding – that they may trust once again, and live out the rest of their lives happy, content…loved.
We operate spay/neuter clinics for cats for low income households, stray, and feral cats. More than 1200 cats have had the gift of spay/neuter and basic preventative care since the inception of our “Operation Catnip” spay/neuter program.
Castaway Critters’ ultimate vision is a future where there are no more homeless pets and all animals are spayed or neutered and humanely cared for by the community.
We hope that sharing the following story of “a day in the lives of Castaway Critters” helps give you an understanding of our passion, who we are, and what we do:
Napoleon and his brothers and sisters lived in the home of an 86-year-old woman who did not have enough money for heat. Mrs. Lovell had been taking care of the city cats all her life, and she found homes for the kittens as best she could. But she had no way of caring for them if they were sick. And they were. And one was dying. She had already put aside her own needs to feed the cats. She felt helpless and alone.
One day, Mrs. Lovell found a flyer that changed everything — it advertised free spay/neuter for pet cats and stray cats being cared for by low-income people. In fact, it even said that cats would be picked up and transported.
When staff members and volunteers coordinating Operation CatNIP got to Mrs. Lovell's house, they knew they had to do more to help her than just spay and neuter her cats. Napoleon and his siblings were very ill with upper respiratory infection that frequently causes death in young kittens.
Things were touch and go with Napoleon and his siblings. One was very close to losing his eye and another did not make it through the first day. But, thanks to your donations, dedicated veterinarians and staff cared for the four remaining kittens for several days at the veterinary hospital. Working with local veterinarians, Castaway Critters insures that animals in our care are provided with aggressive and advanced care.
The spay/neuter coordinator also contacted human service agencies to help Mrs. Lovell. Her adult cats were spayed and neutered to relieve Mrs. Lovell of having to care and worry about kittens born several times a year and help end the cycle of overpopulation.
When the kittens were getting better, they returned to Castaway Critters where they were cared for by staff and volunteers until they were well enough to find new homes. Castaway Critters insures that animals are placed in loving forever homes where they will never be cold or hungry again.
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