Stray Hearts Taos Animal Shelter

J W-W

2024-04

This is a true rescue and they really do care about animals. They could not take an older dog that belongs to a friend who can no longer keep him due to over crowdedness, but Carin went out of her way to find him a foster home for us and we are SO appreciate of that. Just genuinely good people. We plan to make a donation to the shelter for helping us rehome Max. Thank you Stray Hearts! You are the best.

Michele Rauch

2024-02

I adopted a dog there five years ago, she’s the best and so is stray hearts!

Michael Ellison

2024-04

Helpful, caring staff; dedicated volunteers; the sweetest dogs and cats. Fully deserving of Taos' support.

Pam Mizen

2021-05

The ladies I met were very polite & friendly. I went to adopt a kitten & while we were waiting to go see kittens, my hubby saw some that escaped their cage. I was so happy to help the ladies catch them. I found my sweet baby girl. Her name there was Octavia.Her new name is : Jasmine Octavia

Emma Strobel

2023-06

The staff at Stray Hearts Animal Shelter are amazing! From the kennel techs, trainers, medical staff, to shelter manager. We visited the shelter to view a very shy dog. The staff set us up to visit with him three separate days and spent several hours with us so we could get to know the pup and have him meet our dog. We ended up adopting the shy pup while on vacation in Taos. The staff members worked with us to get our application in and approved during a holiday weekend so we could take our new pup home. Even after we got home the shelter employees reached out to us multiple times to check on our pup and us. The staff members truly care so much about the animals in the shelter, its owners, and the town. Highly recommend! They do amazing work for strays and animals needing medical attention.

Alexandra Valerio

2023-05

Great place to find animals. They have a $25 adoption and 2/1 special!

Becca Algozzino

2020-05

I was very impressed with the compassion filled facility! The dogs and cats were well taken care of and were shown so much love and affection from the staff and volunteers.

Melinda Valencia

2023-08

Now I’m going to start off by saying I have never adopted an animal from the shelter but my spouse was an employee there and he is a hardworking man who is honest and reliable. But it has been over three weeks and he still has not received his paycheck, it’s very disheartening that he would go to work with a passion to help these animals and a ethnic to make an honest days wage and these people seem like they do not care weather he gets it or not. Smh

Dusty Leonard

2023-05

We filled out application was first for meet and great and wanted the dog for a companion since my amputation an double transplant it was perfect had an appointment at 1:00 pm on Saturday we drove 3 hours got there and they already gave the dog away. Very unprofessional never again.

Joseph Killman

2023-10

They complain they have too many dogs then make it close to impossible to actually adopt a dog. I swear it's easier buying a car with money I don't have than it is to adopt a dog here.

Emily Konopka

2020-05

My experience adopting a cat from Stray Hearts was great! The staff were very welcoming and accommodating to my requirements for a cat. Ellie walked me through their cat room (which was well organized and clean) and described each cat's personality and needs to me. She took her time and I didn't feel rushed at all. Overall I was very impressed and felt the staff and volunteers genuinely care for the well being of their adoptables.

Steven Leger

2023-05

Leaving this shelter broken hearted and really upset with the 'policies' that determine whether I can adopt a cat or not. I was called dishonest for wanting to protect my privacy. I'm not trying to start drama, but I do want anyone reading this to consider adopting "Eartha Kitty", who has been at this shelter for way too long. Start the process now and make sure you provide all your personal information in the application.

Michele Smith

2017-05

They are wonderful. I adopted my sweet Jada from there. They really gave her their all. Diane was awesome and the staff was wonderful. I love my sweet guard dog Jada! She was a perfect fit for me. Thank you, Stray Hearts!

Eleanor De Leon

2019-05

We adopted our sweet dog from Stray Hearts as a puppy and couldn't be happier. Arranging for her spay appointment took a few calls but once it was done, all the paperwork was finalized and she has been healthy and happy ever since. Can't beat the price for all that you get: shots, spay/neuter, and microchip. The adoption fees here are half of those in Colorado along with a friendly, helpful, knowledgeable staff!

cheryl kelsen

2022-05

So helpful and efficient. They posted my lost dog flyers and checked for her everyday! We got our dog back! So wonderful. Keep up the good work

Falcon Britt

2023-10

Update: Stray Hearts is in a major shake up at the moment (late August 2023) - we will have to see what comes out of it. Everything I wrote below in glowing terms may or may not be true in future. We will see. There is a "change of direction" planned.Former Post: As an empath I have always found animal shelters hard to bear energetically (as well as ethically), but Stray Hearts is a wonderful exception. If you want an animal friend or two, I can tell you without hesitation, go there!The people are uniformly positive, the place is clean, and the animals are cared for in a positive and warm way I have never seen at other shelters. The staff and volunteers work with the dogs to de-stress them and train them.Leading edge behavioral methods are used, and their dog behaviorist, DeLinda is marvelous. Their current vet, Heather Fox, is also doing a wonderful job. Stray Hearts recently won a national award contest for the fantastic job they are doing (it was sponsored by a major pet supply chain).They get so many dogs, they can always use more volunteers to do calming, walking, or training, so if you might enjoy some dog time while making a difference in their lives, please consider volunteering. The cats can always use extra attention too, if cats are more your thing. Their training program for volunteers is top notch.As you may know, the term "no-kill" shelter is much misused these days - some shelters turn down a lot of animals, dooming them to death or even abandonment, in order to claim they are "no-kill."Stray Hearts is what I would call a low-kill shelter in that it takes dogs and cats as long as it has room, and never puts an animal down unless absolutely necessary. They are also very transparent about their numbers.I see so many wonderful dogs and cats at Stray Hearts who deserve families and would be a great blessing to anyone. If you need or want a devoted friend, go to Stray Hearts to find them.There are so many more loving and mannerly animals than available homes at this point, and being stuck in a shelter for years is not an ideal life for a sweet animal.So if you have not neutered or spayed your pet(s) or local ferals, please look into the various free or low-cost spay-neuter programs in the community. Even if your animal is already pregnant, there is the Last Litter program, in which the kittens or puppies are placed into homes (at the right age, of course) and the mother fixed for you.If you know of feral cats having litters (many such kittens are eaten by wild animals), please check out Taos Feral Feline Friends. TFFF will help trap them, spay/neuter them, and return them to their locations to live out their lives as barn cats. Please do all you can to reduce the population of starving and unwanted animals. Thank you.

Larry Ludwig

2021-05

I am living with a friend who offered me a place to stay here in Taos as I recover from a stroke I had last April. My dog SNOW slipped out of the back fence at the residence and being partially blind soon got lost and fell in a ravine no to be found for about 3 says. I notified. Stray Hearts as soon as I noticed her missing and the lady on the phone was very helpful and said she would call me ... And 3 days later she did. She said she had Snow and I should come down to get her....but then a strange test of events happened... When I got there they told me snow was sent to a groomer because she needed to be cleaned up...on my second attempt to pick her up the animal control officer met me in the lobby and said I could not have he and blamed me of animal abuse. I have photos of the dog just before she went missing and I will show them to anyone who wish is to see them . My companion for 15 plus years I almost had another stroke that day (BP was 211) as I had been out c searching when I was called...Y Stray Hearts you rate an A+ for all your help Officer Taker is ...you need to improve your skills of deduction ....the love of my life nearly died and you blame it on me?Thanks for listening....

Jeanie Phillips

2017-05

I haven't been there for quite awhile, I've Always been very Impressed!! We Will be Adopting Our new Best Friend from Stray Hearts!! Yet, not for awhile. We have Our 16 3/4 yr.old, Girl. Bringing in a new friend Wouldn't work now. When she goes to "the Rainbow Bridge", Then. But Don't get Me wrong! NOT looking forward to... Blessings from Carson! Just S.W. about an hours drive.

Jessica Snider

2019-05

At first sight, I thought this was a great place to look for a new "family member". We had someone personally guide us through the cat house and told us all the cats' names, their history, and whether or not they would make good pets/companions. The woman was very patient, answered all questions, let me take pictures to send to my husband so we could make a joint decision while he was at work, and gave advice on which cats she would and would not recommend. After about an hour, I finally found what I thought was going to be the perfect addition to our little family. We made our decision, paid the higher-than-normal adoption fee (No big deal...kitty supposedly had all her vaccinations and was going to be microchipped...a vet bill would have been much more expensive.), and got our first bit of bad news: we couldn't take kitty home that day because they were too busy to take 5 minutes to do the paperwork. My girlfriend and I were the only people in there and, may I remind you, they weren't too busy to have one of the employees take us on a guided tour of the place. Again, not too big of a deal...it took us 2 months to decide to get another cat (we have one) so what's one more day? Next day, I return to pick kitty up. With receipt in hand, I was told that I never paid the adoption fees and would have to pay. After about a half-hour of me showing one person after another the receipt I received from them, they finally got someone to agree that I had already paid for kitty. Once again, no biggie. Mistakes are made and at least it was cleared up. I finally received kitty and take her home. I leave her in the box the shelter provided until hubby gets home (about 2 hours) so that our cat can begin to get used to the new smell that just entered "his" house and so that new kitty can have a chance to calm down after being taken from her home (cage) of 6 months and ensuing car ride. As soon as hubby gets home and opens the box, a wildcat emerges. I can't even begin to explain the damage kitty did to hubby's flesh, my furniture, my home, and our cat. ONE last time...It. Is. No. Big. Deal. I'm sure she was traumatized from her ordeal and just needed to get acclimated to her new home/surroundings. But after ALL THAT...what WAS a HUGE deal to me was that they allowed me to adopt a VERY sick kitty. Kitty eventually calmed down after a few hours and even started to be fairly sociable and sweet. Kitty also started pooping. A lot. And instead of normal stinky Tootsie roll looking kitty poop, it was pure blood. And it was all over my house and my furniture. Kitty also started throwing up. A lot. And instead of normal stinky foamy looking kitty throw up, it was pure blood. And it was all over my house and my furniture. This was on a Thursday. I called the vet on Friday and explained not only her symptoms, but our other cat's new symptoms (The only way I can explain it is to say that there was something very weird going on with his eyes and he had explosive diarrhea-not bloody though, thank God-and at least he went to the litter box.) I was told to bring both cats in the following day. Come morning, though, new kitty was dead underneath the edge of our cabinets with blood coming out of every orifice. Our original cat was sick for a few days but eventually got better and, to this day, I have no idea what was wrong with kitty. But it hit her and it hit her hard and it killed her quickly. And it got our cat sick too. We're just grateful that whatever it was didn't kill him. I don't believe for one second that it was all just a coincidence. I believe that kitty was and had been very sick and that we were very lucky that we didn't get sick as well. I normally don't like to leave such a bad review but our experience was horrible and we don't want anyone else to have anything similar happen to them. Maybe it was just a freak thing that will never happen to anyone else but I was asked to give a review...my honest opinion...so there you are.

Lulu

2021-05

Filling out applications does nothing.Calling and making an appointment does nothing.Dog has been adopted even though you were “first in line.”They don’t bother to call and cancel. They wait until you show up to tell you to “keep trying!” because they “post new animals all the time!” Absolutely no compassion. I’m done with the heartaches this place gives me.

Jill Boulton

2019-05

We adopted our dogAbout 2months agoWhat a joy he has been. The staff at theshelter are so caring.It is heartbreaking toall of these animalsthat need loving.homes and really hard to make achoice. I wanted. totake all of them home.

marcos morales

2022-05

Great place to find and add a four legged friend to the family.. a little time and patience can make a difference for these animals.. we're working on our second rescue building that bond and trust.. can't wait for when she's ready to come home

Phillip Matlock

2021-05

They told me my application was accepted. I called and got the address and set up a appointment. My wife was going to drive from Colorado 5 hours. I called back to find out the fee and they said she was gone. These people don't know what there doing and I would never get anything from them.

Debbie Allen

2021-05

Very caring place. Always very helpful, good service. I try to donate money or food when I can and they are my Amazon Smile organization. We are so lucky to have a place like this in town.

Mark Feddersen

2023-05

Wonderful caring employees and volunteers - of course, many loving dogs and cats looking for their forever home.

Sunshine Harper

2018-05

Adopt a pet from Stray Hearts. Volunteer dog walkers needed. Please give of your time or money to help these shelter animals find loving homes. The workers are all very helpful and kind.

Amy Williams

2022-05

Have adopted 3 dogs over the years. Great family pets. They helped with my lost cat as well. Love them.

Sandra Whitedove

2019-05

Stray Hearts staff and volunteers really care for the well being of the animals. We adopted our wonderful dog Luc 3 months ago and he has been a delight.

Vault of Metal

2018-05

Adopted my dog Samuel from them, wonderful caring people

Danielle Provencio

2021-05

I am impressed with the thorough care and attention of the facility. Donna was very precise and truly attentive to the situation. Thanks Stray Hearts. 💜