August 11, 2025 • 6 mins
Host Cyrus Webb welcomes Hannah Shaw aka Kitten Lady to Conversations LIVE to discuss this yeaer's Clear the Shelters campaign and how Hill's Pet Nutrition is helping.
www.hillscleartheshelters.com
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www.hillscleartheshelters.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cyrus-webb-s-tracks--1422267/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everyone in welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your
(00:02):
host servers webs So glad you guys could join us
once again for a radio audience tuning in at max
Wyeed ninety four point one FM and wye D online
dot com or Glad that you all can be with
us also joined its online worldwide dr podcast at I
Heart Radio on Amazon Music that you all could be
with us as well. Animal shelters across the country are
over capacity and millions of pets are still waiting to
(00:24):
find their homes well. This August, Heal's Pet Nutrition is
teaming up again with NBC Universal Local for the Clear
the Shelters campaign to help address a capacity crisis and
encourage shelter adoptions. And here to talk to us about it.
As someone who knows a lot about this, we're excited
to welcome animal advocate of New York Times bestselling author
Hannah shel to our broadcast. Maybe you guys know her
(00:44):
as Kitten Lady. I get to know her. She doesn't
know this because of her book, Tiny but Mighty. But
we're gonna talk to Hannah not only about what you
guys need to know about the Clear of the Shelters campaign,
but also why this work is so important for her. Hannah,
thank you so much for the time. Really appreciate it. So, Hannah,
I I first got to know you because of your
book Kindy but Mighty and our book club which we
(01:05):
have here in Mississippi. We actually reviewed your book Cats
of the World. So this is work that you've been
involved in for quite some time. Why has this been
such a passion project for you to make sure that
you're helping to not only spread awareness but also to
get people involved.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I think that you know a lot of people
just don't realize how much animals are up again, and
thank you for saying that. You know, spotlighting what's happening
with vulnerable populations is my life's work, and that definitely
connects to what we're talking about today with Clear the Shelters.
It's really all about just raising awareness and telling these
(01:41):
animals stories so that they have an opportunity to connect
with people who have loved to give them.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah. I mentioned in my intro, Hannah, of course, about
the shelters being over capacity. Tell us about this. Here's
Clear the Shelter campaign and what's important right now.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, clear the Shelters is the largest adoption drive that
happened nationally every year. It's an effort that includes over
seventeen hundred different shelters that are coming together, just rallying
their communities and asking folks to come out and help
animals find loving homes. It's important right now because you know,
unfortunately shelters are really bursting at the seams. We have
(02:19):
millions of cats and dogs entering shelters every year, and
there is this life saving gas just not enough people
coming in to adopt. So either you know, sweet and
loving and hopeful animals with a lot of love to give.
And you know, over the summer we see this big
influx of kittens and gats and dogs and you know,
(02:40):
lots of animals coming in and creating that over capacity crisis.
So clear the shelters really create the wave of awareness
and really just speaks to find people that have love
to give and connect them to an animal who is
ready to receive it.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
What are people out there who may be thinking, you know,
they would love to help Hannah, But for those who
may be a little unsure, what advice do you have
for first time pet parents?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Sure, I think a lot of people kind of have
curiosity about adopting, but maybe they're worried that they're not
going to be able to be the perfect adopter. And
I would say, don't let perfection be the enemy is good.
You know, if you have love in your heart to
give and you have space in your home, definitely get
out there and find out what's going on at your
local shelter. Unfortunately, there's new survey data from the twenty
(03:28):
twenty five Hilled State of Shelter Pet Adoption Report that
is showing that the desire to provide a perfect home
is actually preventing a lot of folks, especially younger generations,
from going out and adopting. So I think the most
important thing to know is you definitely do not need to,
you know, live in a giant mansion or have an
unlimited budget or know everything. Even if this is new
(03:51):
for you, get out there. The shelter is going to
be able to support you a lot, and you know,
the animals really just need consistent care and love and
the rest of it is going to come with time.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, such a great point. Now, I think for those
who do open up their homes, Hannah, there may be
the idea, of course, of how to make sure it works.
So do you have any tips to help make the
transition from the shelter the home smooth and only for
the pit but also for the pit parent as well.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, that's a great point because this is a transition
not just for them but also for you. So I
would say be patient with yourself as well as the animal.
You know, setting up the home base where they can
kind of get used to the home, it is a
good idea. So one area of the home where they're
going to decompress, they're going to you know, have access
(04:36):
to all the supplies that they need their food, water, toys, said,
their litter box if it's a cat, and then you know,
you really just want to start building out that routine
with them. So animals really thrive on predictability. You can
set their schedule and do those regular feedings and walks
and from there that's going to help the bond start
(04:57):
to grow. Nutrition is obvious another really important thing. A
lot of people have questions about what the feed when
they bring their animal home, So don't make any drastic
changes right away. You want to do that slowly. But
fortunately so many shelter animals are already eating really high
quality food. There's more than a thousand shelters feeding the
(05:17):
Health Science diet food. So if they're on that diet,
that's good news. You can just continue with that. And
if you adopt during Clear the Shelters months, during the
month of August, participating shelters are going to actually send
you home with a bag of that Health Science diet
food as well as their goodies in an adoption. So
that's a nice nice way to ease the transition to.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Wow, I love that and such a great thing for sure. Well, Hanna,
I want to say thank you so much for the
great work that you're doing and what you've been able
to devote so much of your time and efforts toward
raising awareness for and thank you for bringing to our
audience the information about the Clear the Shelters campaign. Again,
everyone kind of Shaw has been our guests. You guys
know her. It's a kitten lady. She's a New York
Times best selling author and animal advocate talking with us
(06:02):
about this year's Clear the Shelter campaign. How you can
get involved. For more information, guests can go to Heelsclearthshelters
dot com. That's Healscleartheshelters dot com We'll make sure that
linked it up as well. And Hannah, thank you so
much for the great work. Really appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Thank you for helping me spread the words.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Thank glad to do it. And we think your audience
for tuning in to another great segment of Conversations Live.
Until next time, I'm your host, Syroswap Things. Always enjoy
your day, enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank you
all for choosing Conversations Live. Then it's going to make
today amazing. Take care,
Hello, everyone in welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your
(00:02):
host servers webs So glad you guys could join us
once again for a radio audience tuning in at max
Wyeed ninety four point one FM and wye D online
dot com or Glad that you all can be with
us also joined its online worldwide dr podcast at I
Heart Radio on Amazon Music that you all could be
with us as well. Animal shelters across the country are
over capacity and millions of pets are still waiting to
(00:24):
find their homes well. This August, Heal's Pet Nutrition is
teaming up again with NBC Universal Local for the Clear
the Shelters campaign to help address a capacity crisis and
encourage shelter adoptions. And here to talk to us about it.
As someone who knows a lot about this, we're excited
to welcome animal advocate of New York Times bestselling author
Hannah shel to our broadcast. Maybe you guys know her
(00:44):
as Kitten Lady. I get to know her. She doesn't
know this because of her book, Tiny but Mighty. But
we're gonna talk to Hannah not only about what you
guys need to know about the Clear of the Shelters campaign,
but also why this work is so important for her. Hannah,
thank you so much for the time. Really appreciate it. So, Hannah,
I I first got to know you because of your
book Kindy but Mighty and our book club which we
(01:05):
have here in Mississippi. We actually reviewed your book Cats
of the World. So this is work that you've been
involved in for quite some time. Why has this been
such a passion project for you to make sure that
you're helping to not only spread awareness but also to
get people involved.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I think that you know a lot of people
just don't realize how much animals are up again, and
thank you for saying that. You know, spotlighting what's happening
with vulnerable populations is my life's work, and that definitely
connects to what we're talking about today with Clear the Shelters.
It's really all about just raising awareness and telling these
(01:41):
animals stories so that they have an opportunity to connect
with people who have loved to give them.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah. I mentioned in my intro, Hannah, of course, about
the shelters being over capacity. Tell us about this. Here's
Clear the Shelter campaign and what's important right now.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, clear the Shelters is the largest adoption drive that
happened nationally every year. It's an effort that includes over
seventeen hundred different shelters that are coming together, just rallying
their communities and asking folks to come out and help
animals find loving homes. It's important right now because you know,
unfortunately shelters are really bursting at the seams. We have
(02:19):
millions of cats and dogs entering shelters every year, and
there is this life saving gas just not enough people
coming in to adopt. So either you know, sweet and
loving and hopeful animals with a lot of love to give.
And you know, over the summer we see this big
influx of kittens and gats and dogs and you know,
(02:40):
lots of animals coming in and creating that over capacity crisis.
So clear the shelters really create the wave of awareness
and really just speaks to find people that have love
to give and connect them to an animal who is
ready to receive it.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
What are people out there who may be thinking, you know,
they would love to help Hannah, But for those who
may be a little unsure, what advice do you have
for first time pet parents?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Sure, I think a lot of people kind of have
curiosity about adopting, but maybe they're worried that they're not
going to be able to be the perfect adopter. And
I would say, don't let perfection be the enemy is good.
You know, if you have love in your heart to
give and you have space in your home, definitely get
out there and find out what's going on at your
local shelter. Unfortunately, there's new survey data from the twenty
(03:28):
twenty five Hilled State of Shelter Pet Adoption Report that
is showing that the desire to provide a perfect home
is actually preventing a lot of folks, especially younger generations,
from going out and adopting. So I think the most
important thing to know is you definitely do not need to,
you know, live in a giant mansion or have an
unlimited budget or know everything. Even if this is new
(03:51):
for you, get out there. The shelter is going to
be able to support you a lot, and you know,
the animals really just need consistent care and love and
the rest of it is going to come with time.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, such a great point. Now, I think for those
who do open up their homes, Hannah, there may be
the idea, of course, of how to make sure it works.
So do you have any tips to help make the
transition from the shelter the home smooth and only for
the pit but also for the pit parent as well.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, that's a great point because this is a transition
not just for them but also for you. So I
would say be patient with yourself as well as the animal.
You know, setting up the home base where they can
kind of get used to the home, it is a
good idea. So one area of the home where they're
going to decompress, they're going to you know, have access
(04:36):
to all the supplies that they need their food, water, toys, said,
their litter box if it's a cat, and then you know,
you really just want to start building out that routine
with them. So animals really thrive on predictability. You can
set their schedule and do those regular feedings and walks
and from there that's going to help the bond start
(04:57):
to grow. Nutrition is obvious another really important thing. A
lot of people have questions about what the feed when
they bring their animal home, So don't make any drastic
changes right away. You want to do that slowly. But
fortunately so many shelter animals are already eating really high
quality food. There's more than a thousand shelters feeding the
(05:17):
Health Science diet food. So if they're on that diet,
that's good news. You can just continue with that. And
if you adopt during Clear the Shelters months, during the
month of August, participating shelters are going to actually send
you home with a bag of that Health Science diet
food as well as their goodies in an adoption. So
that's a nice nice way to ease the transition to.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Wow, I love that and such a great thing for sure. Well, Hanna,
I want to say thank you so much for the
great work that you're doing and what you've been able
to devote so much of your time and efforts toward
raising awareness for and thank you for bringing to our
audience the information about the Clear the Shelters campaign. Again,
everyone kind of Shaw has been our guests. You guys
know her. It's a kitten lady. She's a New York
Times best selling author and animal advocate talking with us
(06:02):
about this year's Clear the Shelter campaign. How you can
get involved. For more information, guests can go to Heelsclearthshelters
dot com. That's Healscleartheshelters dot com We'll make sure that
linked it up as well. And Hannah, thank you so
much for the great work. Really appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Thank you for helping me spread the words.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Thank glad to do it. And we think your audience
for tuning in to another great segment of Conversations Live.
Until next time, I'm your host, Syroswap Things. Always enjoy
your day, enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank you
all for choosing Conversations Live. Then it's going to make
today amazing. Take care,
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