Hannah Shaw knows a thing or two about pets.
Shaw, also known as the “Kitten Lady,” is an award-winning kitten rescuer, humane educator and animal advocate. She has millions of followers across her Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts, which feature content ranging from adorable kitten photos to educational videos and more.
Shaw also founded the Orphan Kitten Club, a nonprofit with a stated mission to “build innovative programs that save the lives of the tiniest and most vulnerable felines.”
Suffice to say, Shaw boasts tons of knowledge and experience when it comes to pets. But, for those weighing whether to adopt for the first time, she stressed not to feel like you need to be an expert right off the bat.
“If you’ve never adopted before, you might be feeling like, ‘Oh my gosh, do I know everything I need to know? Am I perfectly prepared?’ And unfortunately what we’re seeing in new survey data … is that a lot of people are actually not adopting because they think they need to be perfect,” Shaw told NBCUniversal Local.
“The most important thing to know is that you don’t have to be perfectly prepared. You don’t have to know everything to adopt. If you have love in your heart and space in your home and your life, that’s enough. You are absolutely enough. And the rest will come with time and experience.”
As Shaw alluded to, this year’s Hill’s Pet Nutrition adoption report found that “younger Americans often feel an ‘accessibility gap’ and a pressure to meet a ‘gold standard’ of pet care, leading to hesitation and guilt about adoption.”
While the report said 63% of Americans would likely choose a shelter when adopting a pet, there was a higher number of shelter intakes than outtakes for the fifth straight year in 2024. A total of 5.8 million cats and dogs entered U.S. shelters last year, according to Shelter Animals Count.
“Unfortunately we have an overcapacity crisis with millions of cats and dogs entering shelters every year and just not enough people coming in to adopt,” Shaw said. “And over the summer we see this huge influx of kittens, and also cats and dogs, entering shelters. August is a time when shelters are bursting at the seams with lovely, hopeful animals who are waiting for somebody to come in and choose them.”
Shaw has teamed up with Hill’s in an effort to help address that overcapacity crisis. Shaw and Hill’s are “working together to provide critical support for shelters’ most vulnerable pets and help rally awareness and action for adoption and fostering,” a release said.
Hill’s is a longtime partner of Clear The Shelters, NBCUniversal Local’s annual pet adoption and donation campaign. In the company’s eighth straight year as the Clear The Shelters national sponsor, Hill’s is providing food donations and adoption kits to select participating shelters, in addition to matching up to $25,000 in donations made to the Clear The Shelters general fund.
Clear The Shelters’ 11th adoption campaign was held for the entire month of August, while an extended donation initiative runs through Sept. 15.
“I can’t imagine my life without my cats or my dogs,” Shaw said. “I think you’ll be amazed by what it is like to bond with an animal and how much every single animal is an individual. Getting to know them is just a really magical thing. Getting to find out their preferences and their personality, and really building that bond. There’s absolutely nothing like it.”
For more information on Clear The Shelters, including participating animal shelters and rescues, along with details on local events and television programming, visit ClearTheShelters.com and the Spanish-language site DesocuparlosAlbergues.com, and follow Clear The Shelters on social media:
- Instagram: cleartheshelters
- TikTok: @cleartheshelters
- Facebook: ClearTheShelters
- X: @ClearTheShelter
- Hashtags: #ClearTheShelters & #DesocuparLosAlbergues