![\"\u2018Kitten](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Tiny-but-Mighty.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy VICTORIA DAVIS | Uptown News<\/p>\n
Two book releases in the last month, an appearance on \u201cAnimal Planet,\u201d and two advocacy awards show not only how quickly Hannah Shaw has been able to make a name for herself in the public eye, but also the ripple effect of her high-energy and hands-on approach regarding kitten advocacy, rescue and education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has all happened much to my surprise and delight,\u201d said Shaw, founder of the nonprofit Orphan Kitten Club, which provides lifesaving operations and the world\u2019s first grant program specifically funding innovation in kitten welfare. \u201cWhen people realize that these babies are all unique and so worthy of protection, I think that it gets a lot of people to go out and sign up to foster in their own communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicknamed the \u201cKitten Lady,\u201d Shaw provides educational media and training resources on her website and social media, as well as instructional workshops, all to help individuals and animal shelters learn how to save the lives of kittens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to create a fun community where people could see up close and personal what it looks like to rescue kittens, and also help people to feel like they know the individual animal,\u201d said Shaw, who tries to share all the intimate moments she has with her rescued kittens, from helping them through a disease to helping them hit their first steps, making them hats or even writing songs about the kittens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hopefully helps with finding adopters and encouraging more fostering,\u201d<\/p>\n
Working closely with the San Diego Humane Society, East County Animal Rescue and Love Your Feral Felines, Shaw has helped to rescue dozens of kittens (and two neonatal piglets) since moving from Washington to San Diego, including Flapjack, a malnourished orange tabby who was covered in fleas when Shaw and her team found him in Spring Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cHannah has done a great deal for kittens all across the world through her humane education program, and now that Hannah is local to San Diego, we are proud to have her Orphan Kitten Club as a rescue partner,\u201d said Jackie Noble, nursery manager at San Diego Humane Society. \u201cNot only does OKC care for these kittens at their in-home kitten nursery, they also help out our community through their Full Circle TNR (trap-neuter-return) program. Talk about the \u2018purr-fect\u2019 partnership!\u201d<\/p>\n
Though his brother didn\u2019t survive, Flapjack regained his health and was the inspiration for Shaw\u2019s new Full Circle Program, where Shaw and her nonprofit team go out and sterilize the family, or colony, of the kitten they rescue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we picked him up, we saw just how many cats there were in just his colony living as strays,\u201d said Shaw. \u201cThese cats are coming into shelters at the rate that they are because there\u2019s so many community cats outside. There\u2019s no harsh winters in San Diego, so it\u2019s kitten season year-round here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Orphan Kitten Club also takes on cases where the kitten\u2019s condition is more challenging, perhaps too challenging for the average shelter, such as their most recent addition to Shaw kitty nursery, the tuxedo kitten named Apple. Apple was born with Swimmer Syndrome so her hind legs spread out like a frog\u2019s, inhibiting her from walking.<\/p>\n
For the next few weeks, Shaw will be wrapping and taping Apple\u2019s legs so they can grow in a normal posture.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of kittens like her are euthanized because she can\u2019t walk, but with us she will get to live a normal life,\u201d said Shaw. \u201cWe work with the kittens that no one else will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw is also a New York Times-bestselling author, with her educational book on the U.S. kitten crisis \u201cTiny But Mighty.\u201d Shaw also has an upcoming children\u2019s book, \u201cKitten Lady\u2019s Big Book of Little Kittens,\u201d which releases Tuesday, Oct. 8. The book takes children through the life of foster kittens. Both books can be found at Barnes & Noble or on Shaw\u2019s website, kittenlady.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all a lot more personal for me now,\u201d said Shaw, who had been an activist for many years but never planned on getting this hands-on with the work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just theoretical. It\u2019s not just data. You\u2019re not just trying to convince people something matters because you read a statistic,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re literally looking at a little life in the palm of your hand and knowing that there are so many other little lives like that who are out there in need of love and support and care.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why, whenever I teach, I teach using stories. It\u2019s not a theory, it\u2019s a real kitten that you can hold and see and feel and that needs your help.\u201d<\/p>\n