Original subtitles

Ow!

Ow! Ow! Years ago, I started a lifelong journey to help Kat.

You see what she's doing right now? The thing about her is, she is just

learning. I'm presenting neutrality.

I'm not attempting anything.

Sometimes, a true crisis demands a different type of journey.

There's a kitten epidemic in L .A. and every year it just gets worse. Because

the warm weather here, it's kitten season all year long. And that creates

thousands of newborn homeless kittens.

Right now, animal shelters in L .A. are being flooded with more kittens than

they can care for, hundreds more than were in the shelter system this time

year. She's so thin.

Oh, my God.

As a result, many of these kittens wind up in city shelters where, if they're

too young or not adopted, they're euthanized.

In L .A., there aren't nearly enough adoptive or foster homes for these cats

that are brought into city shelters, so as a result, these kittens are dying in

numbers too painful to even think about.

Something has got to be done to stop the killing of these innocent cats.

I'm Jackson Galaxy.

Oh my God, I love my job.

The animal behavior that guardians call when they're dealing with a difficult

cat.

That really ups the stakes a little bit here.

I'm out to prove that there is no such thing as a bad cat.

Just a cat that needs my help. Thank you.

I'm on my way to go see my good friend Mark at Best Friends Animal Society, an

organization that began the No Kill L .A. initiative.

Now, every year, they rescue thousands of kittens from city shelters who would

otherwise be in danger of being euthanized. Mark and I need to figure

we can do right now to deal with L .A.'s kitten epidemic.

Hey, man.

How are you? Great. It's great to see you. Good to see you. Thank you so much

for coming so quickly. Can I show you back to the area and let's go see the

problem? Okay. All right, let's go.

This is what I'm talking about, man. We have cats overflowing in all of these

rooms, top and bottom, and they're all ready to go. They all have vaccines.

They're all spayed and neutered. We just got to find them homes. Wow.

All of these sweet faces and no homes for them to go to. It's not until you

actually have all of them in front of you that it starts to freak you out.

I got to say hi.

Oh, my God, you're gorgeous.

Oh, my God.

Look, the pressure in this situation is enough. You look into the eyes of these

kittens, you don't feel like you got to help them, then you don't have a beating

heart. How many kittens do you think per day are coming into City Shelters?

I mean, you're talking about 9 ,400 a year.

If you do the math, probably about 20 to 25 at least. And that's because we have

six shelters here, you know, and it's crazy. Last year alone.

Over 4 ,300 kittens were killed in Los Angeles shelters. There are places for

these animals to go. I just firmly believe it. One of the things that I

help but notice...

Behaviorally, these guys are so confident looking.

Yep. Almost every single one of these kiddos came from a foster home where

were getting lots of love. They know people.

They've been in homes. They're socialized. Clearly. They're not just

medically. They're ready to go behaviorally in absolutely every way.

a foster mom. I am. I'm a foster. I've got my foster kids in here. These are

yours? Yep.

Mojito and Groucho. Mojito and Groucho. You have a Mojito cat.

Is he your Mojito cat? She's very special.

She has a special little nose.

You do?

Look at her little nose. Oh my gosh, look at your nose, baby.

Look at your nose, my love. Tell me about your nose.

What's up with that?

It's a little nasal deformity. It's kind of spread out and it has some skin that

goes underneath, but she's able to breathe just fine. It doesn't affect her

breathing at all? She's perfectly healthy. What makes me so sad is that

black. and that she's got that deformity. Black cats tend to get passed

shelters partially because of superficient and partially because they

cages, whereas white and colored cats tend to stand out more. This is the

archetypal cat who doesn't make it out of shelters.

Exactly. Just because she's cute in a different way.

She's got the cards stacked against her. Well, you know what, little one?

Let's get you adopted, huh?

I don't think it's any coincidence that I always love to talk about the mojito

cat, the kind of cat that's just brimming with confidence. My fear is

a great, confident personality will be ignored because nobody's going to see

past this little kitten's physical imperfection. Tell me about some of

guys here. So down here, this is Dreamy and Darling.

Now, these guys came from foster as well? Yep. I am so impressed with their

presence because the thing that keeps kittens in shelters a lot is that... In

the back of the kennel, hiding in their litter box. Look at this. Up front,

curious, wanting to play.

All right, who else we got? Okay, we've got some little orange kiddos over here.

Wiggles and Wobbles.

So these guys actually came in at days old. We have a nursery. We'll do bottle

feeding 24 -7 here. People don't realize to get these guys from intake.

to this moment. A lot of work. I mean, bottle baby feeding? A lot of hours. Oh,

my God. Every couple hours? Yeah. It's like a newborn, you know? I mean, and

shelters just don't have that kind of infrastructure, you know, to support

So that's why we can be good partners. That's why we do what we do.

More kittens die than adult cats.

This is mind -blowing to me. Kittens are the most commonly killed in the city

shelters because they just require a lot of care that the city shelters don't

have the resources or the people. Kittens just need a lot more.

Even though we have fosters, which are amazing, the fact of the matter is the

shelters are overflowing. We need to get probably 50 out, and that way we can

help them so no cats are going to be killed.

Now, the way it works is that we are killing them in the city shelters.

You guys go into those city shelters. You pull them, bring them here where

don't die.

But now we have 50 kittens stacked.

Right. All over the place, but you can't take another one. That's exactly right.

Okay, so if I can get these guys out of here, you guys go back to the shelters,

pull 50 more. Exactly.

No pressure.

That's fine.

It's just astounding that people just don't know that this is happening for

most part. The concept of these guys two weeks from now, in the eyes of the

public, are not kittens anymore. Exactly. Right?

It's amazing to me these guys have such a short window of high adoptability.

The cute kittens, 8 weeks to 12 weeks, that's high adoptability.

12 weeks and on, the public doesn't even see them as kittens. And all these

kittens are right in that high adoptable age range. If we don't act now, then

we're just contributing to more adolescent and adult cats in the system.

point is, there's just too many of them.

Even with all of the great work that's happening still in Los Angeles, we can't

get them out in time before they're killed.

And it's not the shelter's fault. As you know, it's us as a community trying to

come up with solutions. And you're a solutions -driven man. So that's why I'm

pulling you in, really just trying to figure out if you have any kind of

thoughts or know anybody, because if we can get these guys somewhere else where

maybe they're looking for kittens, I mean, they're so adoptable. I'm not a

magician. I can't just... poof, and these kittens are happy in their homes.

I'm going to try, but look, there's a lot of people before me who didn't get

this done.

So there's no guarantees.

It's not just like trying to find these guys' homes. I was trying to find these

guys' homes yesterday.

Yeah. I mean, everyone in Los Angeles already knows you, so Los Angeles might

be... Tapped out.

Yeah, leave it right now, man.

All right, well, listen, the one thing I can do is start calling around to other

shelters that I know to see if anyone needs kittens.

Okay. And I think, you know, I'm going to call Hannah Shaw, kitten lady. Oh,

that'd be amazing. Hannah Shaw is an expert when it comes to kittens.

as good as it gets.

Hey, Jackson, what's up? I'm standing in Best Friends, and we're faced with kind

of a kitten catastrophe citywide. But, yeah.

I can get a shelter to take these kittens.

Can you come help me make sure that things go safely and smoothly?

Oh, my God, I would love to, yeah.

If I got the kitten lady next to me, then I'm safe. All right, I'm on it.

Fantastic, Hannah. All right, I'll call you back. I know one thing for sure.

Just because Los Angeles is chock full of kittens and we can't take any more

doesn't mean there's not another place somewhere in this great country of ours

that doesn't need kittens.

So I've only got one job right now. It's time to hit the phones, hit them hard.

And hit them where it counts.

Michelle, it's Jackson Galaxy.

Hey, Alex, can you take kittens?

We just don't have the space.

Can you take

kittens? We just don't have the space.

All right, take care.

Somebody needs kittens.

Hello, BC. It's Jackson Galaxy.

Hey, Jackson. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing, buddy?

I'm good.

Bridget was my co -worker at the first shelter I ever worked at in Colorado,

now she's one of the directors there at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

She's one of my last hopes, so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed.

Well, at the moment, I'm standing at the Best Friends shelter in L .A., and I'm

surrounded by kittens.

Ah.

Do you have room for 50 of them?

50 kittens?

50 kittens? I think it sounds terrific.

Our community's been calling incessantly asking where all the kittens are. Get

out of here. You can take them?

Absolutely. We'd love to.

Okay. Very cool. I can't thank you enough. And I'll see you very soon.

Looking forward to it. Me too. Okay.

Bye. Bye.

You're going home, baby.

Rock and roll, man.

Yes, we've got a place in Colorado to take all 50 kittens, and not just any

place, but a place where I know they're going to all be in great hands.

Now, I just got to get them there.

Well, this morning was a busy one, and there's no way that I can move 50

all the way to Colorado by myself.

Luckily, Hannah Shaw has offered to lend a hand.

Hey, everyone. This is Kitten Lady.

Hannah Shaw, also known as the Kitten Lady, is a lifelong animal lover and a

personal friend of mine. Thank you so much for doing this. Yeah, I'm stoked.

Now, Hannah's presence on this trip is crucial to the safety of these kittens.

Hannah is as passionate as anyone I know when it comes to the welfare of

kittens. She rescues kittens all over the country. She gets into some crazy

situations doing it.

Little baby, what are you doing under here?

Oh, there's a bunch of them. Oh, God.

There's a whole nest of them.

She's an expert when it comes to caring for kittens. Are you cozy?

Even in the first days of their lives.

So we just got three new kittens, and they look to be maybe two days old.

She even started an organization in Washington, D .C., which helps hundreds

kittens get adopted each year.

All right.

I've been thinking about you.

I've been thinking about you guys. You see?

You see?

They're so ready to go. People walk in here, they're like, oh, kittens.

Yes. And it's even Hannah, the kitten lady, can't say no to those guys.

Aren't they gorgeous?

You know, like, you would think with how many kittens I see that it would not be

so exciting every single time. I know, right? But it's like every kitten I see,

it's like the first kitten I've ever seen.

Hi. Hello.

I got to introduce you. This is Groucho. Hi, Groucho. And this is Mojito.

Mojito. Hi, buddy. These guys are Samantha's sponsors.

Look at her nose.

Oh, my gosh. You are just beautiful. She's perfect.

She's so cool.

But this is what we were talking about yesterday.

She's like the poster girl, right? She's black. She's got a funny little nose.

And now I'm going home.

She's like a star in the making. I'm excited. For real.

Look at her.

Oh, my goodness. I'm so excited for her. I was thinking about her.

Yes.

Oh, my gosh. Hi.

She's a mojito cat.

She's so cool.

I love her little, like, poofy nose.

Yes, it, like, poofs up. And one eye is a little smaller.

It is?

Her right eye is a little smaller.

She's also got, like, great, like, little white specks.

She's going to be a heartbreaker when she gets older, right?

Well, and it's so great. You guys are getting her in the prime time. This is

time where we need to get her adopted. It's the easiest time to get her in a

home, and that's what you guys are going to do, which is amazing.

So we have 50.

Now, a range, you know, we can't obviously go under five weeks because

really safe to travel when they're that young.

But we've got everybody's healthy. We've got the vets doing the vet checks.

Samantha's already called the shelter, so we're there saving cats.

So you guys ready to do this? Can you believe this is happening?

It's amazing. You guys, I can't tell you how much.

This means to us and to the shelter workers that are there to know that

animals are getting out. I mean, this is why we do this, man. Thank you for

making this happen.

Put the cat back.

All right.

Let's load up. Let's do it. All right. Let's go.

Come here, you.

Oh, she's hard to put down.

All right.

Ready? Ready. Let's do it. Let's do it. All right.

These kittens are young and cute, and the time to get them adopted is now.

We're not wasting any time because the sooner we move them out of here and make

room in the shelter, the sooner best friends can rescue a new batch of

from other shelters before they're euthanized.

You guys ready for a road trip?

Oh, my God.

I'm pumped. I love really creative ways of saving lives. I think there's no

situation where you can't find a creative solution.

So I'm really, really excited to be here doing this road trip with Jackson.

Take us with you. I know, right?

Oh, my God. Look at these guys.

All right.

These guys are just conked out.

Well, they better get some energy out before we go.

Seriously. These are going to be the ones who are screaming the entire time.

Let's blow some cats.

We have all the carriers set up, ready to go. We just need to do a final health

check on them and then scan them, make sure their microchips match. Then they

can pack them up and send them on their way. All right. Let's do it.

4916. That's Apple Docs. Yep. Their microchips are matched up.

Apple juice.

That's really important because we can't confuse these kittens. Look at his

little goatee.

He kind of has a Jackson goatee.

Jackson, you've got a lookalike.

Jackson. What do we got? It's you as a kitten.

With a goatee. Oh, let me see you.

Hi, Squirmer. And he's so excited to go with you.

Quimby. Hello, Quimby.

Where did he go? Quimby Galaxy.

Come on, Quimby.

And Quimby goes.

We've got to load them up in order. Make sure that the kittens are in the right

place by social needs, by size. Samantha, how ready are you?

I'm... You're not?

But you know what?

These guys are such lucky kittens.

Groucho in.

As sad as it is to say goodbye, I'm so excited. I know.

And here comes the baby.

Goodbye is the goal of fostering. This is the best I could hope for. I hope

Mojito finds a home that loves her as much as I do.

It's bittersweet. It's exciting. I'm so grateful that she's able to go somewhere

where there's a great opportunity to find a home. But you worry, too. I just

hope that she finds love.

Here we go. Ready?

All right, girlfriend.

Yay!

Now that we've got the kittens medically processed, we need to make sure that

they're all hooked in. Ooh, we got a tight squeeze in here, but we can do it.

Oh, boy. It is like serious Tetris, like just barely makes it.

Do we have enough food? Do we have the litter? Do we have the cleaning

Garbage bags? I mean, even the littlest things. We're going to be cleaning up a

lot of mess along the way. I know kittens, and I know the mess they can

Oh, Fern Gully with her absolute mess.

She's going to be one of those.

She's going to be a troublemaker. You already made a mess.

I got first shift to cleanup crew.

This kind of kitten transfer isn't something that we can just do. We need a

plan. There are no hotels that would ever take 50 kittens. That means driving

straight through 20 hours to Colorado with a very fragile and needy truckload

animals. We've got to find us a route that's going to get us there in the

quickest amount of time possible because we can't keep 50 kittens in the van any

longer than we have to. You ready?

The law firm of Barstow and Claremont.

There we go.

We have one last little singleton.

For me? For you, it's a present.

A little kitten present. There we go.

This is really happening, and it's amazing. It's just a long way to go with

kittens. How hard could this possibly be?

Well, safe travels, and I can't wait to see all of the wonderful homes these

guys get. Next thing you're going to see is these guys in homes, man. Well, you

really came through for us, man.

Hey. It's my pleasure, man. Thank you so much. You guys are the ones doing the

hard stuff. Thanks, man.

Like a family road trip cat style. Here we go.

Woo!

Nice.

All right, guys.

All right, everyone in.

Hannah, me, and 50 kittens are about to get rolling, but first I want to call

Bridget in Colorado and let her know we're on our way.

Hello. Hello.

How are you?

Oh, my God.

Wow. We got to get them there first, man. We got to get them there. Oh, my

I can't believe that Bridget's already booked an adoption event. You know, I've

made this trip several times, and it's a solid 20 hours, and that's without 50

kitten passengers. But we're going to get these kittens there on time. I'll

you that much. Well, we're going to get on the road. All right, Bridget. Okay.

Bye. See you soon.

All right, then. Oh, my God.

And off we go.

I know, guys.

I know.

Every time, like a symphony of meows.

And scrapping.

Well, that's a given.

Oh, my. What time is it?

4 .31.

Oh, my God.

Rush hour is just starting.

Oh, no. Come on.

Why is everyone yelling now?

Oh, and the New Yorker starts to come out of you.

Oh, crap.

We are in the red for a while.

It still says 15 hours.

And you know what the thing about traffic is also? It makes me sleepy.

Uh -oh. Traffic makes me sleepy.

Well, don't say that.

No!

Five or six hours from now, we'll be in the middle of Utah. And you know what

it's going to say on here? What?

16 hours.

This is crazy. It's like packed, like completely packed, which is how we want

it. Right.

I don't think we could have taken one more kit or maybe one in your lap.

I could fit lots of kittens right here. I feel really good about it. I was a

little worried about being able to get them secure in there because it's so

important. I mean, especially if you're stacking, if there's any sudden turns or

anything like that. So I feel like we did pretty good. Well, those guys also

were amazing.

I mean, this is incredible, but it's funny because it's a lot of work and

also not.

This is fun.

It's like a creative way of saving lives. I really love innovative stuff

this.

I got like a low tire pressure thing going on here. Oh, really?

What a nightmare.

We need to pull over. All right.

I hope it's nothing. We can't be stranded in the middle of nowhere with

kittens.

I got like a low tire pressure thing going on here.

Oh, really?

What a nightmare. We need to pull over then.

That's what we need, tire problems. There's a gas station. Hopefully we can

it quickly.

All right, let's take a look.

You ready for the last one?

Ready.

Ew. Got it?

Man. It's all full of water, man.

I just shot water into the tire, man.

You've got to be kidding me.

What's that mean?

Oh, wait. Air and water. Oh, no!

Why didn't you tell me this? I don't know.

All right. Hello.

Hopefully we didn't just kill our tire.

Okay, so there's a reason why they call me the cat daddy and not the car guy. I

think we're good.

Okay, crisis averted.

What's next?

What's next?

Getting out of Nevada.

On the road again. Hopefully that's the last stop.

I'm definitely worried about time, but I've got to stay calm for these kittens.

Uh -oh. Come and poop.

It wasn't me.

Thank God.

Oh, God. Whoa, baby.

That's it.

You can, like, taste it.

Really? Did you have to do that?

We knew it was going to happen at some point, but I never thought it was going

to smell this bad.

Roll down the window.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God, that's so bad.

We're going to have to get off.

Oh. Let's start with the best. That looks nasty, though.

All right, I'm going to give you Groucho.

We're going to check. Oh, my God, if it's Mojito.

Oh, it is her.

Oh, my God.

You're the stinky princess.

Do we have something to clean her butt with?

Yeah, I literally travel with, like, a whole bag of baby stuff.

It's okay, my little boy. Here, let me grab the litter box.

This is your girl.

Listen, oh, yeah, baby.

Oh, yeah, he gets it out of there in one fell swoop. Oh, my God. Without

spilling a drop. Thank you very much. I can't believe you're our first pooper.

I cannot believe. But look how cute she is. You can't get that mad.

Adorable.

I got to say, I've never pumped diesel in my life.

I guess it's just like pumping any of you.

Come on, yo.

Oh, man.

You already.

Oh, yeah.

Wish I could be there.

I'm sure.

Oh, my God. Look at these guys are grooming each other.

Look at my little goatee boy. I know, you guys are twinsies. Right? A little

of that.

Who's next?

No. Who wants to come out?

Oh, my God. Quimby's got like uber purr going on right now.

I can't get over how beautifully socialized these kittens are.

And I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's a testament to a foster care

program because so many kittens, having been on the road for hours and hours and

hours, would be like in the back of their cage.

These guys are not.

Hello, my little baby with the specialist nose.

I love her nose.

Me too.

I love the white flecks in her. She's really going to be a knockout. Excuse

Can I help you with something?

Can I help you with something?

Oh, my God, he is so adorable.

All right, okay, okay.

One last boop. Everybody gets one last boop. Okay, everyone gets a boop.

Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

You get two because I love you.

Just as we're about to get rolling, Hannah notices something. It's the last

thing we ever want to see.

Right here.

Look, right there. Look, there's another. There's so many.

Look, there's another cat over there. There's a bunch of cats here. Oh, yeah,

they're all over there. They're all about, like, what, 11 weeks old? We've

50 kittens just like that one. This is so frustrating.

I seriously find kittens everywhere I go. There's just, like, no end.

I mean, they're obviously not spaying or neutering because there's a bazillion

of them out there. Yeah, it's crushing to have a van full of kittens that we're

saving and then to know that we're leaving some behind here.

But we can't take them because we're going to spread whatever these guys

have. We don't know anything about these guys' health history.

We don't have space.

We don't have the tools. We don't have the tools to do it safely.

Okay. Yeah.

It's really frustrating because you've got, like, 50 kittens, and, you know,

think you're making a dent, and then you come out here. All right, let's go talk

to these guys. Yeah.

We have a question for you. So we noticed there's like a whole bunch of

kittens out there. Why don't I get my notebook and we can write down a number?

can give her my card. Cool, that'd be great. Let me grab a card. I'm just a

little bummed out, you know? But it's a reminder that the work doesn't end. I

just wish we could take these guys home too.

But not tonight.

The babies want you to sing them a lullaby.

Listen to them. They're begging for it.

Oh, I'm saying... You know what they're saying?

and the best round of applause I've ever gotten in my life.

The sound of nothing.

They're all asleep.

Man, what a haul. But we've only got two hours to go.

We're asking each other questions this day awake.

So, Hannah, how did you start working with cats and kittens?

When I was about 20, I...

was, you know, walking down the street and looked up in this tree and I found

this little baby kitten in a tree and then looked at her and said, oh my God,

what do I do now?

So that really was the beginning.

I discovered that there were no resources really for the kittens in the

was living in. I found that there was really nobody who was going to help her

I didn't help her and ended up keeping her. That's my cat Coco that I still

have.

Coco really was like the inspiration for everything that came after.

I became the kitten lady by accident. I didn't really, you know, kittens found

me. How did you get into animal sheltering, or what was your first

with animal shelters? We were heading to my first shelter.

Seriously? Yeah, I started working with animals at Humane Society of Boulder

Valley. But I started just, you know, cage cleaning.

adoption counselor. So you didn't intentionally go into animal welfare.

I just needed a job. They started calling me cat boy because I would just

sitting there and I'd be surrounded by cats.

You got that cat mojo. I had the mojo and that's all it took.

All right, so let's give Bridget a call.

Hey Bridget, this is Hannah and Jackson.

We have kittens coming.

Are you calling to tell me you're close?

We are. We'll be there by half hour.

Open arms. We'll see you soon.

Here we go. We did it.

And away we go.

This is the main society of Boulder Valley.

This is my home sweet home, man.

As we pull into the shelter, there's a realization that we made it here with 50

little souls counting on us. But the journey isn't over. Now we've got to get

these kittens adopted.

All right, here we go. Let's go. All right.

Hello.

You're here.

I'm Bridget Chesney. I'm the Director of Animal Behavior and Sheltering here at

the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

When Jackson calls, I'm eager to respond because not only am I seeing an old

friend, but I'm also meeting potentially 50 new friends. So it's a really

exciting time for me to have him join us.

I expected to see kittens when we opened the back. No, no.

Actually, we just brought you some water.

Great. It's so great to see these beautiful, familiar faces, but we've got

truckload of kittens to unload.

All right, Hannah.

All right, Hannah.

Big hug.

Biscuit and bubble.

Are you ready? Are you ready?

It's our little goatee kitten, Quimby.

Now the law firm of Barstow and Claremont.

All right, we've got Groucho and Mojito. You have who?

Groucho and Mojito.

My babies.

Come here.

I didn't play favorites. I swear I didn't play favorites. She's the

thing, man. You have a pretty friend, too.

You ready?

Is that Groucho, the little gray guy? That is Groucho, the gray one. I didn't

mean to, like, make him secondary.

Oh, Groucho is reaching out the whole time. This is Groucho.

Say hi to Groucho.

And this is Mojito.

Look at that little nose.

I fell in love with Mojito the day I met her, number one, because her name is

Mojito, but two, that special nose of her drew me in and at the same time

my heart because she's the type of cat that so often gets overlooked.

My hope is that all these kittens find their forever homes, but I'm worried

Mojito could get left behind.

Hi, buddy.

Hello, baby doll.

Lexi and Gidget. Hired rock trio of Lemmy.

Led Zeppelin.

And Ludacris.

That's awesome. And Ludacris?

Ludacris. Love it. Hi.

Oh, my goodness. Okay.

Oh, my babes. Empanada and egg.

Oh, my God. What are they doing?

What is happening?

What happened? Did we get scared?

Did we get scared? Don't be scared.

Claremont and Barstow are acting out their stress from the road. So we're

to do them a favor, put them in a fresh cage and let them decompress. I mean,

whether it's kittens just acting like kittens or bouncing off the walls like

they are right now, the worst thing to do is to overreact. Oh, to be a kitten.

Hello, troublemaker.

Applesauce and apple juice.

Yep. This is applesauce.

And I believe that is that.

Let's do it, folks.

All the kittens have been unloaded, so Bridget's team is going to start the

check -in process. And finally, Hannah and I get to take a breather.

So I work front desk.

I ran the community outreach department.

I drove the adoption unit. I was the cat boy. I pretty much did everything

besides Bridget's job. That's pretty much it. Was this built while you were

here? Yeah, this whole place was built while I was here. I helped design.

The cat area. Big this stuff, man. Oh, my God.

Look at that.

This is like cat heaven.

Hi, guys.

Let me tell you a story.

So I came here to do a fundraiser, and when I was here, I convinced Bridget to

buy into the concept of the catquarium.

Right? Where people on the outside, you don't feel the pressure to come in here,

and you can see cats being cats.

The concept of this cat querying that I designed represents everything that I

believe about the future of sheltering, that it should be open and inviting and

free -roaming, where the cats can be their biggest, happiest selves, and

the humans find themselves drawn in from the outside, making that bonding

process just that much easier. My hope is that more and more shelters will be

open to these ideas, which I think will lead to a better overall experience,

which ultimately will lead to more adoption.

And look at this. I have a little memorial here. This is awesome.

And I'm not even dead.

These speaker cabinets, cats love scratching on these. Look at that.

It turns into a damn bed. This is so cool.

What a long journey, though. Think about it.

So now they've gone from West Valley to a foster parent with best friends, then

to the best friend shelter, then on our bus, now here, then home. Six, seven.

And they're only like eight weeks old. It's a big journey.

But you know what? It's going to stop this week. They're going to go to their

forever home.

Now they're going home.

Awesome. We've driven 20 hours straight while taking care of 50 kittens. I'm on

just about zero sleep right now, yet all I can think about is whether those

kittens will all find homes tomorrow. It means everything to me. It really does.

You're gorgeous, though. You're beautiful and gorgeous. You all are

and gorgeous. I adore you all.

Okay guys, it's adoption day.

It's your big moment.

Are you ready to go home? Are we all ready to go home in here? Are you guys

ready? Now listen up. No pooping on people. No peeing on people. No chewing

people. We are just going to go out there and be our best little kitten and

a home.

What can we have here? Listen up you guys.

It's your big moment.

This is your big moment.

And you, you just be you.

Little mojito.

You just be your little mojito self, and everything's going to be just fine,

right?

I think everyone's ready?

No hiding.

Be your biggest self, okay?

All right, guys. Be tiny, but be your biggest self. Exactly. Let's do this.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

Are we ready for some kittens?

Good. This is Hannah Shaw, the kitten lady.

Hey, everybody.

We have just completed driving these kittens from Los Angeles here. So in

little eight -week lives, they have been through a lot, yet they're still loving

and beautiful and ready to go home with you guys.

Don't forget one little note here.

If you think that taking home two kittens is twice the work, it's not.

the work. So if you're here for one kitten, think of two.

I say having two kittens is half the work because when you have two kittens,

then they're going to socialize one another, take each other through the

of what being a kitten is all about. They're going to be less bored most of

time, and therefore, they're going to act out less with troublemaking behavior

in your home. All right, guys, let's go in. Come on.

Everybody in.

This is what I wanted to see. I want to see people waiting to get in here. I

want to prove that point, that there's demand for kittens.

Somewhere, that may not be Los Angeles, but somewhere, there's a demand for

these kittens.

Don't be afraid to go in those rooms, sit on the bench, get with the cat.

Go get the kittens.

Who wants a pair of crazy orange kittens?

Seriously. I mean, and this is the point I was making. Okay, so here we got the

law firm of Barstow and Claremont.

And these guys, they should really go home together.

They really should. They will entertain each other so they don't drive you

bananas at 3 o 'clock in the morning. Do I have an agenda? Yes, I do. I would

like to see all the kids that came in together go home together. It's good for

them, and it's good for the home as well.

Oh, my God.

Are you guys interested in adopting?

Yeah.

What do you mean?

My name is Natalie.

Hey, Natalie. And who do you have? You have Claremont.

Claremont's one of my favorites.

I love Claremont. And where's his brother?

Hi, Bart. You want to let him play?

These guys are crazy time together.

Look at them.

They are bananas.

Look at, she's like making muffins on your arm. That means she likes you.

like what they do when they're kneading on mom. So she says, this is my mom.

So what are you guys thinking?

Can you take both of these guys?

Don't break up the firm.

This is the law firm of Barstow and Claremont.

I think if it means keeping the siblings together, we can do it.

Look at us.

Thank you. Okay, the brothers are staying together. They're going home. I

really good.

I feel like I set these guys up for success, and they really appreciated why

wanted them to go home together, and they're going home together.

I'm pretty psyched.

Egg is going home?

I love eggs so much.

Guess who else has it home?

Who? Colleen.

You've been picked.

You've been picked, right?

Nice going.

She, like, can't get off of her. It's awesome.

I grew up as an adoption counselor in this building. I know when I see people

light up that this is the home for this kitten, and I also know that this might

not be the right home for this kitten. So my job right now is to guide people

the right place. It's what I did for 10 years, and it is like riding a bike.

They're both coming home with me.

Yeah!

That's what we want to hear.

Ready to go, apple juice?

All right.

Okay, little lady.

So you're going home with applesauce and apple juice?

Sweet. I'm so excited for you guys, man.

I got some stuff for you here.

We got some...

Because, like, the most important thing in the world, of course, with these

young guys is that you play with them.

So I got toys for you.

He says he wants to teach them tricks.

You can teach them how to sit and give you a high five and all kinds of stuff

like that. And if you do it, will you send me, like, a little movie?

Yeah, there's this one, Clicker. Uh -huh. You know that? Yeah, I do know it.

Clicker. It's the Clicker.

Ah, he loves it.

Thank you. You're welcome, man.

Bye, man.

That made me emotional.

My eyes are full of tears.

So sweet.

I love saving kittens.

I mean, nothing makes me happier than this, honestly.

I've dedicated my life to saving kittens, so being able to be here and

a high volume of them going out the door one after the other, I mean, it's

actually a little overwhelming. I'm getting teary -eyed. I'm getting

Oh, it's just the best feeling in the world.

Hi, guys.

Mojito. Seeing kitten after kitten leave here is amazing. Hannah and I both feel

like, you know, job well done.

Now I turn my head and there's Mojito.

My little Mojito. She's just waiting for the right person. She's a special

kitten. She needs a special person.

I know everyone's going to go home. I want to be here when she goes. I do,

I know. Hey, it could be worse.

She could be back in L .A. and not going home might mean that she doesn't live

through the week. Here, that's not going to happen. I know she's eventually

going to go home, but, oh, I hope it's today.

Send them off on their next adventure.

But I can't be too upset when the cats are flying out of here on their way to

their new forever home.

One in.

And two in.

Congratulations, man.

Have fun.

Congratulations. Have fun. Thank you so much. All right. So far, 34 of the 50 L

.A. kittens have found their new Colorado homes, and that's pretty

Not only did we save lives in L .A., but we're giving these kittens better lives

in Colorado.

Okay, ladies. I wanted to introduce you to the two kittens that I was telling

you about before. Oh, I'm a star.

This is Mojito right here, and this is CrossFit Bright.

She's a little special.

She's got her little nose thing going on.

A little in the cross -eyed department.

These are the things that make her really special.

I told them, I was like, we have a kitten that's really special. And they

like, what do you mean special?

I was trying to describe it. It's hard to describe without seeing her face,

how precious she is.

She's got that sweet little nose and that little eye.

Talk about it. No pressure.

And we'll be back in a few. Play with the babies.

We got toys.

I like these ladies. I think they'd be a really good home for Mojito. Get it,

Mojito. But I'm trying not to get my hopes up here. Okay.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Look at you.

I didn't expect to walk in and see that, but that's awesome.

That's so cute. So did you guys get a chance to debate it and think about it?

What are you doing? What are you going to do?

No pressure.

The pressure is that I love them.

Oh, you do?

Like, I feel pressure for myself.

What do you think for me?

I probably wouldn't just because my apartment's pretty small and I don't

everybody to be kind of fighting for territory and trying to feel

which breaks my heart.

You know, you guys, I admire that, you know, you're not impulsive about the

whole thing. I'm disappointed that Mojito and Groucho didn't go home today.

the same time, I'm glad that these ladies aren't impulsively adopting

and then realizing later that they made a mistake.

I'm optimistic that these guys are going to find a home, even if not today.

Oh, nighty -night time.

Where is my girl? There she is.

I mean, listen, I know that every one of you guys, including you, ma 'am.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I feel bad because it's like Egg went and Quimby went and all

of these kittens we've been rooting for.

I mean, either way, I'm going to bed tonight happy that she's not in L .A.

Absolutely. It's crazy. We're exhausted.

But seeing these kittens go from death row down a long, winding road to placing

them in their carriers and getting them into homes, I wouldn't change a thing.

I sure hope none of these guys end up on My Cat from Hell later on. No, please

don't. No. If I could do this every single week, I would, because it

itself in such a beautiful way.

You know, there's nothing better than this. Well, I'm going to leave you guys.

Great job all the way around. Thank you again, and I'll bring you more kittens.

Of course you will.

Mojito not getting adopted today breaks my heart, but I know that her day to

find a forever home is coming. Nothing can change that this was an amazing

journey that made a difference. We saved the lives of 50 kittens who otherwise

would have been killed in city shelters. And still, in the larger scheme of

things, this was just a drop in the bucket.

We didn't solve the kitten crisis in Los Angeles, but we showed there are

solutions. We showed that all you have to do is something, and you can make the

world a better place for animals.

Colorado is where I first learned that my life's purpose was helping cats and

kittens, and I take that purpose with me wherever I go. And I guess it's just

sometimes I take a vanload of 50 or so meowing kittens along with me for the

ride.