Hannah Shaw–recognized as an influential humane educator, her specialty is providing instruction in caring for neonatal kittens; she’s also a NYT bestselling author whose latest book “Cats Of The World,” is a collaboration with her husband, photographer Andrew Marttila—recounts how she developed the expertise in caring for neonatal kittens and, along the way, built a humongous social media following in her “Kitten Lady” guise.
This account includes Shaw acknowledging that many well-meaning folks have what proves to be counterproductive response when they see a young, tiny kitten—taking it to the local, which typically is not equipped with the resources or expertise or hours on end to care for these fragile felines. But now, especially compared to past periods, that hypothetical person has access to a vast array of guidance from Shaw herself, including a library of instructional videos, books, webinars, workshops and more.
An animal lover and advocate since she was a kid, explains how she veered into kitten care, led by a random encounter with a little black cat peering out of a treetop. She rescued that five-week-old kitty, made her a family member, named her Coconut (plucked from the tree like one) or Coco, and they were virtually inseparable until the cat died in 2024 at 15.
From that first meeting with Coco, Shaw applied what she learned caring for her new friend, and kept learning. And kept going. We touched on some of the educational efforts this evolved to within the Kitten Lady juggernaut, including the workshops she now leads.
We moved on to discussing “Cats Of The World,” for which she and Marttila traveled to 30 countries, reporting on cat denizens they found in each locale, highlighting unusual rescue or shelter operations functioning in some sites—some of the most impressive sanctuaries were converted homes, housing 400-plus cats–while Marttila captures the myriad scenes with a sprawling array of gorgeous photographs.
It’s a coffee table book with a lot on its mind. One point that’s on Shaw’s mind—as noted in “Cats Of The World,” and amplified in
our conversation—her feline-oriented globe-trotting prompted her to re-examine her own country’s philosophy and policies when it comes to animal sheltering and related issues.
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