What could be better than chatting about one adorable kitten— chatting about four! Anitha is joined by Lindsay Fortune who shares why she and her partner adopted four kittens all at once and how their life has changed. Theo, Sadie, Bailey and Stella, went from tiny feral babies, whose bodies stiffened when touched, to healthy, happy and oh-so playful kittens.
Lindsay credits the kittens’ foster mom, who goes by @soccercatmom on social media, for the incredible transformation.
Lindsay talks about each of the kittens personalities—including who dominates the coveted honey pot!
An uplifting conversation for anyone who needs a smile!
To follow Theo and his super cute sisters, check out their Instagram: Theo.and.3sisters
As a thank you to Lindsay for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Motley Zoo Animal Rescue.
Despite its name, Motley Zoo is not a zoo at all. This non-profit is a volunteer-run, foster-based, no-kill animal rescue dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating animals in need. To learn more about them, check out their website: Motley Zoo Animal Rescue
Pet photographer Adam Goldberg joins Anitha to talk about his initiative, Second Shot, which helps shelter animals find their forever homes.
Shelter workers don’t always have the time or expertise to capture a photo of an animal that shows them in the best light—relaxed, happy, cute, adorable. Shelters can be a scary place for many animals, especially when they first arrive and their photo can reflect that fear. The result is often a stressed-looking animal, which sadly may not capture the attention of folks looking to adopt.
This is where Adam comes in. Using his marketing and photography expertise, Adam donates hours of his time every week to take beautiful photos of shelter animals to increase their chances of getting noticed—and it works!
Adam talks about the many successful adoptions that have resulted from the photos he’s taken.
Adam also talks about his wife, Mary, and how their shared love of rescue animals brought them together. So far, this incredible duo has raised over $250,000 for 50+ shelters and rescues!
A great episode for anyone who loves a good news story!
To learn more about Adam and his photography, check out his website: AGold Pet Photography
As a thank you to Adam for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Tampa Bay Humane Society. Since 1912, this organization has been dedicated to ending animal homelessness and providing care and comfort for animals in need.
Anitha is joined by Ben Kennedy who helps care for animals from kittens to wildlife, and also helps humans by raising awareness for the trans community, all while working on his PhD.
Ben shares heartwarming stories of fostering kittens, dogs and getting married at the humane society. He also talks about the social media post that went viral (and not in a good way) when he shared Cross Fit’s new anti-trans policy. Ben also generously talks about going through fertility treatments.
An open and honest conversation with an incredibly open and kind person.
To learn more about Ben, check out his Instagram account: Ben Kennedy
As a thank you to Ben for sharing their story, Anitha donated to the San Diego Humane Society. This organization started in 1880 and has grown to provide many services including taking in abandoned dogs and cats and working to find them new and forever homes, community spay and neuter programs, community pet pantry and more. To learn more about the San Diego Humane Society, check out their website: San Diego Humane Society
Anitha chats with 15-year-old Will Finch. Will and his sister Jada appeared on the podcast back in 2021 to talk about their incredible efforts to help stray dogs and cats find forever loving homes. The siblings created an organization called GOOD WILL GOOD KARMA. Will returns to talk about all that been happening with their non-profit animal rescue—including birthday fundraisers, starting a clothing line to raise money for animal rescue, heartwarming stories of dogs and cats they’ve helped, AND, that to date, GOOD WILL GOOD KARMA has raised a whopping $1 million for animals in need!
Flight AngelsFlight AngelsTeshaWill & Groot
An episode full of heart and inspiration of what it means to create GOOD WILL and GOOD KARMA for all beings.
To learn more about Will and all he is doing to help animals, check out these links:
As a thank you to Will for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Autism Dog Services. This charity, provides service dogs for individuals over three years of age who have autism and related disorders in most parts of Southwestern Ontario.
The incredible Sir Darius Brown joins Anitha to talk about his initiative— combining his love of sewing and his love of animals to help shelter animals find loving, forever homes.
Sir Darius has made thousands of bow ties for shelter animals, taken their photo, and shared these photos on social media. These adorable bow ties have helped save many, many dogs.
An inspiring episode of love and kindness making a huge impact.
Letter from President Obama
To learn more about Sir Darius check out the following links:
As a thank you to Darius for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter in New Jersey. This shelter cares for homeless animals and works to find them permanent, loving homes. They also partner with shelters around the country to save at risk animals from being euthanized. Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter never euthanizes any animal for time or space reasons. Adoptable animals reside at the shelter until they find their forever home.
The incredible Paige Graham joins Anitha to talk about the many dogs, cats, pigs and chickens she has adopted and shares her home with.
Paige began her animal rescue journey in 2010 as a foster for a dog rescue. She soon realized senior animals and those with complex medical needs are sadly often deemed “unadoptable”. With her background in nursing and her huge heart, Paige decided she would give these animals a permanent home, and The Isle of Misfits was born.
Paige shares some heart-warming stories including how she comes up with their awesome names such as Abraham Lincoln, a dog who is missing an eye, Little Richard, an American Bulldog, and Celine Dion, a kitten with a belting meow.
Paige even delves into some difficult personal issues she faced and credits her animals for helping her get through that tough part of her life.
An honest and important conversation about loving animals who many have deemed unfit to live, and also learning to trust and love yourself.
To learn more about Paige and The Isle of Misfits check out her instagram account.
As a thank you to Paige for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Limbo Chihuahua Rescue in St. Petersburg Florida. Paige personally adopted two paralyzed chihuahuas from this rescue. To learn more about what this organization does and how you can support them, please click on the link below:
Some people have a huge heart. Susie Cogswell is one of those incredible humans who not only has a huge heart, but willingly allows it to be broken over and over again.
Susie joins Anitha to talk about her journey in animal rescue and what it’s like to adopt, foster and love senior dogs.
The incredible senior dogs Susie adopted
Champ- the first senior dogDiesel & Bosley-bonded pairBosleyBosleyBonnie
Sadly, senior dogs can find themselves in shelters for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, these dogs are often overlooked when it comes to being adopted. Through no fault of their own, these dogs, who were once part of a family, now must face their final days, months, years alone in a shelter.
Thankfully, there are people like Susie who want to love these dogs for the rest of their days, no matter how long or short that is.
To learn more about Susie and the dogs she’s shared her life with, check out her website. At Cogs Dogs – https://www.cogsdogs.com
As a thank you to Susie for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Harbor of Hope Dog Rescue, a non-profit dog rescue comprised entirely of dedicated and compassionate foster homes ready to provide a safe haven to dogs in need.
Eleven-year-old Will and seventeen-year old Jada Finch share their inspiring story of turning personal heartache into helping animals. When Will was 7 and Jada was 12, the family adopted an adorable puppy they named Karma Rose. Sadly, within a few short weeks, Karma died from canine parvo-virus. Despite being devastated at the loss of his beloved puppy, Will decided to honor Karma on his 8th birthday. In lieu of gifts, he requested donations of money and pet supplies to donate to a local animal rescue. And soon after, Good Will Good Karma was born.
Will and Jada talk to Anitha about their amazing initiative to raise money and awareness to help animals. This podcast is a must for anyone who loves animals and wants to hear uplifting stories of how this incredible brother and sister team have dedicated their lives to helping animals.
As a thank you for sharing their story, Anitha donated to All Paws Cat Rescue. To learn more about this rescue, click here: http://allpawsrescue.weebly.com/
I’m sure many of us have dreamt about what we would do if we had Google level funding. Literary agent, Kelly Thomas was asked this exact question on one of my favorite podcasts—The Manuscript Academy. It is a question the creators of the podcast often pose to guests and the answers are varied. But Kelly’s response had me beaming!
Kelly talked about the dogs she adopted from Animal Lighthouse Rescue (ALR), an organization that rescues dogs in Puerto Rico and brings them to New York City to find their forever homes.
It is a challenge to fly rescue dogs from Puerto Rico to New York City. Each dog must have a designated human escort travelling with them before they are allowed on the plane. Once this hurdle is overcome, the dogs are placed in the cargo section of the plane, which can be very loud and frightening, especially to a dog who has already suffered trauma. But for now, this is the only option available.
But if Kelly had Google level funding, she would change this. She would buy a plane specifically to fly dogs in need of help to their forever homes. Any dog that didn’t find a family, Kelly would keep as her own.
As soon as I heard Kelly’s answer, I knew I had to find out more about her. The only contact information I had was her literary agency email. This email is normally used for writers submitting material to the agency in hopes of acquiring representation. I took a chance and emailed Kelly on her agency email. I explained who I was and that I was hoping to share her story on my Kindness Is Everything blog. Within minutes, Kelly emailed back, saying she would love to! And not only that, she put me in touch with the founder of Animal Lighthouse Rescue so that I could share their story as well.
It was such a joy to speak with Kelly. Whenever she talked about her dogs, both whom she adopted from Animal Lighthouse Rescue, her voice overflowed with love.
Kelly’s love of animals came from her father and grandmother. At one time, her grandmother had fourteen cats under her care. When Kelly was growing up, dogs and cats were always a part of her family. Her dad even threw her canine sibling birthday parties.
Kelly’s dad & Tammy.
When Kelly left home, she was saddened to discover she’d developed an allergy to dogs. This sudden onset sometimes happens when people are no longer around pets. As she was living in a small apartment in New York, having a pet wasn’t possible, so the allergy wasn’t much of an issue. However, in 2013, Kelly moved to a larger, pet-friendly place and was determined to once again have a dog in her life, even if it meant allergy shots or medication.
Her search began.
Kelly started looking for dogs in need of a home on a website called Pet Finder. This led her to connect with Julie Sinaw, the founder of ALR.
Julie had three rescue dogs in NYC at the time. Kelly met them and immediately fell in love with Lila. The feeling was clearly mutual as Lila came up to Kelly and nuzzled right into her.
Lila and Kelly
Kelly’s relationship with the rescue didn’t end once she brought Lila home. Kelly was so impressed by Julie’s dedication and efforts to rescue and find forever homes for the Puerto Rican dogs, that she started to volunteer.
She spent time helping out at dog adoption events. Kelly and the other volunteers would each be partnered with one of the dogs. They would learn everything they could about the dog—their history, special needs, if the dog got along with other dogs, cats, children, and if they were an active dog.
Kelly would then meet people who were interested in adopting the dog to determine whether or not it was a good match—for dog and human. Prospective adopters are thoroughly vetted to make sure they are committed to caring for a dog.
Kelly wanted to make sure each dog she was responsible for found a loving home like her own Lila.
Sadly, Lila passed away in February of 2020. Kelly was devastated. After about a month, she contacted Julie wanting to once again adopt a dog from Puerto Rico. This time it was a dog named Daisy who won Kelly’s heart. Soon after Kelly adopted Daisy, she changed her name to Hazel.
Kelly and Hazel moved to Florida, in November of 2020. She even found a place that not only boasts a swimming pool and gym, but also a dog park!
Hazel
Though living in Florida means it’s no longer possible for Kelly to volunteer at the adoption events, she is hoping to find other ways to help Animal Lighthouse Rescue. Perhaps one day, she’ll buy them that plane!
When asked if there was only one thing she could change in the world, what that would be—her response: “For more people to be aware of how amazing animals are and to rescue them so that they all have a loving home and enough food. No animal should have to go hungry.”
Anitha Rao-Robinson 