Pawfee Podcats

This episode Gremi (Grace and Emi, employees of Helping Hands Humane Society and your hosts) has the pleasure of interviewing Natalie, our summer intern from Washburn University. This internship is her last step to graduation, and she's been a huge help the last month or so! We often say we just need more hands, more time, and Natalie has absolutely provided that by assisting us with creating graphics for fundraising events, editing videos of adoptable dogs, and she's now working on a transcript to a lost podcast episode that had an issue in recording! She's the dream intern, basically, and you get to hear fun stories about her childhood, fostering kittens, and the work she's doing at HHHS on this episode. She'll be here through the summer, so please reach out to us at [email protected] and/or [email protected] if you have any questions at all for Natalie or about interning at a humane society, non-profit events, fundraising, social media, etc.! We'd be happy to try to answer questions on our podcast.

As you'll hear us explain in our opening remarks, we are moving to once-a-month podcast episodes as we transition into a busier in-person season at HHHS post-pandemic. Look for a new episode on the first Thursday of each month!

We're back from the hiatus called three weeks of insanity at our shelter! We've held major events, fundraising campaigns, received new that made us panic, created a plan of action, and are now in the middle of ANOTHER event/fundraising campaign! Check out this episode to get filled in on all the details in addition to a major office kitten update (major as in 9 cute little babies!). Also this week there has been a fire next door to us (our shelter was fine, thankfully!), the power went out, and now we can't access some of our most important files temporarily--just another week in the life! The most important part, the care of the animals, is still going well. Thanks for your constant support. 

Please get in touch if you have stories, questions, ideas, or feedback for the podcast: [email protected] and/or [email protected]

What do you do when you're a yoga instructor who loves cats and wants to help homeless animals? You strike up a partnership with your local humane society to teach CAT YOGA classes, that's what! That's exactly what Suzi did five years ago, and it's been wonderful cat, kitten, and puppy yoga classes ever since. Hosts Gremi (Grace and Emi) sit down with Suzi to pick her brain on all things yoga + pets. If you love one or both of these subjects, you're sure to find this episode interesting. We bust the myth that cat yoga classes are for teaching yoga *to* cats...the yoga is there to stretch and strengthen the humans, and the cats are there to provide entertainment and get love! If you'd like to see what it's all about, sign up for the Paws in the P.A.R.K. Kitty Karma class on Sunday, April 25th from 1-2pm for just $10: https://moxie.xyz/spindriftsoul Limited in-person space is available - virtual attendees are unlimited! HHHS receives a donation for each registration.

This week Gremi (Grace and Emi) interview HHHS volunteer groomer, Angie, all about her experiences nail-trimming, mat-shaving, coat-beautifying, and anal-gland-expressing for homeless animals at HHHS (as well as pets at her day-job in a vet's office). Each and every Thursday she faithfully shows up to help give a spa day to the animals who need it most; some have nails who have curled under their paws because they've grown out too long. Others have coats so matted you can't even see their eyes or know that they have a collar on under it, and when she's finally done shaving, the entire coat comes off in a huge, matted piece. She's seen so many walk out of that room with a completely different demeanor; no wonder - they must feel like a whole new dog! 

Angie also gives some helpful tips and insights into grooming so you can make sure your pets at home are staying healthy and beautiful! Please let us know if you have any questions for Angie that we can ask next time we interview her - email us at [email protected] and/or [email protected].

This week your hosts Gremi (Grace and Emi) at Helping Hands Humane Society interview coworker Kristina who works in the Admissions Lost & Found Department. Kristina has some great insight to share - not only about her job, but life in general! Be kind, don't judge, and learn something new every day. She tells us a little about her foster dog Remi and her experiences so far at the shelter (she just started here last September, but she has gone all in!).

If you have questions, stories, or feedback for us, don't hesitate to reach out at [email protected] and/or [email protected]. 

During this week of the No Place Like Home Challenge to get more lost pets back home, Behavior Specialist Lindsay talks all about dogs getting loose...escape artists, bored pups, un-neutered males, and more! We get to hear from her perspective all the common reasons pet dogs are lost in our community as well as her tips for keeping your fur-baby secure. She shares her experiences of folks being reunited with their pets at HHHS and some of the weirdest and wildest tales from our Admissions department (cats from Colorado, dogs with dyed hair, abandoned pocket pets, etc.).

Your hosts Gremi (Grace and Emi) would love to hear from you anytime! Reach out if you have a question, suggestion, or story: [email protected] and/or [email protected].

Margaret Price, employee at Helping Hands Humane Society for over 20 years, is back on as a guest in this episode! Gremi (your hosts, Grace and Emi) interview her all about a challenge we're participating in this month - what is it, why are we on board, and how are we working to get even more lost pets reunited with their owners? We discuss our website, a new Facebook page, working with Animal Control Officers, collars and tags, and of course, microchips! We also give some advice about actions we can all take to help animals and pet owners in our community (AKA be supportive and learn about animal behavior and what's best for them! Some of the advice may seem counterintuitive.).

We'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and stories about animal welfare and our podcast. Feel free to reach out to us anytime at [email protected] and/or [email protected]. 

Welcome to Episode 31 of Pawfee Podcats, the podcast of Helping Hands Humane Society, a private animal shelter with a government contract located in Topeka, KS. This episode was supposed to be Part 2 of our interview with Animal Control Officer Tursi. We recorded that interview, and it was filled with interesting facts...but alas, the sound quality of the recording is unusable. Please accept our apology and this short replacement episode - we did our best to fill it with puppies, kittens, and wacky experiences at the shelter to make up for it! Your hosts Gremi (Grace and Emi) recall some of our favorite parts of the interview with Officer Tursi, and we'll be publishing a blog post a bit later to share more of the knowledge we gained.

As always, please reach out to us with questions, stories, or feedback at [email protected] and/or [email protected]. This week in particular, we are wondering about any fosters' experiences with live dog or cat births! 

This episode's interview was SO interesting that we only got through half of our questions in an hour. That means that we (Gremi - Grace and Emi - your hosts) will definitely have Officer Tursi back again to continue all of our prying, numerous, sometimes off-topic questions! Animal Control Officers are so busy, and we are very grateful that he took the time to meet with us and share information about his job, laws and regulations, and what it takes to become an Animal Control Officer. 

We are sure you'll find this just as interesting as we did! While we all know the "dog catcher" from childhood movies, you probably didn't know what an Animal Control Officer's day-to-day job looks like. If you have any questions for Officer Tursi or for us, please email them to [email protected] or [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, hosts Gremi (Grace and Emi) of Helping Hands Humane Society interview coworker Katie Jesseph, Volunteer and Off-Site Coordinator. You'll learn all about our volunteer program - how to get started, what volunteers do at HHHS, changes we've had to make during COVID-19 - as well as how Katie got started in this work and her experiences and favorite parts of the job so far (spoiler alert: she adopted a Poodle which is a rare and amazing thing at HHHS!).

If you have any questions about the volunteer program, please email Katie at [email protected]. For questions, stories, comments, or feedback regarding the podcast, don't hesitate to get in touch at [email protected] or [email protected]. Thanks for listening!