Posts tagged "gwen cooper"

Gwen Cooper wasn't looking to add a special-needs pet to her brood when her vet called her well over a decade ago with a story about a blind kitten. In fact, she already had two cats and was reeling from a recent breakup, so adopting another cat wasn't even on her radar.

However, the sightless little kitten changed Cooper's life, even inspiring her to write the best-selling book "Homer's Odyssey," which we interviewed her about in 2009. Now, Cooper is back to chat with Paw Nation about giving a home to a special-needs pet.

Adopting a special-needs pet is intimidating to even the most passionate pet lover. Could you speak to some of the challenges you've faced or adjustments you've made to make things a bit easier on him?
The first thing to remember is that a special-needs pet is still a pet, still capable of loving you and providing you as much joy as any other pet. The only difference between Homer and any other cat I've had is that Homer has forced me to be neater -- I don't want to leave things out for him to trip on. This is arguably a good thing.

Some medical conditions require a lot of extensive care, but if you're talking about some of the more common ones, like blindness, deafness or a missing limb, there's essentially no more dependence than there is with any other pet.

That old cliché, love is blind, couldn't be closer to the truth when it comes to a cat named Homer.

Twelve years ago, Homer was a sick and abandoned kitten rescued by a Miami couple. A vet determined the infection plaguing the two-week-old kitten's eyes was so severe, his best chance of survival depended on removing his eyes entirely. The couple wanted to put him to sleep rather than subject him to such a trying surgery, but the vet convinced them to let her do the procedure and find the cat a new owner.

Enter Gwen Cooper, who now recounts 12 years worth of adventures with Homer in the sure-to-be-bestseller Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat.

Before embarking on her latest odyssey -- a book tour -- Cooper talked with Paw Nation about Homer's amazing life story.