Author Archives: Mary Shafer
Quirky cutie Corky Concentrates on Convalescence
We’re A Trend!
When we published Almost Perfect: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them, there was no other book available that was devoted solely to the stories of special needs pets. Within a year of its publication, there were three other similar titles. Conventional wisdom in the publishing industry is that if there’s no other book [...]
Go, Gizmo! A Sweet, Blind Girl Grabs the Spotlight
Who says “almost perfect” ain’t good enough? Certainly not Gizmo, the sixteen-year-old, blind cat who snagged an unlikely 14th place in the Cat Fanciers Association cat show in February. She had just about everything going against her, including the fact that she lives at the NatCat shelter in Spring Valley, California. But she didn’t let any [...]
The Conversation Has Begun
I’m truly heartened to see that the conversation around special needs pets has truly taken hold of society at large, at least in most developed countries. I’ve seen more and more newspaper, magazine and online media outlets covering this topic, and wanted to share a few of the latest of these with you here. Tulsa [...]
What We Can Learn From Old Animals
No one who’s lived around an aging animal or person can argue that age often brings with it many forms of disability. When those disabilities get too difficult, it’s easy to turn away, not wanting to see. But Philadelphia fine art photographer Isa Leshko has made it a point not to allow us that [...]
