Meet Howard Stern and Wife Beth's Blind Cat, Bella
The shock jock's wife explains why they adopted a sightless feline.
Nov. 22, 2013 -- Would you foster 47 cats?
Beth Stern said that she and her shock-jock husband, Howard, have, and it's been a rewarding experience.
"It started in June. I'm aware that a lot of these smaller, municipal shelters are overcrowded and they have to euthanize, so I wanted to grab kittens from death row," Stern told ABC News. "When they were ready, I had them spayed and neutered and delivered them to [adoptive] families. It was hard to say goodbye!"
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In all, Stern said that they fostered 47 felines, and were able to find homes for all but one, whom they decided to adopt. Bella, a calico cat who was abandoned while pregnant, is completely blind. (One eye never fully formed, and the other needed to be surgically removed recently, as the result of an early trauma.)
"When we first brought her into our home, she was hard to look at, but after all these months, we find her to be the most beautiful cat in the world," Stern, who recently spoke at the Purina Better with Pets Summit, said. "We've fallen madly in love with her. My other cats know something's off with her and have embraced her. Bella Stern is here to stay!"
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In fact, Stern said that it was Howard who became so enamored by Bella that he gave her complimentary name (which means "beautiful" in Italian).
"She had a different name when she was brought to us, but it reminded me of her time at the shelter," she said. "And she's beautiful."
"He's the kitten whisperer, Howard," she continued, adding that he often picks names for their foster cats. "Tarzan, Poncho -- all his favorite shows and comic books. Name a TV show that Howard watches and we're looking for good names!"
