It's high summer for kittens at animal shelter
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - It was just another summer day in the kitten room at the Jersey Shore Animal Center. Translation: full house.

Orange ones. Black ones. Torties. They romped, chased and faux-wrestled with each other during a recent afternoon visit. And shelter workers are doing their best to cope with the peak of the breeding season that has led to the annual glut of kittens.

The animal center is pretty much at capacity, with about 20 kittens in the shelter right now, said Patricia Wallace, the shelter's executive director.

"And we have about 30 kittens in foster care," she said. "They are caring families in the community that take in these beautiful little kittens until they are old enough to come to the shelter to be adopted. Some are just a few days old."

The fostered kittens come to the shelter on Brick Boulevard when they are about 10 weeks old, Wallace said.

"As our population is adopted out, we always have new kittens to take their place," she said.

And she wants the public to know the shelter staff makes every effort to make sure the cats find good homes, even if it takes a long time. Holy Moley, a black-and-white cat, has been at the shelter since last August. He is still looking for an owner.

Wallace is concerned that some people may be confusing the center with other shelters that only keep animals for a seven-day holding period.

"Why would we make every effort to take any animal we possibly can?" she said. "We have no seven-day policy. Sometimes people get us confused with other shelters. We do not put them to sleep, unless they have feline leukemia or if there is a medical condition so terrible that the vets can't save them."

The center does not have a staff veterinarian, but animals at the shelter are taken to veterinarians on a regular basis.

"We will go to extraordinary lengths to adopt an animal into a good home," she said.

Wallace points to Angel, a young golden Labrador retriever who was surrendered by her owners, as an example of the lengths the private, nonprofit shelter goes to for an animal's welfare.

"She had severe hip dysplasia," she said. "She was kept in conditions not conducive to her development."

Several anonymous donors paid several thousand dollars to pay for Angel's corrective surgery. She will be put up for adoption once she has healed, Wallace said.

"I think it is a testament to how much people care," she said. "We made a decision we were going to try and give this dog a chance."

Wallace encourages anyone with any questions about the animal center to come visit the facility, which sits on the corner of Brick Boulevard north and Beaverson Boulevard.

"We have an open-door policy," she said. "If you have a question, we will answer it. I'm very proud of the work we do in the community. People in Brick are so generous."

The animal center always has a wish list of items that are needed. But right now donations of kitten food, including a kitten meal replacement known as KMR, a liquid supplement for kittens, would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be dropped off any day of the week, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (732) 920-1600, or visit the shelter's Web site at jerseyshorenaimalcenter.org.