The Marblehead Animal Shelter, a non-kill animal shelter on Village Street, currently has some truly beautiful cats up for adoption.

The shelter's volunteer staff works around-the-clock and is dedicated to finding permanent homes for these wonderful animals. Although they clean, feed, wash and medicate the animals, the most important thing they do is provide them with a lot of love.

Some of the cats featured in this story have been at the shelter for three or four years. They roam about, get plenty of exercise and some even have foster homes to keep them from being caged for an extended period of time.

How much does it cost to adopt a cat? For an adult cat, the adoption fee is $110 and includes Feline FIV and FELV (leukemia) testing, rabies and distemper vaccines as well as being spayed or neutered. You also receive a free health check up with your newly adopted cat at Atlantic Veterinary Hospital on Ocean Avenue.

For kittens under the age of six-months-old, the adoption fee is $80 and  includes all of the above-mentioned services, minus the spay or neuter fee. However, when adopting a kitten, you can leave a $50 deposit and they will refund you when you return with documented proof that you had them spayed or neutered.

This helps to insure that the local homeless cat population stays at a minimum and helps to protect unwanted kittens from being abandoned. For more adoption information, as well as detailed descriptions of the animals available, residents are encouraged to visit the organziation's website here.