Parsippany Animal Shelter, Where Love Barely Costs a Thing

June is national Adopt-A-Cat Month, which leads me to a new Frugal Family suggestion.  Pass on the pet store and head to the Parsippany Animal Shelter.

If a furry friend is in your future, our town animal shelter is located at 1069 Parsippany Blvd. The shelter is open Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. through 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.  The adoption fee for a dog is $60, while a cat can be adopted for $35.  Costs include neutering and shots, which is a budget-friendly proposition, if you haven’t seen a veterinarian bill lately.

Currently, Parsippany's Animal Shelter has over 35 cats available for adoption, including a great selection of kittens.  Some cats are in foster care, so if you visit, also inquire about the foster felines.

Dogs are not as readily available.  

According to Chris Dikovics, Parsippany’s animal control officer, “People are spaying and neutering dogs.  They are not turning them in.  In 1973, we had over 600 dogs, now we only have 100 to 110 dogs per year.”  

As of June 6, the shelter had one dog, Bruno, a Pit Bull/Terrier mix, who is around 2 years old and is described as being “very friendly.”

Shelter animals offer the same love and camaraderie as animals from breeders or pet stores, plus there's the added benefit of doing a service to the earth and for our community.  

We have a former resident of the Parsippany Animal Shelter in our home. His name is Teddy, and he is a purebred Siberian husky.  We've had him for more than five years, and he is much loved, despite being a bit overzealous.  We like to say “he ate our first house,” but it’s an overstatement.  He only ate all of the outer hoses to the pool, a bunny, my entire cosmetics bag, the contents of my husband’s wallet, many books, newly-planted (and thorny) rosebushes and the area rugs.  

In our new home, he munched on the drywall in our spare room, regularly takes a nip from the bathroom garbage and is currently working on an underground tunnel to the neighbor’s German shepherd.  He’s a kind-hearted animal and adores people, but it is clear why he was given up, since I envision his former family now live in a lean-to.  Luckily, with age and a dog training course, he's settled down a bit.

(Note: Teddy is a husky and genetically prone to this sort of behavior. We adopted a dog bred to pull a sled, but we live in Parsippany, not along The Iditarod.)

We also have two rescued cats, Aspen and Marcy.  

Aspen, our orange cat, came from a shelter near Edison, where my husband lived previously.  He is 9 years old, sweet, weird and a daredevil who walks across our banister a if it were a tightrope.

When my husband and I were living in Jersey City, we spied a tiny, gray kitten (Marcy) hiding under the stairs of the Journal Square Path Station. Aspen needed a friend, so we tempted her with cat toys for three hours before luring her out with a can of tuna and taking her to the vet for a check-up.  She’s a roly-poly tabby, prone to serial, squeaky meows. She is still a bit shy, but sneaks onto our bed every night for a cuddle.

The companionship that pets offer provides inestimable value.  Just be sure you have room in your budget and your life before adopting.  

If you have a specific breed or are looking for more variety, take a look at Petfinder, which scours nearby shelters and organizations.

If you are able to donate, the Parsippany Animal Shelter accepts laundry detergent, bleach, paper towels, cloth towels and financial donations.