Blaster is his name but he is more like a Mr. B — a Mr. Bruce Wayne — in appearance. He has a stately look but is a cheerful unpretentious down-to-earth dude. He wears a black and white tuxedo with tails and has delightful, white chubby paws that invite squeezing, the shelter crew says. His fur is medium-long and feathery soft, like a Sally Rand outfit. He's an affable cat with great whiskers who perches on high in his cage at the Marblehead Animal Shelter content to watch the world around him, said shelter volunteer Linda Greenberg. Linda thinks he may have some Maine Coon in him. Here's …

  Walk by Mitch's ground-floor cage at the Marblehead Animal Shelter and he is likely to stand. This short- to medium-hair love muffin will stand on his feet to get your attention. He'll place his mighty double paws against his cage and stretch his cat body to full length. He has a quiet, almost silent meow. "What about me," he is saying. "Don't forget Ol' Mitch. I'm right here. The green-eyed kitty. That's me. Got a face like a raccoon. Just itching to be held." Mitch's owner died and she left it in her will that he would go to the Marblehead Animal Shelter. He has been at the shelter a …

  It's been two months since the sick feral cat was put down but shelter regulars still cast a look to their right before opening the animal center's door. Sally was a presence outside the Village Street shelter for 16 years. She lived in a den in the rock and stone yard behind the Friends of Marblehead's Abandoned Animal center. She was a feral cat who would come when called, said Betsy Cruger, a local animal control officer. You would maybe hear some leaves rustle then see her coat move along a path among the trees and undergrowth. She blended in with the gray bark and gray/brown weeds and …

  Critter and Catfish celebrated their first birthday on March 1, at the Marblehead Animal Shelter. The shelter has been their home since they were rescued from a woodchuck hole in Lynn last June. Since then, they've seen their siblings and their mom get adopted. C & C got adopted, too, but their stay in the free world was cut short when their owner decided they we were too rambunctious. C & C were so happy to be out of the joint that they ran around and knocked over a few lamps and a television. We hope it was a miniature television. In any event they've been on a kitty behavior modification…

  Meet Snuggles at the Marblehead Animal Shelter.  Snuggles is about 3 years old and has been at the shelter since the end of last month when his owner, who went into a nursing home, could no longer care for him.  The pretty short-hair had a hard time adjusting to caged life among a crew of fellow homeless kitties. Going from a stable happy home to a shelter is a shock to many cats and some of them get down in the dumps. That means they tend to isolate and shy away from contact and do not have an appetite, says Marblehead Animal Control Officer Betsy Cruger. Snuggles is slowly adjusting to …

  Meet Henry Blanc at the Marblehead Animal Shelter.  Henry is about 1 year old and has been at the shelter since January when he was rescued from a home where he wasn't treated well. He has wobbly cat syndrome, a neurological disorder. But Henry doesn't get what all the fuss is about. He doesn't think anything is wrong with him. He is an affable, housebroken cat. He gets a bit chippy with other cats — is likely to swipe a paw in their face — so Henry should probably be the only cat in the house. Meet Henry in our video and see photos of other cats at the shelter, too. As of this week there …

  Come see Axel at the Marblehead Animal Shelter.  His story involves great change. A former feral kitty, he was living in the wild, hanging around the dump and other unsavory places. One day, not long ago, he got hit by a car and dragged himself to a hiding place in some bushes. An observant passerby took notice of the gray longhaired kitty and called Marblehead Animal Control Officer Betsy Cruger. The injured cat hissed at Betsy but given his condition did not offer much more resistance. Betsy took him to the shelter where he got a name, Axel, a blanket and a cot. He got food and water and …

  Dogs get their due at North Shore and Merrimack Valley Patches. We here at Swampscott Patch want to give cats their due, too. To that end we will post a video from the Marblehead Animal Shelter each week. Since most of the animals sprung from cages on Village Street are cats, it's cats we will be profiling — and trying to add to the sprung numbers. From what we've seen and heard the shelter has some outstanding cats and terrific cat stories. As of late last week there were about 15 of them at the shelter, among them Axel, Henry Blanc and couple of kitties born in a woodchuck hole. For more …