LEWISTON – Kelly Stevens is used to the steady stream of kittens.

As an assistant at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society, she helps settle them into the animal shelter, hoping the cat cages will be temporary, a short stop before they’re whisked off for adoption.

Or, often, she simply takes them home with her.

“There are so many that come in here. Without foster homes, a lot of the kittens would probably get sick,” Stevens said.

For nearly four years, Stevens has served as foster mom to the shelter’s youngest and neediest felines, giving them a chance to grow and socialize stress-free in a family home rather than the loud, bustling shelter. Although she tries to take just one litter at a time – her home is already filled with five dogs, six cats, a ferret and two young children – she just can’t say no to a furry face.

Stevens is currently foster mom to 11, including two litters of playful kittens, a solemn mother cat and a senior cat found matted, sick and living in an empty apartment for a month.

Stevens started fostering before she worked at the shelter. She wanted to adopt some kittens. Her husband didn’t.

Fostering was their compromise.

“He said ‘As long as they leave,'” she said. “Now look what he got himself into.”

With her husband in the military, Stevens cares for the cats all but alone. Her 3-year-old daughter helps get the kittens used to family life, sometimes cuddling them, sometimes carrying them around in a basket.

“It prepares them for anything,” Stevens said.

When one litter gets old enough to return to the shelter for adoption, another litter quickly replaces it.

Once in a while, though, Stevens just can’t let go. She’s already planning to adopt a cream-colored foster kitten with deformed back paws. She’s thinking of keeping the older cat who was left to starve in the apartment. After two months in her home, the Persian/Himalayan mix is just starting to come out of her shell.

“I don’t want to change her whole environment again,” she said.

Stevens lets her other foster cats go, reluctantly. The mother cats weigh on her mind most. They often linger at the shelter long after their kittens have been adopted.

“I know she’ll find a home,” Stevens said, stroking Fancy, the skinny, no-nonsense mother cat she’s fostering now. “It’ll just take longer.”

The shelter maintains a list of at least 30 cat foster homes. With about 500 cats and kittens arriving at the shelter each month, they’re needed.

“Kelly is our super foster,” said Donna Kincer, development director for the shelter. “She just takes so many.”