WOODBRIDGE — the windowless room inside the Woodbridge Animal Shelter is quiet enough for a visitor to hear a mouse squeak. Until you walk in.

One by one the cats slip out of their slumber, stretch their paws through their cages and greet the human visitors with a heartbreaking symphony of meows.

Across town at the Iselin Veterinary Hospital, nearly a dozen hounds, ears drooping to the ground, look up with misty eyes.

Officials at both the public shelter in Sewaren and the private clinic in Iselin say the animals are receiving the best care.

But, as the Iselin Veterinary Hospital’s Linda Niedweske says, “It’s just not a home.”

This week the Woodbridge Animal Shelter is offering free adoptions to township residents and residents of the three municipalities that pay Woodbridge for animal-control services