Years ago, Bonita Springs resident Jenny Brunt was a veterinary assistant, but found herself longing for more human contact.

“I liked it, but it really wasn’t for me,” Brunt said. “I liked working with people as well.”

So she moved into the publication industry but deeply missed interacting with felines, her true love ever since she had volunteered at Collier County Domestic Animal Services as a teenager.

Neither career could satisfy both needs, but Brunt was hit with the perfect idea late last year: combine her two passions into one project, a cat-based magazine fulfilling her love of animals and her desire to work with people. Thus, “Florida Feline” was born.

“I think the need was in the feline industry since there isn’t anybody doing that here,” Brunt said.

The national publication “Cat Fancy” is the best-known feline-centered publication. In Florida, there are plenty of dog-based magazines. Still, Brunt said she didn’t know of a single statewide publication for cat lovers.

She and a two-person staff got the ball rolling right after the revelation came. Six months later, 15,000 copies of the first issue are about to hit the stands.

The summer edition will debut in veterinarians’ clinics, pet shops, boutiques, boarding shops, shelters, and on Barnes and Noble shelves across Florida.

“Florida Feline” is for all cat owners and enthusiasts, Brunt said.

It includes regular columns by veterinarians, product information, stories, interviews, and seasonal features — for the first issue, the focus is cat safety during hurricane season.

The venture isn’t just about recognizing a niche and filling it, though. A percentage of the $3.99 cover price goes back to local shelters.

In addition to regular columns and articles, each quarterly issue includes an adoption spread featuring cats and kittens in need of loving homes and information on spay and neuter campaigns.

Wellington resident and cat owner Damien Albert-Thenet said “Florida Feline” sounds like something he’d be interested in.

“I’d definitely check it out,” he said.

His cat, Smokey, is neutered, and Albert-Thenet recognizes the importance of the simple procedure “so they do not reproduce like bunnies!”

A Marco Island cat shelter, For the Love of Cats, plans to work closely with Brunt and her staff on adoption and spay-neuter features.

“I think it’s going to be fabulous,” said Jan Rich, the shelter’s founder. “I hope that it brings a lot of awareness to some of the feline issues in Collier County.”

Rich appreciates “Florida Feline” focusing on the out-of-control feral and stray cat population, letting readers know that something as simple as spaying or neutering your pet cat or a stray can make a huge difference.

“I’m hoping that it begins a groundswell of support for low-cost spay-neuter programs and to help cat owners understand the problems out there and understand their animal better, too,” Rich said.

When people like Albert-Thenet understand cats like Smokey, they’re less likely to surrender them at a shelter, Rich said.

Being surrendered was the last thing Smokey needed, but it could have happened. He had belonged to Albert-Thenet’s acquaintance, who unexpectedly moved away and left her cat behind. Albert-Thenet and his brother took him in, soon growing quite attached to their new pet.

“If we didn’t like cats, we would have just given him to the Humane Society,” he said.

Brunt has seen firsthand the consequences of careless people like Smokey’s estranged owner.

“When it really hit me was when I did foster work,” Brunt said. “You have kitten litters that come in, they grow up, they go out for adoption, and then here comes the next litter. It was a wake-up call. The number that goes in (to shelters) and the number that goes out is not a good ratio. If the community would lend a hand by helping fundraising or adopting an animal, the number would go down and that would be good. I think it needs to be more public, in a sense.”

She has high hopes that Collier County will respond to the need.