My Nonprofit Reviews

The Hermitage non-profit cat shelter is not quite what it seems to be. Apparently their primary purpose is to raise money from lavish parties versus finding homes for their cats. Here is my story. We were allowed to place a neighbor’s cat with the Hermitage only after offering sponsorships and money to get them to take him! Long story short, in the interim of them accepting Simon, a cat with diabetes, we started giving him insulin shots and feeding him. After turning him over to them we missed him so much we made weekly visits to see him. During those visits we started to see the real workings of the Hermitage. Often times there was not even a person at the front desk to greet us. We’d just walk right in and go to see Simon. Watching feed time in the diabetic room was a wake up call to us. They would put the food bowls down and just leave! Not watching to see if the cat ate (or a different cat came and ate their food!) then later coming back with a handful of syringes to give insulin shots. The problem is if a cat doesn’t eat and gets an insulin shot they can become hypoglycemic, possibly a fatal issue. We decided to adopt Simon as our own, reportedly we were immediately placed on a do-not let adopt list because we brought him there on our neighbor’s behalf. After almost a month, the adoption manager left a voice message saying that we really had never been denied and we could come to the Hermitage and adopt Simon. On the day as were driving to pick him up, we learned the adoption would not take place as we were told the medical staff person and the adoption manager would not be available to process the adoption. The medical staff person had a conflicting appointment and the adoption manager was sent home earlier as he had worked too many hours the prior week. Two days later as we drove back for a second adoption appointment, we received a phone call telling us Simon was taken to the hospital and was to be euthanized for hypoglycemia! Upon arrival at the Hermitage the director stated that Simon probably hadn’t eaten last night and that could be why his blood glucose was so low. When we asked the executive director to see the body, she said we could see Simon’s body for just a few seconds and then said “I want him out of here”. I will get a necropsy done to see what happened, she assured us we could have his ashes and a copy of the report. Well two more months have passed and still no word on Simon’s ashes. I could not recommend this place for donations or adoptions with many other highly reviewed caring cat shelters in the Tucson area. I can only recommend that you do some research first for any place, many use fluff or false reviews from employees or friends or glowing recommendations on a Face book or Yelp page with no proof of truth.