A glimpse into a day in the life at the Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter

It was just after 10 a.m. when a litter of 3-week-old kittens was brought to the Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter & Sanctuary. They were found outside of an Eegee’s warehouse.

The five teeny cats made the smallest of meows as they tried — and adorably failed — to escape their carrier. In the corner of the medical suite, a staff member scrolled through the Eegee’s menu on her computer to find inspiration for the kittens’ names. 

One by one, Hermitage’s medical team lifted kittens out of the carrier to examine each of them — looking in their ears, searching their fur for potential fleas. 

But that’s just a sliver of the work that happens at the shelter every day.

A glimpse into Hermitage

The nonprofit Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter & Sanctuary was founded by Russian Orthodox nun Sister Theresa Seraphim in 1965.

“She had mainly cats, but she had peacocks, dogs, she had a donkey. She just loved animals. Animals were her calling,” says marketing coordinator Victoria Martel. “She dedicated her entire life to rescuing and saving animals. She was constantly trying to convince people that animal welfare was important.”

Sister Theresa moved to Tucson in 1969 and purchased the exact house where Hermitage now sits at 5278 E. 21st St. The building went through a major renovation in 2017, giving the shelter 9,000 square feet of space. 

Today, Hermitage is a cage-free shelter and sanctuary, home to more than 300 cats at any given time.

“When we first get a cat, we don’t immediately put them up for adoption — we get to know them first,” Victoria says. “There are a lot of man hours. It takes a lot of time to get to know the cats. You get to see their personality a lot more (in a cage-free shelter) and they’re a lot happier and a lot calmer. Even cats who are shy get to choose who they want to interact with and it makes them less stressed.”

While most of the cats at Hermitage are adoptable, many live happily at the shelter due to behavioral or medical reasons that make adoptions more difficult. 

“One cat named Vander — he’s kind of like our spokesanimal,” Victoria says. “He came to us through protective services. We don’t know the details of his home, but he had terrible ear mites, a very sensitive back and tail and he’s not fond of children. He was 6 months old when he came to us and he turned 12 this year. He’s got a lot of behavior quirks and because we’ve had him for so long, we know what he likes and what he doesn’t like. He knows how to tell us what he wants.”

Sometimes when Vander no longer wants to deal with people in the main area, he’ll ask — through meows and scratches on the door — to be let into the medical area where he has a special above-ground kennel. When he’s ready to return to the main floor, he’ll meow loudly, letting staff know to put out his step ladder and open his kennel.

Last year, Hermitage took in nearly 800 cats and adopted out nearly 700. No cats are euthanized for space and the shelter has an onsite medical suite where cats can receive care that ranges from simple vaccines to more complicated amputations and other surgeries.

While there are full-time staff members, Hermitage also has 146 active volunteers. Every day, 44 volunteer hours are worked. That includes cleaning, feeding and operational support.

“We would not be able to function without our volunteers,” Victoria says.

Victoria, like the rest of the staff, has never not loved cats.

“I’ve been obsessed with them for as long as I can remember. I love how different they all are. None of them have the same personality and it’s so fun,” Victoria says. “In a perfect world, I’d love for people to know how much goes into every cat here.”

This story will give you a small glimpse of that. This is a day in the life at the Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter & Sanctuary.

Front of house

When shelter manager Holly Simon arrives each morning, the cleaners are already inside. 

Floors are mopped, surfaces are wiped down, carpets are vacuumed and more than 60 litter boxes are changed.

Dishes, blankets, cat beds and dozens of towels are washed every day. Items that touch cats with ringworm are bleached in an outdoor tub.

Holly might be the one who greets you as you arrive. That’s what happened when a man walked in just 20 minutes after the shelter opened on a recent Wednesday. He adopted a fluffy cat from the shelter and wanted to show the staff a couple videos of his new pet — specifically, silly videos of the feline knocking artwork off a shelf.

“That is a welcome bit of news right there,” Holly said after watching the videos. “We see the good and the bad. When we see the perfect home for a cat — that’s the good stuff.”

Holly also gives tours to anyone who stops by. The first guest of the day was a woman whose child started school in the area and isn’t often on this side of town. She has a cat at home — one that doesn’t get along with others — and while she can’t adopt a new kitty, she came to keep the adoptable felines company.

The shelter is home to several different rooms. That includes two areas for kittens and one for the seniors (or just the ones with mature mentalities). There’s a room for cats with feline leukemia — Hermitage is one of few shelters in the country that will accept and adopt out cats with the virus — and separate areas for diabetic cats and felines with allergies. Most of the rooms also have attached patios where the cats can soak up the sun.

Then there’s Sharon. She’s a longtime volunteer and the shelter’s facilities manager who knows how to do just about everything. She knows the color-coded buckets and laundry bags like the back of her hand, just as she knows plastic chairs are easier to clean than couches. She pays close enough attention to the cats to know that one in particular loves the smell of horses. 

Much of the furniture inside the shelter is custom-made or selected intentionally — no steel because it’ll rust, no cloth because it’s hard to clean. Beyond the materials, Sharon thinks hard about the ergonomics of the shelter. 

In the rooms for kittens and seniors, for example, some shelves are lower to the ground to accommodate cats who can’t jump as high. 

“When people are talking about quality of life, we take the holistic approach. Not just giving them things to play with, not just entertaining them, but do the cats have comfortable places to go?” Sharon says.

Back of house

Every single cat at Hermitage starts in the medical suite. The five Eegee’s kittens, for example, received a fecal test and a dewormer before going to foster homes to be bottle-fed.

Medical supervisor Tiffany Johnson comes in at 7 a.m. With the help of the medical staff, she preps medication for the 80 cats who need it. The team also prepares food in specialized bowls for the new cats, shy cats and cats that don’t get along with others. 

“They get their food Ubered to them in the morning and the evening,” Tiffany jokes.

Tiffany knows every name of every cat — and keep in mind that the shelter doesn’t reuse any names. Staff keep a list of silly names they have yet to use, but they often find themselves on Google searching for more options. 

Sometimes names are inspired by the cat’s story or where the cat was found. Sometimes the names are completely random. They once named a mama cat Prego — all of her babies were named after ingredients found in the pasta sauce. Currently at the shelter, you’ll find Jimmy John, Silly Me, Roast Beef, Squeezy and more goofy names.

Beyond the monikers, Tiffany and many other staff members know almost all there is to know about the cats at Hermitage. 

“Being in charge of their medical care, I have to know what they’re like normally so I know what they’re like sick,” Tiffany says.

Tiffany knows the random foods that certain cats prefer — like Coconut Water who only wants to eat a specific flavor of food off your finger. Tiffany knows when a goop in a cat’s eye doesn’t look quite right. She knows which cats like to sit on guests’ laps and which would never dare.

“We treat them all as individuals. Every single cat that comes through, we try to find their best interest — what they’re comfortable with and what they like,” Tiffany says. 

She sees the cliques that the cats form — the friendships, the crushes, the squabbles, the on-and-off-again relationships, the posse of female cats that saunter through the shelter when the public leaves.

“It’s our own little soap opera here. It’s neat to watch,” Tiffany says. “That’s how you know they’re comfortable — when they’re finding comfort in other souls here.”

After the morning duties are covered, it’s time to care for the cats with ringworm, who get bathed twice a week. Then come appointments with fosters and intakes, plus any other medical emergencies that might pop up. 

Just as the cats start in the medical suite, they end there too. The medical staff wrap up adoptions with exams, vaccines and lots of paperwork.

“One of the hardest things is the goodbyes. We think about them long after they are adopted or have passed away,” Tiffany says. “We are a no-kill shelter and that means we don’t euthanize for space, but that doesn’t mean we don’t euthanize at all if their quality of life is compromised. We love them from the first time we see a surrender application. Seeing them sick is hard, hearing people say they just don’t want to deal with their cat anymore is hard, but the goodbyes are the hardest.”

At the end of each year, Hermitage team members plan a celebration to honor the cats who crossed over the rainbow bridge. Their names are read one by one.

“I’ve been here for five years and this is my dream job. This is all I’ve ever wanted to do,” Tiffany says. “That’s after being in the military, too. I said, ‘Now I’m going to go take orders from cats.’ Everything we do — there’s no other place like this. It feels like magic and it is.”

How to help

• Adopt a cat! Submit an application, which includes a background check. When you adopt a cat from Hermitage, they’re spayed or neutered and have all the appropriate vaccines. Hermitage also has a foster program.
• Make a financial donation or sponsor a cat.
• Donate an item, from kitten food to cat carriers. You can donate to the shelter directly or your donation can help the pet pantry, which stocks items for all kinds of pets. To learn more about the pet pantry, click here.
• Bring your aluminum drink cans and cat food cans to the shelter. Hermitage recycles them in exchange for funds that help the cats.

🐈 The Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter & Sanctuary is located at 5278 E. 21st St. For more information, click here. 🐈‍⬛