Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary — Local services in Woonsocket

I am replying to the very unfair diatribe written by Ms. Anderson regarding the Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary. I was the one to whom she turned in her two un-neutered, 18 month old cats on Friday evening, August 4. Her reason for giving up the cats she adopted at 8 weeks old was a job change that necessitated increased time away from home. The cats had no current shots and were not neutered. I asked, not demanded, a $45 turn in fee per cat, which is normal for most shelters. This helps us to defray the cost of all the medical services we render: leukemia/FIV testing, shots, neutering, worming, and any other medical necessities. She voluntarily gave us $130 since the cats were not neutered. The cats had adjustment issues, which is not unusual, and the shift leader on Sunday called Ms. Anderson and suggested that she visit the cats to calm them down. At that time, perhaps because she felt guilty for turning them in, she demanded to take them back. The State of Rhode Island mandates that any animal turned in to a shelter have a rabies shot and be spayed or neutered. We told her that she could adopt the cats back from us after these services were performed by our veternarian. Our adoption fee for cats over one year is $125, obviously to cover the costs; moreover we test for leukemia and worm the cats. I truly cannot understand her problem with that. We told her that we would apply her turn in fee to the adoption fees; thus she would pay us $120 for what would cost her well over $500 if she had gone to a veterinarian on her own for the two cats. I am not sure how many animal shelters she has visited. We are constantly told that ours is amazingly clean and pleasant compared to most. We have been in existence for 25 years and have thousands of happy adopters and a very dedicated volunteer staff. I founded the shelter, however I moved to Florida in 1998 when Deb Adam became the director. I visit at least annually, and am always uplifted by the care, and heartwarming stories that occur on a daily basis. We did lose a cat recently, who failed to adjust, not after we took every extraordinary measure, including Prozac, to help her. Contrast that with the story of Gilly, a young male stray who came in severely underweight and nearly dead. After weeks of TLC, he recovered and was happily adopted. I could fill books with similar stories. It is grossly unfair and cruel to denigrate the thousands of hours of hard work and the over 8,900 cats who have passed through our shelter, based on what? Ms Anderson was fine on Friday night when she turned the cats in. Maybe due to guilt, she over reacted on Sunday to our phone call and tried to transfer that to people who do nothing but work out of love and dedication. The Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary did nothing legally or morally wrong. Her cats are now properly tested, inoculated, wormed, and neutered. If she wants them back, which I am not sure is such a good idea, she must pay an adoption fee like anyone else. Very bad Karma...

I found the “director” to be incredibly rude and honestly rather slow. Socialization with people is amazing for the cats and also humans, the director believes she has to walk people around and I guess talk their ear off when really that’s so unnecessary and a really lousy set up for everyone involved.

Not to mention, a few years back I had attempted to volunteer only to be told they have enough volunteers. What? Why only have the same volunteers when you can have a variety so you don’t have to rely on a smaller group of people. This is just a very unfortunate place.

P.S. I decided to look at other poorly rated reviews and I noticed something very interesting, everyone referring to this unsavory woman as “director”. This honestly goes to show what a high horse she’s on being that she feels the need to tell everyone she’s the director.

News flash lady, no one cares. Cut that out already and start acting your age. Also, a response from some of the workers on other reviews shows they have volunteer issues now and not enough, would you look at that! I imagine part of the reason is how those in charge behave...

6/1/21 - 7:25 1-STAR REVIEW Called around 7:10 to rehome a cat that I called about a week ago. The woman on the line was very sharp and rude when I told her about my whereabouts she responded with "Then why didn't you call the Pawtucket Shelter?". When asked about if the cat (unneutered btw) was still spraying, she then followed with "If any other shelters ask about if the cat sprays, say no next time." I have never had a bad experience with this place up until now.

6/2/21 - 12:20 UPDATE I received a call back from the director Deb regarding the situation with rehoming the cat and the review I had left the previous night. She expressed her concern over my one-star review and noted to me that the many volunteers who work for this establishment were very upset and personally hurt by my review. To the volunteers, I would like to thank you for your services and efforts made to take care of the cats of the Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary. You're doing what nobody else could and that's spectacular. Thank you again Deb for getting back to me to clarify things. I will...