Bloody cattery costs

[Mariets]

I'm really pissed off with the cattery I use at the moment.
I made a booking for my cat and they charged me 50.00 deposit - non refundable - then my plans changed, but rather than let me change the dates they cancelled - no refund remember- and charged me another 50.00 deposit for the new booking. They charge the day of drop off and the day of collection as a day so just an overnight stay is two days which costs me 34.00. Before anyone suggests a friend or neighbour feeds her, she has kidney problems and needs her litter tray cleaning out daily plus I like to know she's not on her own.
Apparently it's company policy not to allow date changes, cancel and rebook only.
I felt like telling them to fuck off but she's an elderly cat and even though she hates it there, I'm loathe to change as she's used to it .
There's a box on the counter for tips, but at 17.00 per night plus they make you bring your own food, they're not getting anything else out of me.
Is this the norm for catteries?

No she was booked for a week.

Just use a local teen who can pop in a couple of times a day & feed/clean litter & top up water bowl. Vastly cheaper

I don't really want her to left alone apart from the odd visit as she's quite old.
I'm not sure how old, but I was told she was about two when I got her from the rescue fourteen years ago. When I changed vets just over twelve years ago they said she was about ten, so somewhere between sixteen and twenty two.

We got a kitten in January and was unaware of cattery situation in my area. Basically there is only 1 for miles and unfortunately its fully booked 6 months in advance.

Our previous pet was a dog and we used rover.com.

I was interested to see there is a sister company called Cat in a flat.

We hired a cat sitter on there and booked days and times to suit us. We paid £11 for a 30 minute visit, for food and litter tray at 9am and 6pm. So £22 per day.

No deposits or anything like that.

We had the sityer come to our home for a free initial visit and then gave her a key once confirmed booking.

They have a good feature called a report card where you get notified of check in time, pictures, food and litter tray info and a short message of every visit. I was very impressed. You can also add in medication details.

I chose the lowest price profile as the young woman was new profile but had wrote she had experience with family and friends cats and she was a Mum starting a side hustle which i respected.

But there were lots of profiles with many reviews, there was even one of a lady who was clearly popular and was a qualified zoologist but she was £25 per visit. So there is lots of choice.

Search www.catinaflat.co.uk

The cattery sounds ridiculous charging you two deposits.

Good luck x

It is frustrating but I can understand this - they might have declined other bookings for when your girl was due to be in.

I'm resigned to factoring in cattery fees as part of my holiday cost. We do have cheap holidays anyway, so the overall burden is manageable.

Try another cattery with different terms- or a local sitter.

If you get a good one - they can be great - a house sitter plus pets is another option.

If cat doesn't really like cattery - and being away from home would really stress one of ours - not sure any change in venue for cattery is really going to affect her - there maybe better cattery out there for her.

I also found my great cat sitter through Cat in A Flat. Now we just sort out between us as a lot easier and they have sat enough times to know the drill and trust them but if you’re looking to find someone would recommend it as well 👍

It's a pain but ultimately they have probably turned away people as you had the slot booked.

If you don't like their business model take your cats elsewhere.

No, wev used our cattery for 6 years. They don't require a deposit I just send an email and book her in for all our holidays for the year. It's ten pounds per night and that also covers the insurance. We are only charged for the nights stayed, not for day of collection.

I would look at other catteries. Mine have been going to theirs all their life (13 years now) and while they don't love me leaving them, they are very chilled within a few hours and they love the staff (and they are antisocial gits generally so this is a reasonably good sign). I also know they are safe and will have any medication they're due and someone is keeping a proper eye on their litter tray and puking/hairball habits, and they can't hide away for days on end from someone popping into my house.

Mine is £22 a day for two, plus a small extra in winter for heating (they have underfloor heating in each pen). They do charge for arrival day but you can avoid final day's charge if you book to collect before 9am, and they have a very reasonable sliding scale for whether you get booking fee back if you cancel or change, depending on when you cancel or change.

I’m a dog walker and cat sitter and I don’t think that the Cattery has been unreasonable- they made a booking for your cat and would have had to decline other requests for that enclosure on that date. They have finite availability and when you take some of that availability you can’t then expect to cancel without paying anything.

I visit lots of cats and IMO using a cat sitter is often a really good option. Many cats value being in their own home and I’m able to stick to their familiar routine. In general they warm to me swiftly and enjoy plenty of fuss / cuddles / playtime / whatever floats their boat. Everything is done exactly as the owner requests and on the cat’s terms. I administer meds, monitor health, clear and clean trays.

I love my job and take the responsibility very seriously. I’m pet first aid trained, and continuously study dog and cat behaviour and care. I go to great lengths to provide excellent care over and above what was asked for- additional visits if needed, continual TLC when health problems occur, added extra days due to delayed flights, nipped back to air houses when it is hot, cooked or sourced food when fussiness sets in, weighed bowls when eating slows, combed out furry knots, cleared up god awful hunting carnage, provided warm spots / dark spots/ cosy spots / whatever cat needs spots.

I’ve worked for some customers for almost 10 years. Many of the cats I care for know me really well and greet me like an old friend, happily settling down for a snooze on my knee. I know them well too- what they like and dislike, where a tickle is appreciated, which flavour food they prefer, where they like to sleep or catch some rays, if they like a tap turned on for a sneaky drink, what makes them nervous etc..

Occasionally a cat is too nervous to interact freely with me. In that case I take time to observe in detail from a comfortable distance, only interacting directly if observation alone is insufficient to be sure all is well. Almost always these cats begin to relax once they realise they are safe with me and that they can trust me to work on their terms.

To do my job well I have to limit the amount of cats which I can visit each day. This means that once I reach that limit have to turn away any additional bookings. So, like the Cattery in the OP I would be out of pocket if someone books and then cancels me. Luckily this doesn’t happen often so I don’t take a deposit, but if it became an issue I’d have no choice.

I'm very grateful my adult DS comes two or three times a day to feed, play with and groom my 2 cats. I know he loves them and they enjoy his company. I'd hate to have to leave them at a cattery where they were with strangers.

I don’t find the non refundable deposit excessive. They could have booked another cat in for that whole week so will have lost out with you changing the date.
we use dog kennels and they charge for full day of drop off and collection too, makes sense as they don’t know what times people will drop off and pick up and kennels need to be cleaned.
Our rate for dog in kennels is £12 a day though (we provide the food) so your rate sounds expensive but we’re in Scotland so maybe cheaper here.