Owning a cattery

[Flowerpot26]

Hi, does anyone own or work in a cattery? I've been thinking about it for a while and recently gone through a lot of sadness and looking for a new direction and something nice to focus on, and have the funds to get me started.
We own a farm so have to space, but I work partime in a uniform job but not really feeling that anymore and wouldn't mind leaving tho It does pay okay. I have a perfect space for a 15pen cattery, though we have one little boy and would love another child, should I just go for it, or wait till I've hopefully had another and there in school?, we have no family input and only payed help which is fine but then it's all the let down of people and the stress that causes so don't feel like I can rely on that 100%, would if work around family life? Or is it best later on in life. Also what if we wanted to go away? Do you just close? Would I be signing my babies up to no holidays during holiday time and limited days out? We can manage trips away with the farm animals as we do have ppl and it seems to work okay with a lot of orangising but with a cattery with ppl coming and going I'm not so sure. Sorry hope that all makes sense. Please tell me positive things 😻😻

Our old cattery was on a farm, she had rental cottages on site too. They had staff who worked full time so no holiday issues but she was an ex vet nurse who unilaterally decided to diet my Bengal, from 4.5 pouches to 3.5 a day. I got back a much lighter cat who ate solidly for a week when I got him back. He was utterly miserable.

It’s a shame as their lovely people and got a Bengal themselves shortly after we started using them.

Hey, I kno I want someone to reply! Lol.
I think it prob is better in later life, but I've got the farm now and the pennies to do it, But I defo need to wait till after I have another baby I think, then try and build up, its all swings and around abouts as at the moment I have to work when I'm told including Xmas and birthdays etc. But then I reckon it would be stressful as every one cats and babies will need attention at the same time! And I don't have any family support as back up, I'm not sure how to get proper hand on information as the local rescue centre doesn't need any volunteers and I can't really ring another cattery for there thoughts xx

You can look at their websites though, their terms and conditions etc.

Who looks after the farm when you go away?.

I looked into this a while back.

Firstly you need a fair bit of space. Not only for the cattery itself but you also need one, if not two isolation pens at least 30 ft (iirc) away from the main pens.

The sticking point for us is technically the cats should never be left unattended. So you absolutely can’t go away unless you have cover in place- which includes that cover living on site. Bearing in mind your busy times will be school holidays, it will rule out holidays full stop if you have a school age child, unless again you have reliable live in cover.

It also means no days out, no nipping away to spend a night at your mum or dads.

You will have to work christmas, new year, bank holidays.

Best source of information is your local council. They set the regulations for size, isolation, number of animals etc and will tell you exactly what you can and can’t build. Also pen manufacturers.

Look at nearby catteries. Do they get full (lots will give this away on social media), are there a lot round you, is the market saturated. What can you offer that others can’t? Can you offer medical care for ill cats- diabetes, giving medication, that sort of thing?

We have 2 guys that work on the farm so if we go away one normally stays over in a annex, but we don't get to go away that often but it does happen every now and again. I would just love my own thing here that's all mine, and I love cats, there isn't that many around me, proberly 2, within 20 min radius. If I went ahead I would plan on doing some feline cat course so I have knowledge. It's just I don't want to tie my baby and any future kids down with limited times out, but if I had someone i could count on and employ then maybe it wouldn't be a problem.

Could you offer livery too?

Not livery x

I have thought of this too 😍

fluffy horrified re enforced diet. My boy can easily put away four Sheba pouches a day. ( I know they are smaller than other brands but still).

He would never speak to me again if his 'hotel' did that to him!

So naughty and unfair to change his food 😟 x

I think you should go for it, how wonderful to fulfill a dream, so few people ever get the opportunity. You could always employ someone to help out if you wanted to occasionally go away for a few days. FWIW I would love to own a cattery 🥰 Go for it!

I have a pinterest board dedicated to my idea of running a cat hotel. I used to live in Essex which surveys showed are one of the biggest pet spenders county wise, so a cat hotel might just work there.

I have 11 cats, and honestly really don't love the idea of sending them to a cattery, in a pen it just feels so 'pound' like. My idea was to have a building, have box room sized rooms (so a little bigger than a pen), with 'normal' furniture (with some magical way of keeping it clean) maybe a chair, a rug, cat tree, with a window onto a catio for outside space. Each room could be a bedroom, living room, or dining room themed, so if owners have cats who spend all their time in the x room they could have a room which mimics that. The building could possibly be 2 floors, and upstairs rooms that couldn't accommodate a ramp that leads to a catio, could be for indoor cats.

My vats cattery is run by a vet and a fireman. They have full time staff who work in the cattery all day. I'm tempted to book myself in, its so nice.

They also build and sell hobbit houses!

My parents used to run a cattery. It is definitely a tie and you need to think about holidays a long time in advance and close for those weeks, days out also become more difficult as someone should be on site at all times. Around 15 units is enough for 1 person almost full time (cleaning out, checking cats, feeding, playing, bookings, customer check ins and outs, visitors looking round etc).

Look at council licensing requirements, my parents also went on a week long course that covered cattery management, basic healthcare, grooming etc.

Also do a lot of market research, what facilities does you local cattery offer, can you offer something different. Do you have experience with particular breeds, nervous cats etc? A lot of catterys are wooden built pens but you can get ones that are pvc and almost like a mini conservatory- this can be particularly appealing to people with older cats as they are seen as more homely and warm.

My friend has one, she started it when her DCs were late primary school age. They book out a closed week in the summer holidays every year for their own holidays. Pickup and dropoff are at pre-arranged times morning and evening. No pickup and drop off on Sundays and bank holidays. She absolutely adores cats. You haven't mentioned whether you have cats of your own - if not maybe its something you should consider first.

Thanks for the Insights!! Yes I've always had cats, I just lost my fluffy best friend of 20 years, I've got a little 3year cat still x

The best caterers are not only council licenced but icatcare approved. Here is some of icatcares info about catteries. They also have info about starting a Cattery which is -here. They reference FAB in that information FAB has become icatcare, but not all their literature has changed yet.

I think if you read all of that info you will have a better idea if it is for you or not.