I was always rather anti cattery , until our present cat . He does not like people coming into the house , so a daily invasion of his safe zone would absolutely stress him to the max . Instead we did a couple of short breaks and tried out two catteries.
The first was the better looking one , on paper had everything he could possibly need , but they didn’t follow our request while he was with them . Cattery 2 is further away , more “rustic” but the staff are brilliant . He’s taken a shine to one in particular, which is pretty unheard of , and although he’s always more than happy to come home , I feel they are looking after him well . He also has anti anxiety medication from the vets , and we trust them to make a daily decision as to whether he needs it while he is there .
They provide standard food , cat litter etc , but we actually take all his own so he has what he is used to . They have beds , heat lamps, blankets, cat towers etc , but again we take his own bits so he can settle with familiar smells .
In the past we have had cats that didn’t have any problems with people popping in to feed them , or staying with family members, however this one would literally hide away , so at least in a cattery they see him every day and make sure everything is ok .