The wildfowl

Winter has been hard on the various fowl that live on the Farm lake. The island provides a wonderful habitat for the Ducks, Geese and Moor Hens and a safe haven from the fox! This morning the Lake is frozen over again and I have been busy smashing the ice in places so that the animals have fresh water. Each morning the ducks, chickens and goose congregate near the barn to be fed, the same happens in the evening. This morning I counted over FIFTY ducks! Its getting expensive! The price of corn has risen considerably over the winter and we get through  two sacks a week. Not all the ducks live hear permanantly, many fly over from Elvaston Castle to be fed. In a few months everything will settle down and many of the ducks will disappear until next winter. Over the weekend the Canada geese have returned! They arrive every year to nest on the island. In a couple of months hopefully we will have babies on the pond!

2011 prices

It has been a difficult decision to reach regarding whether to raise our prices this year. We have been hit with a double whammy over the last couple of months: the VAT increase has of course increased our costs from the enormous amount of cat litter and animal safe disinfectant that we get through, to food. Also E- On have raised their prices by 9% which is significant as we have the heating on in the cattery 24hours during the winter months.
Traditionally we review prices every two years so have decided to absorb the increased costs this year and maintain the status quo.
The only price difference this year will be for the Garden rooms. All these rooms are family pens and can house multiple cats from the same household. A single supplement for a single cat in one of these pens will take effect from January 31st. The supplement is £1.00 per night so  a single cat to stay in a Garden room will be charged at £8.50 per night.

Meet the pets

Achilles and Dido are our pet cats. They are siblings, lilac point siamese and just over one year old. We have always kept siamese cats and find that they enjoy the company of each other. It was our intention for them to be indoor cats but they had other ideas! They are skilled escape artists and we were fighting a losing battle trying to keep them in the house. They are well known in the village now and are usually around to greet our customers. Achilles likes to race cars up the driveway and climb into customers cars! Dido is more reserved but enjoys being fussed.

The Garden Rooms

The Garden room facility opened in May 2010. Designed and built for us by Pedigree Pens, they are considered to be the gold standard in cattery construction. We have ten rooms all of which are available for family's of cats to share or for a single cat. Each room is made up of an indoor heated sleeping room and an outdoor  exercise room with fantastic views out over the garden. The landscaping around the new facility is finally finished with the centrepiece being a beautiful water feature.

The pond room

Our ever popular indoor facility is having its annual maintenance completed this week. This requires much planning on our part as we need a quiet period to complete the work. We have tiled the floor throughout the cattery, had a repaint and currently the cat ramps, bed shelves and perching ledges are being replaced. The pond is the centre piece of the indoor facility. All the cats rooms have a view of the pond and we find that the sound of running water from the fountain provides a serene ambience for our guests. Feeding the fish is also a popular past time with owners and their families!

Welcome to Pussy Willows

Many of our customers are interested in the daily routines and goings on at pussy willows cat hotel. We aim to give you an insight into what is happening at the cattery and also to give information and advice to cat lovers.