Maintenance time

Winter means maintenance time at Pussy Willows. We need to get all our jobs done and dusted before Easter when we know that we will be very busy through to October caring for our guests. Over the last two years we have achieved a lot, updating and modernising the cat hotel.

• Contruction of the Garden room facility to meet customer demand for outside space.
• Retiling of the entire Cat hotel to ensure a more hygienic environment.
• Re decoration of the entire Cat hotel.
• Improvements to security to provide a safe and secure environment for your pets. Electric gates, CCTV and a police monitored alarm system.

We need to start thinking about what to do next. Any ideas?

its cold outside but not in the cat hotel!

The temperature has dropped outside and finally it feels like winter. We worry for the garden as there is blossom on one of our cherry trees and many bulbs are sprouting far too early. The frost over the next few days will be a shock to them. The garden is an very important part of the cat hotel experience, our brilliant gardener Joan works hard to make it beautiful and interesting for our guests. We will be watching it closely over the next few days and praying that we don't lose too many plants.
Inside the cat hotel it is snuggly and warm. The entire building is centrally heated and in addition during the winter months the cats enjoy heated beds.Cat heaven!

How to choose a cattery

Here at Pussy Willows we positively encourage new customers to come and view our facilities before they book their cat in for a stay. We like people to see the cattery in action and therefore an appointment is not necessary; call during our opening hours at your convenience and one of our friendly staff will happily give you a tour and answer your questions. Always be aware of catteries that insist on you making an appointment. Ask yourself why they operate that way? Its likely that they are putting on a special show for you and you should be aware that what you see is not necessarily normal practise. Similarly if a cattery wants you to make an appointment or call before you pick the cat up you should be wary.
Here's a few tips:

1) The cattery should be clean with no unpleasant smells.

2) The environment around the cattery should be tidy and there should be no noise to stress the residents.

3) The cattery should be well staffed and the staff should be helpful and polite.

4) A good variety of cat foods should be available.

5) Your cat should be insured during its stay.

6) A veterinary policy and flea/worming policy should be clear to all customers.

Summer rush

Its holiday time and pussywillows is very busy. Its lovely to see so many familiar faces returning for their holidays and its fantastic that we are greeting so many new customers.
At this time of year we need four staff to ensure that our very high standards of care are maintained. This year we welcome Amy our expert groomer to the team. All of the cats are looking lovely thanks to her skills.
The Garden rooms have been fully booked all summer and are becoming increasingly popular.
All in all a busy time but fantastic!

Meet Alfie

Alfie is a stunning Burmilla cat. He visits us quite regularly and is fascinating to interact with.

One distinctive quirk of this breed is that they jump on your back. This can be a little disconcerting at first if you are not expecting it, but it means that the cat likes you. When Alfie is in the mood to play and be fussed he loves to catch you unaware when you are bending down!         

Our Guests

Our fantastics volunteers!

Over the past few months we have had two wonderful helpers at the cattery, Jack and Ellie. They are both participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award  Scheme and as part of this have to learn new skills. Both have successfully completed three months voluntary work with us learning about animal care. We would like to thank them sincerely and give credit where it is due, afterall not many teenagers would be prepared to get up and to work for 8am on a weekend!

Pedigree pens

It is a year since our fabulous extension "The Garden Rooms" was built. It has been a great success, attracting new customers and broadening the range of facilities that we can offer. All the rooms are big enough to accomodate 2-3 cats from the same family. Unlike wooden cattery buildings, our new extension is of UPVC construction which makes it much more hygienic and easy to clean. The sleeping area is fully insulated and heated with a door and a cat flap out to individual exercise areas. We provide sleeping mats, scratch posts and toys in this area to stimulate the cats. A music system/radio is played in the daytime to provide a calming ambience for our guests. The garden is a great stimulus at this time of year, with our water feature, solar lights, colourful flowers and of course speedy the tortoise providing much interest.

An unlikely friendship!

Speedy our resident tortoise is enjoying the sunshine! He is the best of friends with our siamese, Achilles. They like to hang out together in the garden and greet the customers and visitors. Speedy likes to drink from the fountain in front of the garden room and this causes much interest amongst our cat guests.

Meet the residents

Meet Blue, a beautiful American Ragdoll. Ragdolls are a large breed, long haired cat. Blue is very friendly and attracts a lot of attention because of his good looks. We groom him at least once a day, usually twice to prevent any tangles in his coat.
Ragdolls have blue eyes and are typically, affectionate, intelligent and good natured: Blue has all of these traits.

Meet the residents

Podge first came to us a kitten last year. She is a beautiful British shorthair, mainly blue but with some cream. She was rather shy on her first visit but it has been lovely to see that on her most recent stay she has got used to us and seems far more settled. Podge likes to socialise on her own terms; she stands near the door when she wants some fuss, otherwise she prefers to observe and be left alone. All cats have different personalities and we like to take the time to learn their likes and dislikes.

Meet the residents!

Dickie is a regular visitor to Pussy Willows and as you can see, a very relaxed visitor! He loves to perch on the ledge in his room and observe the comings and goings. Nothing much phases Dickie, he is very relaxed. He is a domestic long haired cat and loves to be brushed. His coat is in excellent condition, very shiny and with no tangles. He is fed on an almost exclusive dry diet and so we make sure that he has plenty to drink at all times. He is a fine cat and we love looking after him!

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.