A cattery sells you a photograph of a pen. What your cat lives, though, is a day: when food arrives, how often a human looks in, what there is to watch at midnight, and what happens on the one day she feels unwell. The questions below walk a cattery through that day in order. A well-run cattery answers them easily and precisely, because the day you are asking about is written down somewhere and happens whether or not you visit. Evasiveness about ordinary things, feeding times, cleaning, who is there at night, is itself the answer you came for.
One Ordinary Day, Hour by Hour
When is she fed, and can she stay on her own food, served at her usual times, rather than the house food on the house schedule? How often is each pen cleaned, and how often is the litter tray checked between cleans, since a fastidious cat will hold on rather than use a dirty tray? How many times a day does a named person actually check each cat, watching her eat, move and use the tray, rather than glancing through glass on the way past? How roomy is each cat's pen, and what is in it: levels to climb, a shelf by a window, a scratching post, somewhere to hide completely? Ask to visit before booking and see a pen mid-stay, not just the show pen, and ask whether you may bring her own bedding and a worn item of your clothing. The details of the day are her whole world for the stay; a cattery that respects that will be pleased you asked.
Nights, Contact and Quiet Hours
Does anyone sleep on site overnight, and if not, when is the last check, when is the first, and what monitoring covers the hours between? How will staff contact you during the stay: scheduled updates, photos, a message only if something is wrong, and who is your named contact if you need to ask about her? What is there for her to do in the quiet hours beyond the pen itself: human time spent with cats who want it, play sessions, a view of birds or a garden, radio left on, and are shy cats left in peace rather than handled for the routine's sake? Can you visit during the stay, and if visits are discouraged, what is the reasoning, since some cats settle better unvisited while others fret? Ask how heating and cooling are handled through the night in very hot or cold weather, because pens that are pleasant at noon in a showroom can be neither at three in the morning in a cold snap.
Illness, Emergencies and Written Answers
Suppose she stops eating or seems unwell on the second day: who notices first, who decides what happens next, which vet is used, yours or the cattery's, and who phones you, and when? Is there an isolation pen if she becomes ill, and how are infectious cats kept apart from healthy boarders in practice, not just in policy? Who can authorise emergency treatment in your absence, and how are costs handled and recorded? What happens at the end of the stay if you are delayed: an extra night happily, at what notice, and at what charge? Then, before you book, ask for the agreed terms to be confirmed in writing: the feeding routine, the checking and staffing pattern, the contact arrangement and the illness procedure, as they will apply to her stay dates. Access that expires matters at home too: Care Pass through KinsLe lets you share her care details with one particular helper for a set period, and the access ends when the period does.