Your Cat Is Our Priority

Visit Frequency

Our standard service is once a day flexible timed visits between 9-6pm (9-2pm if you are back that evening).  We don’t offer set times, and work to a schedule so your visit may be at any point during our working hours.  In our experience, if your cat eats wet and dry food we find the wet food is best given on visit, and dry out to graze between.  We can also set up your own timer bowls to stagger feeds if needed.  This helps keep the cost down for you while providing continuity for your cat.  Timer bowls will be set around our visits, usually for a PM opening time and an AM opening time, or however your timer allows.

We also offer twice daily visits (only available to some postcodes with AM visits 9-12 and PM  visits from 2pm, again with no set time - please note these are at our discretion and are not available all year round), plus longer visits for holidays, and lunchtime visits for people out just for the day so there is a degree of flexibility depending on your budget.  You can view our service rates and more info on these extra services here 

Visit Length

A flexible time visit means you cannot request a time, and there is no set length to our visit, although our standard visit usually lasts 20-25 minutes depending on the cat.  This may be shorter if a cat is shy or not around when we visit, or a bit longer if we sit with them for a bit.  We find this tailored approach is best as we can manage your cats anxiety levels as we go, and as the days go on we usually find they start to warm up to us so we can spend more time with them.

Availability & Extra Visitors

Other than a limited service at Christmas, New Year and Easter, we work all year round and with 12 years under our belts you can rest assured we will be reliable and be available for you when you need us.  Your fully functional Client Portal will tell you if any other dates are fully booked so you know when you request.  If your booking bridges a date we are fully booked or closed, we can leave extra food and water out to cover this date, or you are welcome to have a family member or friend visit instead.

You are welcome to have friends/family also visit if your cat is particularly sociable but we do ask you let us know due to insurance reasons, and that it is either before 9am or after 6pm, as otherwise we may clash and your cat will get to see two faces as planned instead of all at once!

Food & Water Replenishment

We feed to your individual requirements and make sure all food and water areas are clean and tidy on each visit including placemats.  We can set up timer bowls around our visits so your cat still gets fed twice a day if you wish, but saves you the cost of twice a day visits.  We are well versed in all types of timer bowl.

Litter Tray Maintenance & Tidying Up

We also sweep or hoover tray areas on each visit to keep them clean and tidy.  We clean up any visible mess (eg faeces, vomit, ‘kills’ – this usually doesn’t include cat hair as that’s all part of owning a cat!) that is found during our booking but please note we cannot be held responsible for anything that may need cleaning up on your return from instances that may happen after our last visit.

Fuss & Playtime

All on your cats terms of course! If your cat is shy or prefers to say hello then get on with their day that’s fine too!  We will never force a shy cat to accept fuss, we often find this approach brings them out of their shell quicker and then enables us to spend more time with them as the visits progress

Medication & Emergencies

We can administer medication where needed and keep a general eye on your cat's wellbeing while you’re away.  If anything seems amiss we will give advice based on circumstances and suggest if we think a vet trip is required.  We have experience with giving all types of medication including injections however bear in mind we visit once a day at no given time so most medication will be given on our visit or added to food/treats where possible.  Thyroid medication can generally be given as one dose, but we are happy to also set up in timer bowls on food to space out doses where the medication type allows.  We currently can’t help with insulin visits due to them being time specific and twice a day.  If something urgent arises when we are visiting and we cannot get hold of you or your emergency contact we will use our own judgement before making a decision to take your cat to the vets as a duty of care – but rest assured we won’t do this unless we deem it necessary as we have a lot of cats to see in a day, so if we suggest a vet trip this usually means it is important

Outdoor Cats

We generally advise if you don’t have a cat flap, or your cats don’t have free rein of their flap when you’re away that your cats are kept in with a litter tray for peace of mind as we cannot wait around for them to come back if they head out. This is also a lot safer for your cat as if they are in danger or spooked outside and cannot get back into their home they may be more likely to stray.  We can also set cat flaps to 'in only' and let your cat out before we leave, with the idea that when they return home they will be shut safe inside until we next visit.

Indoor Cats

As indoor cat mums ourselves, we know the importance of keeping indoor cats in, as do all our staff members.  We go to great lengths to ensure no cat gets out on our watch and will always adhere to any air-lock areas on entry and enter with caution when there isn't one.  If we find it particularly hard to enter and leave with an indoor cat we will liaise with you on alternative entry and exit methods,  for example shutting a front room, or secluding the cat areas to keep them safe while you're away.  We would always advise an air lock area or room off the door we are entering in for peace of mind where possible if your cat is likely to greet us at the door when we arrive.

Initial Meetings

We offer an initial pre-meeting (charged at £5 to cover fuel and time) to see where things are and collect a key if needed for all new clients who book in advance.  Please note at short notice this may not be possible, and you can also opt out of the meeting on our enquiry form, as we know this isn’t always suitable for everyone.  In this meeting we generally take 10-20 minutes to say hello, we don’t need to see the cats if they are out on their business as it’s the visits themselves that let us really get to know them, but we will need to collect a key so please have a spare ready if you do not have a key safe.

Keys

If we don’t do a meeting for you, you will need to drop your key through my door before your dates start.  We are also happy to use a key safe, in fact these are preferred as it makes logistics a lot easier and means you have a key available if there's an emergency or any delays. Any subsequent bookings will require you to drop a key through my door before your dates. 

As well as the option of using your key safe, we also offer a free key holding service if you go away regularly or at short notice and find it hard to drop a key off beforehand.  Keys are kept in secure safes when we are not on a booking with your cat.

Daily Service Reports

We will send an update report at the end of each visit so you know exactly how we have got on, including photos and even short videos where possible!