How to Help Cats Adjust to Your Cattery: 5 Best Practices

As an animal lover who has decided to start a cattery business, the comfort of your furry visitors at your facility is probably just as important to you as the actual success of your business! However, it can be quite difficult to ease the anxieties of many different types of cats, especially if it’s their first time staying away from home. That’s why it’s crucial to take strategic steps to ensure the comfort of all of your kitties.

Help-Cats-Adjust-to-Cattery_FeatureTo help you out, we’ll cover these five best practices to ensure your customers’ pets have a pleasant stay at your cattery: 

  1. Keep your facility sanitary and comfortable.
  2. Share preparation tips with cat owners.
  3. Use a questionnaire to get important information about each cat.
  4. Allow owners to bring personal items for their cats.
  5. Consider artificial pheromones for very sensitive cats.

Taking these five tips into consideration can help your cattery wow your customers and keep them coming back. If you’re ready to step up your business with superior care, let’s dive in! 

Why Should You Take Extra Care to Help Cats Adjust?

As a small business owner who chose to open a cattery, you are likely already highly devoted to your furry patrons and genuinely care about their well-being. Aside from wanting cats to have a pleasant experience during their stay, going the extra mile to ensure they adjust quickly and easily is simply a good business practice!

Your customers will be impressed by both your knowledge and willingness to take extra care of their furry friends. While it may take a bit of extra planning, preparation, and effort on your part, it will be well worth it when you ask customers to leave you Google reviews after their cats’ stay with you, which will help you grow your business. 

5 Best Practices for Helping Cats Adjust to Your Cattery

1. Keep your facility sanitary and comfortable 

This should be something that you are already doing, but we’ve included it as a reminder that a clean, inviting environment with proper resources to provide comfort to cats can go a long way to put both cats and their owners at ease. 

Beyond the basics of keeping a facility clean, taking extra measures to give your furry visitors a superior experience can pay off in the long run. Keeping up with pet industry trends can help you better provide food, toys, services, and an environment that your pets will enjoy, which will definitely impress your pet owners! 

2. Share preparation tips with cat owners 

Despite everything you may do to help cats adjust at your facility, it’s likely that you’ll also need the owners to help you make the transition as smooth as possible. Due to this, it’s always a good idea to share a list of suggestions with pet owners when they schedule their cat’s stay with you. You should never assume that they already know and will do all of these things! 

You can include tips like:

  • Leave your cat’s carrier out for a few days. Letting them explore and get used to their carrier in their favorite room for a few days before you’ll be transporting them will help them acclimate better.
  • Bring an item of your clothing with you. An unwashed clothing item can carry your scent and help comfort your cat. 
  • Share any feeding preferences or routines with the pet caretakers. Maintaining a routine will give your cat a sense of familiarity. 

Especially for newer cat owners, these tips will be much appreciated. Taking recommended steps to help their cat relax before coming to stay with you will relieve your customers’ worries about their pets, as well as demonstrate your expertise with cat care.

3. Use a questionnaire to get important information about each cat

As you know, each cat is different and has a unique temperament. In practice, this means that on top of some broad measures you can take for all cats, you may need to make personal adjustments for cats with special needs or preferences. In order to ensure that you’re meeting the needs of every cat, it can be very helpful to have owners fill out a questionnaire about their furry friends to give you more detailed information about their personalities, habits, and preferences. 

You can ask questions like: 

  • Does your cat have any specific fears?
  • What is their feeding routine?
  • Do they have a preference for certain types of toys?
  • Do they have bad habits like scratching couches?

You can ask any questions that seem relevant! The purpose is simply to give you more insight into each individual cat’s personality and needs so you can help them acclimate more quickly. 

However, with all of this new information you’re collecting, having software to help run your pet care business comes in handy! Especially as your business grows, it can be difficult to keep track of and remember all of the information you receive about individual cats. Software can help you better organize, store, and reference filled-out questionnaires and other crucial information when you need it. 

4. Allow owners to bring personal items for their cats

While it never hurts to have a variety of different toys, beds, food, and other supplies to give cats a chance to find their favorite, you can’t realistically have every option available. Allowing pet owners to bring in their cat’s preferred bed, toy, or food can help put them and their cat at ease without costing you extra. 

If you do choose to allow owners to bring personal items, make sure you have a system in place to effectively keep track of each customer’s personal items. Your customers will not be thrilled if their items get mixed up with another customer.

5. Consider artificial pheromones for very sensitive cats

Sometimes, you and a cat’s owners do all you can to make them feel at home in your cattery, and the cat is still skittish, anxious, and agitated. 

Just like humans, cats all have different personalities and tolerance for stress and change. This is why it can be a good idea to keep artificial pheromones on hand for those kitties who are extra sensitive and nervous. Artificial pheromone spray mimics the scent produced in a cat’s facial glands and makes them feel more secure. If you’ve tried everything and still can’t get them to relax, this is a good last resort!

When you add these tips to the natural love and care for cats that you already have as a cattery owner or operator, all of your furry visitors are sure to have a wonderful visit away from their homes. Not only the cats but also their owners will be happy and more than willing to recommend your business in the future. 

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