14/07/2025
Hi cat friends,
Sorry for the short notice.
I’m going to give you the short version within this first paragraph, as I know people hate reading long blocks of text these days. This is the final month for the Cattery. There may be small blocks of days available in the next two weeks but I need things to be all settled by next month (though there will be one or two cats sticking around into early August). So moving forward, I will be turning away any August bookings, and all boarding bookings moving forward. I’m sorry, but there’s just no way to continue. Fortunately, MeowCheck will continue be there for you if you need it.
Now the extended version of this, for those who’ll keep reading. There’s still some good news in there, don’t worry.
The Cattery opened on July 24, 2016. Little did I know I’d encounter multiple situations that would hinder the growth of this business. Whether it was the “promise” of the oilfield returning to the glory days (false), or Covid, which set back the plans by 1.5 years (the goal of moving to an acreage), or the unexpected death of my mother (silent partner of the Cattery) in 2021, and now this absolute mess of “where does one SAFELY go on vacation on this planet right now? Where is it safe and affordable?!” I have talked to another cats-only boarding place and they’ve been feeling it too, due to travel advisories and so on. So it’s not just me. Well-established kennels with an advertising budget certainly have fared better than I ever could, but that’s nothing to talk about at this point. Fact is, I wouldn’t have seen this much of a drop in bookings under normal circumstances, but here we are. By now, August should have been almost booked solid, but it is so far from it this time around.
MeowCheck is going to keep going, as it has been doing some of the heavy lifting this month. It was clearly a popular decision when I downsized in 2022, because a number of my former boarding clients are now MeowCheck clients. And while everyone reading this probably has one or more cats, you have friends who go away who do not have cats. This is your chance to tell them that MeowCheck will officially be added as a feature of a new business I will be formally bringing to life right away. I won’t mention the name yet (worry not, I will use my social media footprint to introduce it!), but hopefully it becomes a name you mention to your vacation or out of town worker friends without cats. It will be a formal home watch service. I already have a couple of non-feline clients who use MeowCheck as a home watch service, so this is a no-brainer. I already have three years of experience doing it.
My decision was not an easy one, but the rug has been pulled out from under me too many times for me to rationalize trying to keep things going the way they are now. I kinda like the idea of keeping a roof over my head. Times change, and I have to change with them. I live alone in a 1,200sq.ft. home and this isn’t a dual income household. Had it been so, there’d be no issues. But this is my life - I have to steer the ship into calmer waters. Depending on circumstances after this summer, I may be able to still board one cat family at a time (maybe two, if the place I downsize to has the space).
I know there have been a couple posts over the past year or so where I have dropped a couple of these potential “this is the end” bombs, stating that I may not be able to keep the Cattery going. But this one is the real deal, as I know for certain now, with no investors (man, I tried… no one was interested) and no other vines to swing to, I need to fight for my future.
So please keep MeowCheck in mind for your feline care AND home watch needs, and if you have any questions or concerns about in-home care, you know how to get ahold of me!
Thank you Red Deer and central Alberta, it’s been a journey. There’s a new path to be traveled, and I hope to make the best of it. And I hope to keep hearing from many of you!
Rob
