cat hotel hampshire

Hello!

May 17, 2023
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by Jackie
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in News
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I’ve been told off by some of my regulars for not updating my blog – no excuses apart from being busy with the cats!

How is it May already?! I’m glad it is though as it’s my favourite month, full of the promise of summer, sunshine and long days. It’s been such a busy start to the year and we are almost fully booked until January. We still have a small amount of space left in the second half of October and for some of November, but I’ve never known the diary so full, there is a waiting list for most dates throughout the summer.

We are currently replacing the cat trees as we have found these lovely wooden ones, the cats love them and hopefully by the end of the year there will be at least two in each suite. Our solar panels are now up and running and are fab! In the first month alone we noticed a huge reduction in our electricity bill.

Poor Arthur, our much loved little miniature donkey is undergoing new chemotherapy treatment as his tumour has come back with a vengeance. He started it on Monday and has his second course in two weeks. We are keeping everything crossed that this will work as he’s such a beautiful soul. He also asked me to tell you all that he loves apples and carrots! We are trying to get him to understand that new people do not all have needles so if you have any thing in the fridge before your holiday that you need to clear Arthur’s your boy!

Sweep, our 14 year old cat had to have two teeth removed on her birthday last month, not much of a present, but at least she’s still with us. She has a large growth on her gum which was making her teeth infected. She is much happier now and eating well. all three of our cats are now teenagers and sleep most of the day – they are loving be able to bask in the sunshine again.

I’m off with the binoculars to walk around the farm to see if I can see our deer. The mum is huge at the moment so we know the babies are due anytime. It’s such a joy and a privilege to live here and to spend all day with animals, we both adore your cats and never take for granted how blessed we are.

Jackie xx

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Summer 2022

July 23, 2022
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by Jackie
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in News
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I can’t believe it’s been over six months since I’ve written, all I can say is that it’s been crazy busy with no time to sit down!

We have had and are continuing to have, a really busy year. We have been fully booked for months and have no space now until the end of October, we are fully booked for Christmas too. We have so many bookings in for next year and for 2024 already, please, if you have any dates you would like held please let us know as soon as possible.

We are so blessed to have the loveliest cats who stay with us and we adore them all. During the recent hot weather the cat hotel stayed really cool as it is so well insulated, we spent all day up there as it was the coolest place on the farm! We also have the loveliest cat parents, a couple have recently had to cancel with short notice due to illness and both have paid in full, even though it was not their fault. Such kindness means a lot and does us help keep all our rehomed animals fit and well as they always come first.

We have incredibly sad news that our darling donkey Holly died on the 12th May. She had Colic and by the time I found her in the morning at 7am it was too late and we had to make the awful decision to let her go. She was our first ever donkey that we rehomed in 2006. She was the kindest most beautiful soul and we miss her terribly. Her son Charlie is still a bit lost as they had never been apart, but we are spending a lot of time with him and may well look to rehome a friend for him at some point in the future as the other four donkeys are both pairs, even though they do get on well as a group. Holly is buried in the paddock outside the kitchen window where she liked to stand and watch us, I shall miss that little face forever.

Arthur, our little Mediterranean Miniature donkey is having treatment for a tumour which is just under his eye. He has to have injections into it, so far he has had four and he has four more to go. Hopefully this will work, he’s such a lovely little man and being so brave. We have wonderful donkey vets who spend a lot of time making sure he is comfortable both before and after the injection and do really care and we are so grateful to them. All the other donkeys, sheep and ponies are really well thank goodness!

We recently rehomed a few more chickens so the cats have plenty of entertainment outside their windows which they love. Our bird feeders which are outside the cats windows are being filled twice a day as we have so many birds and lots of babies.

Our hay has now been cut and we have had another delivery of straw so the barn is full of feed for the animals. Our resident deer has had two more babies and they are living in the field behind the donkey paddock. There is a fresh water spring which forms a small pond in the corner of this field, plus we planted a small woodland there so she has shelter, its always a treat to see her. We also have two young buzzards again this year, they have a nest in one of our oak trees and are always calling their parents for food! We adore living here and sharing our lives with so many different animals and nature.

Hope you and your beautiful animals are all staying cool and keeping well. I’m back up to sit with my beautiful guests, yes, I really am living my best life 🙂

Jackie xx

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Halloween at Hotel Cat

November 2, 2019
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by Jackie
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in News
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Comments Closed

Well it looks like winter is well underway! I am sat here in the warm whilst the wind and rain do their best to rid the trees of all their leaves.

October is always one of our busiest months and this year was no exception. We have had a number of new guests this month which has been lovely, especially when they settle straight in. The majority of first timers have already reserved their suites for next year and I have never seen the diary so full this far in advance, we already have quite a few bookings for 2021 as well!

The donkeys are really fed up with the rain and are spending most of their time in either the barn or the stables, hopefully November will bring some crisp sunshine for them. We have decided to rehome some more chickens so if anyone knows of any elderly girls who need a home please get in touch. Our golden oldie at the moment is seven and going strong, she doesn’t lay eggs anymore but has a lovely retirement running around the donkey paddocks and keeping all the younger girls in check.

All of our own cats are staying indoors now and there is always at least one of them on our bed both day and night, I love knowing they are safe and warm, it’s always a worry when they go outside. All of our guests are lovely and warm in their suites, their heating is on 24 hours a day and very few of them go and sit in the outside rooms, they are usually all in the warm bedroom. It’s so relaxing so be with them and we love being up at Hotel Cat.

We have a quieter couple of weeks coming up so we are looking forward to doing some decorating in the suites that will be empty.

Enjoy your weekend,

Jackie xx

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Autumn has arrived at Hotel Cat

September 30, 2019
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by Jackie
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in News
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I can’t believe the change in the weather and miss the long hot summer days so much! The Cat Hotel is toasty warm already as all the heating is back on and when I go up first thing in the morning it’s lovely as the heating in our house isn’t switched on yet! We have had a really busy September as usual and have a really busy October to look forward to. September has been full of our favourites and I adore them all, we have quite a few elderly guests and they are all looking in really good health which is so lovely to see.

The donkeys have just had their feet trimmed and are looking really smart. they are spending more time in the barn now and make their presence known if they are feeling peckish! The cats find them absolutely fascinating and are often sat in the window seats watching them. Our new ducks are also a big hit with the cats as they are always around the Cat Hotel and are such funny characters.

We are taking bookings daily now for next year so if you have any dates that you need held the sooner we know then the more chance there is of you booking your required suite.

I’m off now to spend the evening with my lovely guests and enjoy the warmth!

Have a lovely month,

Jackie x

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It’s May – Hooray!

May 23, 2019
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by Jackie
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in News
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I love May it’s my favourite month of the year as it heralds the arrival of Summer. The farm looks wonderful at the moment, all the trees have their new brightly coloured leaves and our hay fields are a delightful mixture of different varieties of grass. We cannot tell if our resident deer have had their baby yet as the grass is too long but we do see the adult deer most days.

Well, the Marathon is done – thank goodness! I definitely won’t do it again as it became to all consuming and the training took me away from the farm and Cat Hotel for too long. It was a bit of a drama as unbeknown to me my chip, which registers your time and lets people know where you are on the course, wasn’t working. My Mum, Brother, Tim, James, Lucy and the charity didn’t know where I was or even if I had started. Tim was panicking as I have a reputation for getting lost and getting on the wrong buses etc and thought all sorts! It was only down to a friend watching on iplayer for hours who suddenly saw me finish who saved the day. She immediately sent the photo around much to my family’s relief. It took me 5hrs and 38 mins. My hamstring injury started niggling at mile 12 and by mile 18 it was agony. I hobbled the last 8 miles and boy was I glad to finish. On a positive note I managed to raise over £2200 for the Celia Hammond Animal Trust, so I know that I have helped a few deserving cats to have a better life. This alone makes all the pain worthwhile.

The Cat Hotel is so busy at the moment. Most of our guests are regular and we adore them all. This morning I was watching a pair of young cats trying to entice the squirrel who was on their bird feeder which is right outside their window, to come in and play with them! I so love what I do and it makes my heart sing to know that my guests are happy and content. We had a lovely old boy come to stay on his first ever visit away from home in 15 years. Jack settled in so well right from the minute he arrived and was just the sweetest boy. Whilst I was making his food he would tap my hand with his paw to make sure I was hurrying! On a sad note we have heard that two of our lovely guests have gone over to Rainbow Bridge. Dylan only stayed with us once but stole our hearts completely. At twenty years old he was one of our oldest guests but was so fit and well for his age. I know he will be very sadly missed by all who knew him. Florence was a regular guest here since we opened and both she and her brother Ravello were always cats that we really looked forward to seeing. Sadly her Mum and Dad were given the awful news that she only had six weeks to live last Nov. She managed to defy that due to both her strong, stoic nature and the love from her family and passed away only a couple of weeks ago. Again she will be sadly missed but never forgotten.

The donkeys are all really well and still shedding their coats like crazy. I have entered Percy into a class at the New Forest Show in July, goodness knows what he will think, but I imagine he will love all the attention as he is such a show off! Tim and I were putting the cats to bed last night and were sat making a fuss of the cats whilst watching the donkeys sleeping in the barn, I don’t think anything can top that, it’s certainly better than tv!

Time I was back entertaining my lovely guests,

Jackie x

 

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Lovely Reviews

March 16, 2015
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by Jackie
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in News
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Comments Closed

We have had such lovely reviews left for us since we opened. Some are left on Facebook, whilst others are sent to us by email. This one really made my day and sums up totally why we built Hotel Cat;

‘Hello Jackie
Just a quick note to say a hundred million thanks for looking after Poppy so brilliantly.
In the past when we have brought her home from a Cattery she has stuck to us like glue, always in the same room as us and craving fuss and knees and never having been groomed, despite promises to do so.
Yesterday when we got her home she was miss independent, she had a good look around and had brief knee visits and fuss and was in no way disturbed by her stay away from home. She is calm and happy.
We can tell that she has actually really enjoyed her stay with you and she sees it as a second home, with second ” mum and dad” to meet her needs.
She is very fluffy and thanks you for helping her to take care of the huge fur coat she wears.
Words cannot express our relief in finding you, we are so confident now to book trips away without them being overshadowed by the guilt of leaving Poppy somewhere as totally alien as a normal Cattery .
Our only real fear now is that by next year you will be so full that we won’t be able to secure a booking for Pops, we KNOW that will be the case and that you will be turning bookings away before you know it.
So we are going to plan our trips well in advance!!’

We love looking after all the cats who come to stay and having just the seven suites is perfect as it enables us to spend real quality time with them all. We are taking bookings daily and have a real variety booked to stay throughout the year. One breed I am really looking forward to meeting is our first family of Australian Mist cats – especially as one is a kitten!

Beautiful Poppy

Beautiful Poppy

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February 2015 at Hotel Cat

February 5, 2015
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by Jackie
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in Luxury Cattery Hampshire, News, Nou The Cat
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It’s lovely to meet the new cats coming in this month. We are full for the whole month and over half full for March already. We have a range of different cats and different breeds coming to stay. We have just had our first hairless cat, a Peterbald called Baggins. He was such a big character and we all totally fell in love with him. We keep the heating on 24hrs a day and it is a constant 22 degrees or 71 in Fahrenheit. He was toasty warm in his suite and we missed his lovely personality and cuddles when he went home. February brings more kittens, which are always so much fun and also a couple of real senior citizens – so much to look forward to.
We have had another newspaper out today and as usual they couldn’t believe their eyes! We do love seeing people’s first reaction to the hotel, I guess we are so used to the cats having such luxury that it is second nature to us.
We have added a couple of new DVD’s to the cats personal selections. These DVD’s are designed especially for cats and we had one of our guests meowing to the cat on the TV today, they are so amusing and we certainly love our job ♥.
We are having our hallway turning into a giant virtual fishpond soon and I can’t wait to show you the videos. We love searching for new ways to keep the cats entertained and they certainly keep us on our toes. We have a family of four young Bengals and Bengal crosses who come to stay, they are such a fun family and always come armed with new toys. Their best one has to be a pirate ship, we love it! They love the interactive DVD’s and Luna in particular can be found hunting for the mice behind the screen!

Luna watching her favourite video

Luna watching her favourite video

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