Twelve years ago The Ottawa Citizen published the first of several articles on the new luxury inn that had just opened to provide a home away from home for lucky cats and their appreciative owners. A few months later Regional Contact on CJOH TV made The Cats Meow a program feature. Interest grew and stories and articles appeared in the National Post and Chatelaine Magazine. Soon even international publications caught the catnip! Cats Magazine called us "five star accommodation" and Cats USA praised the Cats Meow as "One of the twenty best ways to spoil your cat."
Gradually word spread and The Cats Meow’s reputation grew as cats from all over eastern Ontario, from Kingston to Ottawa and even west Quebec, came to bask in the appealing atmosphere of our inn. After a dozen years of providing the very best in cat boarding our client list is over 90% repeats. By pampering our feline guests and providing peace of mind for their owners more clients and their cats have come through our doors. Our customers have their favorite words of affection for The Cats Meow. But whatever term they use, from "The Spa" to "Cat Palace" to simply "paradise", they keep coming back.

It is no accident that The Cat's Meow established itself as the top cat boarding facility in the Ottawa area. We came up with the idea years ago when cats-only boarding facilities were a totally new concept to most. When the options available were either small cages in veterinary clinics, or side line units in dog boarding facilities, we built a luxury "inn for cats" with fireplaces, cathedral ceilings, and even large individual outside areas where cats for the first time could lounge to their hearts' content.

With two buildings designed and built solely for the purpose of boarding cats, and with almost every space available connected to its own outside lounging area we may well be the largest cats-only facility in Canada. Our clients certainly think we are the best. Thus far we have never been told by anyone that a better facility exists. We've had clients who have relocated to the Ottawa area from all over Canada and when they phone to make a reservation they will often tell us that there is a cat boarding facility near them that is just like us. To date, however, every time any of them have arrived here their common comment is simply, "they are nothing like this!"

Why has The Cats Meow been so successful? It is all in the attention to the details. No doubt our facilities are second to none, and the setting is a paradise of tranquility and beauty. But it is the dedication and care that we continually provide that brings clients back year after year. There has been a trend lately of cat boarding facilities being opened by owners who have full time jobs elsewhere. Since it opened, The Cats Meow has been Doug and Mary's sole occupation. They get to know each of the cats that come here, their personalities, needs, and preferences and the cats get to know them. This builds and nurtures trust, affection and comfort, for both the cats and their owners. Running a top cat boarding facility is much like running a fine restaurant. If you love what you do, consistently provide all the quality ingredients, care and service and wrap it in beautiful surroundings, your clients will create a well worn path to your door. The Cats Meow has become synonymous for quality, building its reputation one client at a time.

For years Ottawa and Kingston veterinary clinics have been recommending The Cats Meow to their clients who enquire about boarding facilities. In fact we get veterinary recommendations from all over eastern Ontario and lately even a number from Montreal. They have done so simply because so many of their own clients who tried us gave them glowing reports about the love and care their cats received while they stayed with us. We also have boarded cats owned by a number of veterinarians themselves. Recently we had a visit by three employees of a large Ottawa veterinary clinic, to tour our facilities and view them first hand. They seemed to be very pleased but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that we had our feedback. One of our recent clients who uses their clinic told us that they were in to have their cat vaccinated. When our client told them they were coming to The Cats Meow the reply was "you couldn't have made a better choice". To top it off, we had a call a week later to book a reservation from one of the clinics’ veterinarians. Veterinarians must a have a common emotional response to The Cats Meow because I heard this vet exclaim the same words four or five times on arrival that a vet from Carleton place had expressed several years earlier: "This place is amazing".

Considering the number of stories we have heard over the years about less than satisfactory experiences with boarding facilities it is not surprising that many new clients are very cautious when looking for a place to leave their cat when they go away. Not wanting them to be in where dogs bark all day, or stuck in a little cage with few or no windows to give light or look out of, or worrying that their cats will spend their time tense and scared, new visitors to The Cats Meow find it a refreshing breath of fresh air when they find us. We have stopped counting the number of clients who have not gone on holidays because they couldn't bring themselves to leave their cats before they found us, not believing that the level of care we provide was possible or available. We have clients that tell us that their cats get excited when they pull into our driveway. Most owners find that they have to coax their cats out of here when they leave. Many owners tell us that we interact with their cats and bond with them in ways that they haven't yet been able to, and many tell us that their cats are more affectionate and sociable having stayed with us. Quite simply, if anyone believes that cats cannot be happy in a boarding situation, they have not been at The Cats Meow.

Mary and I have lived on our property here for over 22 years now. Comprising about 50 acres it has a beautiful marsh that ducks and geese inhabit in the spring and fall, and our clients often call it a piece of paradise. It certainly has become a paradise for cats, with its serenity, beauty, and abundance of nature. Clients have often arrived to see deer on the lawn, or have noticed the many birds in the trees or at the feeders. And most of them have been greeted by our beige and fluffy cat mascot, "Barney".

Though the majority of our clients are from Ottawa and Kingston, in the last year alone we have had over a half dozen clients from Montreal. They have driven all the way here to deliver their cats and then have returned to Montreal to fly out of Dorval the next day. At Christmas we had two cats arrive from Toronto. They had visited eight boarding facilities in Toronto and not being happy to leave their cats at any one of them were about to cancel their trip to Australia. Finding The Cats Meow saved their trip.

We have always been firm believers in serendipity, and yet many examples still surprise us. Many of our clients have told us stories about being in a veterinary office even an hour or two away from us, and hearing someone ask whether they knew a good boarding place and then not just one but several clients responding in unison to recommend The Cats Meow. But an incident that happened the first week of August this year certainly drew our interest. A client had been away for several weeks, and was over 400 miles away in Boston Massachusetts the day before returning to pick up his two cats. He was eating in a restaurant and the comment by a waiter was heard by patrons from several tables away, that the capital of Canada was Toronto. Someone from another table corrected the waiter stating that the capital was Ottawa. This led to a conversation between the tables. The client who had his two cats at The Cats Meow mentioned that he was from Ottawa. Another said he was from Perth. It turned out that both had cats at The Cats Meow and both wound up picking them all up on the same day. Go figure the odds on that one!

The Cats Meow hits the top of the list in a feature on luxury cat hotels:

What do our clients say about The Cats Meow? The following are some recent letters and e-mails:

Over the past year we have been boarding a very sweet 19 year old female tabby named Rose. Her owners, like the vast majority of our clients, were very concerned about finding a place to board her where they could feel assured that she would be happy, relaxed and well looked after. They told their veterinarian, who works at one of Ottawa’s few cats-only vet facilities, that they chose The Cats Meow to board her while they traveled. When the vet, who had given Rose her annual checkups for many years, heard their choice, her reply was "I am so delighted that you picked The Cats Meow. You couldn't have chosen a better place to board her."

    

As for Rose's owners opinion, they sent us a letter of thanks that read: "The Cats Meow is paradise for cats and their families. The atmosphere is peaceful and the accommodations are sparkling clean and fresh. The cats are all obviously content and relaxed. We have traveled extensively during the past year, and our cat "Rose", has enjoyed many visits to the Cats Meow, sunning on her private balcony in warm weather and taking in the country view from her window year-round. We have enormous peace of mind leaving her with Doug and Mary at their lovely cat resort. Rose is almost 20 years old, and is treated with great respect and affection. She is very, very happy there.

Did we mention that The Cats Meow has its own duck marsh? (or is that geese marsh?) In fact we just added more pond, more marsh and 25 more acres to our property. But don't say it too loud or your cats definitely won't want to come home.

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Doug and Mary Forde

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The Cat's Meow
RR #2 Maberly
Ontario
K0H 2B0