Cat boarding. Slightly less traumatic than water boarding.

February 17, 2011 10:37 PM

Where is an excellent place to board my cats for a week and a half in Philadelphia.

I'm going to Germany and Spain for a week and a half at the beginning of March. I need to board my cats. (I am not comfortable with a pet-sitter coming into my apartment; the nature of the trip is such that my most trusted close friends in the city are also going, and besides, I don't want to put the responsibility on another person in case something goes wrong. My cats are mischievous and break things.)

Yelp is yelp, and is somewhat helpful, but I'm looking for more in-depth discussions of experiences, and I trust metafilter people more than I trust yelp people. What's the best place to board my cats? The idea of sticking them in a tiny cage in the back of some vet's office, surrounded by barking dogs and other cats that sneeze on them is upsetting.

Necessary features:
1) Must be within a reasonable taxi ride from the Penn area. A reasonable taxi ride would be less than 15 minutes long. I'm not looking for something out in the suburbs.

2) My cats must be able to room together.

3) I am NOT looking for a cat-sitter, or a person who will take care of my cats in his or her house with a bunch of other cats.

That's it. Tell me the best cat-boarding experience you've had in Philadelphia.

posted by millipede to Pets & Animals (4 answers total)

I live in Phila, I've rescued a lot of cats in Phila working with PAWS and the PSPCA . . . I've not heard of anyone who does cat boarding. At least, no one outside of a vet's office or a person willing to have your cats in their house with their cats. And your title is accurate -- pulling the cats out of their home, even to take them to nirvana, is way more stressful then having someone come into your home.

I think if I were absolutely heart-set on your idea, what I might try is calling the PAWS adoption center at 2nd & Arch and asking if you could 'board' them in one of the rooms near the back -- they're just 8x8 spaces with interior windows, they would probably put a cat-tree in there and some beds with litter boxes and food bowls -- but they would still hear some dogs barking (and any place that has lots of animals together & coming & going will have sneezy cats). I've never heard of them doing it (they'd have to find a home for the animal in that room already), but if you seemed easy-going and promised a big donation, maybe . . . it's a slim chance, though.

Honestly, the best place is at home -- it's easiest on the cats and your wallet -- I know that's not what you were hoping to hear. MeMail me if you want to talk about it more (I've been a cat-sitter, had house-sitters in, etc, might be able to answer your concerns).
posted by MeiraV at 7:41 AM on February 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Honestly, the best place is at home -- it's easiest on the cats and your wallet

My cats are more kittens than cats. They run out the door every time I open it. They also get lonely, break things, shred things, and eat what they've shredded. What if they get sick? I really want to have some peace of mind and not constantly worry that something is going wrong with them. I thought about this a lot before I asked the question. My question was where I can board them, not whether I should board them.
posted by millipede at 9:27 AM on February 18, 2011

I just took my dogs here for the first time and they appear to have loved it. Everyone was really nice and they do board cats.
posted by Pax at 6:53 AM on February 24, 2011

Oh, and it's right by the airport!
posted by Pax at 6:54 AM on February 24, 2011