Cat Sitting for Income
May 12, 2011 3:13 PM Subscribe
Portland OR hive: Any experience with home based cat boarding in the area around Portland, Hillsboro, Beaverton? Thinking a nice small boarding business would be a good retirement income plan. Is this even possible?
Since you can't mix strange cats, you'd be pretty limited by space. And it would need to be sterilizable.
I've used a cat boarding facility before, but it was in a storefront. They had a series of cubes, basically, some of which could be opened to each other to accommodate cats kept in 2s or 3s or younger energetic cats. There was also a little exercise room, where each cat or each family's cats got some run-around time every day. There was also a bathing facility for the inevitable (plus they did grooming onsite). One of their selling points was the industrial non-chemical fire sprinklers and alarm systems. Another was their pretty strident requirements for vaccinations and infectious disease testing.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:56 PM on May 12, 2011
I've used a cat boarding facility before, but it was in a storefront. They had a series of cubes, basically, some of which could be opened to each other to accommodate cats kept in 2s or 3s or younger energetic cats. There was also a little exercise room, where each cat or each family's cats got some run-around time every day. There was also a bathing facility for the inevitable (plus they did grooming onsite). One of their selling points was the industrial non-chemical fire sprinklers and alarm systems. Another was their pretty strident requirements for vaccinations and infectious disease testing.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:56 PM on May 12, 2011
We once looked into boarding our cat for a couple of weeks we were going to be out of town. There were a few places around Portland that do it. The most promising was a lady who lived in a fairly nice McMansion in Tigard. She had most of the rooms blocked off with screen doors and a cat or two would live in each room. Cats that wanted to were allowed to wander around the rest of the house, too.
I don't know how the economics of the business pencil out, though.
posted by spacewrench at 4:02 PM on May 12, 2011
I don't know how the economics of the business pencil out, though.
posted by spacewrench at 4:02 PM on May 12, 2011
Since you can't mix strange cats, you'd be pretty limited by space.
As a counter-example, I board my cats at a place that has a free-roaming approach. The cats go in cages at night, but during the day, if they seem pretty mellow, they are allowed to wonder around, lie in the sun, play on the equipment, etc. etc. Some cages are left closed and there are some private rooms for cats that need a time-out, but for the most part they mingle.
This is the craziest thing I've heard, but it really works. Good thing, too. They charge a fortune.
You still need a ton of space and I agree that it would need to be sterilizable, but it's a great selling point.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 5:33 PM on May 12, 2011
As a counter-example, I board my cats at a place that has a free-roaming approach. The cats go in cages at night, but during the day, if they seem pretty mellow, they are allowed to wonder around, lie in the sun, play on the equipment, etc. etc. Some cages are left closed and there are some private rooms for cats that need a time-out, but for the most part they mingle.
This is the craziest thing I've heard, but it really works. Good thing, too. They charge a fortune.
You still need a ton of space and I agree that it would need to be sterilizable, but it's a great selling point.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 5:33 PM on May 12, 2011
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Think about the worst things you've ever seen a pissed-off cat do; picture whether how well, quickly, and often your current domicile could be cleaned up from that.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 3:39 PM on May 12, 2011