Catwick Cattery
Catteries in Hartfield
1 Jacksons Place
Shepherds Hill
Colemans Hatch
Colemans Hatch
Hartfield
East Sussex
TN7 4HR
Contact Numbers
Mobile: 07799 0... 07799 062455
Social
Key Services
About
Welcome to Catwick Cattery
My name is Jody Brittan and I run a friendly cattery offering luxurious cat accommodation located in Colemans Hatch on the Ashdown Forest, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Set in the heart of Sussex I am within easy reach of Gatwick Airport as well as many coastal destinations.
Open all year round my sole purpose is to provide a caring, safe and secure environment for my feline guests, leaving you to enjoy your holiday.
I adore cats of all shapes and sizes and I will regularly groom and play with your cat, I use only high quality cat food to satisfy even the fussiest feline palate and even play gentle music in the chalets 24/7 to keep the residents calm and relaxed.
I understand that you love your cat and that you may feel worried about leaving them in cat boarding especially for the first time, but I can assure you that at Catwick Cattery your cat will get the love and attention they need and will enjoy their holiday as much as you!
Open all year, closed for deliveries and collections on Sundays, Bank Holidays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Easter Monday
Reviews
Consistency of untruths
IN RESPONSE. 1. I immediately contacted neighbours, vet. Within immediate discovery of Ozzy missing. 2. Immediately searched locally. Set traps. This was all relayed to the owner. 3. NEVER have been obstructive. Always have been in direct contact with the owner. 4. The licensing authorities advised me to renew roofing and wire mesh outside runs. The cattery was built in 2006. It’s accepted by the licensing authorities that over time, poly carbon deteriorates with no obvious damage. This was immediately done. Wire mesh under the new poly carbon roof placed securely. 5. Cats “roaming freely” is untrue. All cats are secured in their chalets. 6. There are sneeze barriers and within the licensing rules. 7. The owner remarked to me that she had been questioned about her having a “lockdown cat” on her Facebook posts. Of which I told her to ignore. (From a personal and professional aspect.) 8. Not only have I set up security cameras, set traps where sightings of black cats have been reported to me, caught cats, taken them to be microchip checked and released (all with immediate communication with the owner), relentlessly explored many reports, put up posters, used social media for attention, been open and honest to all customers including prospective and regular. My devotion to finding Ozzy has been relentless. 9. Insurance is exactly this. To manage loss. There is no compensation for the loss of a pet, other than the cost to replace). 10. As for “no apology”, this is wholly insulting and completely untrue. The owners endeavours to publicly discredit my reputation and devotion to my cattery is unjust. To have my children approached at school (their safe environment), with accusations procured from the owners Facebook slurs are hideous and abhorrent.
Jody Brittan - 21/02/2022 | report this review
Worst day of my life
On 21st August 2021, I took my cat, Ozzy, to Catwick Cattery for safe keeping whilst we went on holiday. Within just a few hours, Ozzy had escaped from their care and, to date (Jan 2022), has not been found. For reasons only known to her, instead of searching nearby properties and outbuildings, making vets, neighbours or rescue centres aware or circulating on social media, posters and flyers in the area in a bid to find him, the owner chose to keep Ozzy’s escape to herself for the first 4 days before she told us and we ourselves then had the chance to begin the search. This may well have cost us the chance of finding him. She washed her hands of the situation and has since been wholly obstructive to myself and those who have tried to help me. As I conducted my search I was contacted by a number of people who told me their cats had also been lost from Catwick Cattery and also by neighbours who told me that previous lost cats had been found on their property. The cattery owner never bothered to look there. Unfortunately, they had not reported these escapes but did agree to be included in my review. I reported the cattery to the licensing council who conducted an investigation resulting in their reducing the cattery to a ONE STAR rating and providing a long list of improvements to be made to property and procedures. This included banning the use of the outside pens until they were repaired and/or brought up to standard. Between them and others who have visited Catwick and come forward to me it was found that cats were regularly found to be able to roam the hallways freely, even inside other cats’ pens to eat their food, there were no “sneeze barriers” or wire mesh in the roof in place, proof of vaccination was not requested (all in breach of the Animal Welfare Licensing conditions) and that the place was hugely in need of maintenance. This, of course, had already been proven by the fact a number of cats, including Ozzy, were able to get out. The owner’s explanation for Ozzy’s (and, weirdly, at least one other cat’s previous escape) is that he “unscrewed four 4 inch screws in the ceiling and then broke through the plastic sheet roofing”. This is, at best, wholly ludicrous and at worst, a lie. Even if by some tiny margin there is any substance to her claim, let us be clear, it should still be absolutely impossible for a cat to escape by these – or any – means from a cattery – were it maintained properly. Either something was loose, rotten, previously damaged or open – or perhaps a mixture of these. Whatever the case, the only point of putting a cat into a cattery is to know for certain that they are fed and safe whilst the owner is unable to care for them at home – e.g. they are away on holiday. It is obvious that many cats are going to be unhappy being cooped up in a cattery and may even make an attempt to escape – therefore, it should be absolutely proofed against that. What has made this even worse is the owner has been so awful to us about it – she even called Ozzy a “lockdown cat”, whatever that means. Her only apparent assistance in trying to find Ozzy was a flurry of activity around the time the inspectors were there. Otherwise she has barely done anything; suggesting he’s probably making his way home instead. We live 30 minutes by car away from the cattery and have little faith in this being the case. So far we have sadly been proved right. Apart from little help, we have never received anything from the owner; no compensation to help with search costs and no apology. When we asked to recover our costs from her she directed me to her insurers who informed us that her policy does not cover this eventuality, so I am not sure she can claim to be “fully insured”. For those who have been lucky enough to have got their cats back after a stay at Catwick, I am happy for you. Perhaps the pen they were held in was one of the better ones. But I wouldn’t risk it again. I am writing this review not in vengeance but with the hope it will save other families the pain and anguish (and expense) we have suffered because of the negligence and callousness of the owner of Catwick Cattery. Please find somewhere safer for your cat.
Tamasin Absolon - 31/01/2022 | report this review
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