Special needs cats

Elderly cats

Senior cats usually do fine at Catnip Hill. Most are able to reach the windowsill and loft with the help of a few strategically placed “steps.” We do recommend bringing plenty of soft, warm bedding for older cats.

Special diets

We’ll feed whatever food you provide, including prescription diets and treats, two or three times a day. If you’re boarding two cats and it’s important that they eat different diets, we may need to move one of them to a separate room at mealtimes. A one-time $20 cleaning charge for the extra room will apply.

Medications

We give pills, eye drops, and most other medications up to twice daily at no extra charge.

Diabetic cats

We board cats whose diabetes is well-controlled with an established dosage of insulin.

Subcutaneous fluids

We will consider giving subcutaneous fluids, depending on why your cat needs them and whether he/she is likely to be reasonably cooperative. Please call us so that we can talk about your cat’s requirements and temperament. There is an additional charge of $5.00 per administration of fluids.

Fearful or aggressive cats

Both shy cats and crabby cats are welcome at Catnip Hill. Our large guest rooms with their elevated “loft” areas allow our guests to retreat to a safe spot if they prefer not to interact with us at any given moment — they’re not cornered in a confined space with strange hands reaching in to feed them and scoop their litter.

Christine has been swatted, scratched, hissed and growled at, and occasionally nipped by former feral cats (one of whom is now among her dearly loved house cats), but never takes these things personally and provides the same calm, reassuring care to even the most hostile or fearful cats.

“Thinking outside the box”

We usually find that even cats with inappropriate urination issues tend to use the litter box while at Catnip Hill — in four years, we’ve only had serious problems with two guest cats. This is probably a result of being in a smaller-than-normal space and not wishing to soil their own living area.

Care that we do NOT provide

We don’t board…
…cats with acute, undiagnosed illnesses
…cats that require syringe feeding
…cats that are physically unable to use a litter box
…cats in the end stage of a terminal illness.