I sent Charlie there for 13 days over the Christmas period (20th December to 2nd January). Unfortunately it was so stressful for him that he did not eat or go to the toilet for 7 days. I knew he might get upset because it would be his first time away from home, I chose Carnegie cat cottage because I thought he would be seen by a vet quickly if he became ill and on the website it says that cats prefer the safety of the small space. I was wrong, it became very frustrating since the cottage was not open over the statutory holidays so I spent Christmas worrying about him and was not able to request him to be seen by a vet until after Boxing Day. Also if I had not called to check up on him he may not have been seen by a vet because I had to request an appointment. I emailed one of the nurses to let her know that although Charlie has had Advance cat food before (he eats anything I give him) he might need to be fed something smellier like Whiskers to get his appetite going, she said they don't stock anything else and brushed me off. Although they record the cat's food intakes and toilet habits daily, they did not seem willing to do anything beyond that. I just wished they had spent a little bit of time calming him down and encourage him to take that first bite of food. And when I think about it now, the small space might actually make him feel cornered with nowhere to go.
I did inspect the cat cottage a couple of months prior to boarding him, the nurse that showed us around said that each cat gets their turn to roam around the facility during the day, but when I checked Charlie in I was told that there is no way that's going to happen because they are busy. I was also under the impression that the cats gets petted and made sure they are aware that Charlie used to be a stray and is timid around strangers so they will need to be gentle with him, of course they reassured me that they know how to deal with it, turned out they completely avoided interacting with him and told me it was because he was hissing. This was hard to hear because Charlie is the sweetest cat that has never been aggressive, not even towards intruding toms or our new annoying kitten and he stood perfectly still without complaint during his very first vet visit. He just needed a bit of attention and reassurance.
Charlie was seen by a vet twice during his stay, once after 4 days of refusing to eat and again after 7 days when the vet gave him antibiotic and appetite stimulant because they did not find anything wrong with him other than stress. The consultations and the meds costed $155.51 all up.
Overall what I liked about the facility is that it's clean and the staff seemed friendly and answered my questions patiently and truthfully when I called from overseas. However, I can't help but feel that they neglected Charlie when they only had 30 cats to look after. I showed up relatively early to pick up Charlie because I wanted to observe how the staff handled him, i.e., what did they mean by he was too grouchy to handle. But they had already put him in his carrier waiting to be picked up. So I have no way of knowing how he was treated. Next time I will make sure I find a cattery that will spend a bit of time to make him feel safe and is able to receive veterinary care during statutory holidays and weekends if necessary. Although $19 per day is quite a good price but I would rather spend a little bit more for my cat to get a little bit more attention. When we picked Charlie up they told me that out of 30 cats there is usually 1 that will refuse to eat, and unfortunately Charlie was the one. If you have a cat that stress easily or need lots of attention I would think twice about sending them there. If you do send your cat there, make sure you call to check your cat is doing ok because they seemed to be busy over Christmas and have no idea who is doing well and who is not (you need to request them to check the daily records).

Approximate cost: $19 per day

We have boarded our cats with Carnegie Cat Cottage over the past three years. The Cottage is very close to home which makes dropping off and picking up very convenient. Our cats are boarded separately while staying at the Cottage. This is OK with us. We chose to continue boarding with Carnegie Cat Cottage for a number of reasons. They are very close to home. On admission the staff had a very detailed descriptor to fill out. This was re-assuring, as we felt that they had paid attention to detail. Also, not only was vaccination mandatory as with most other catteries but they also required our guys to be dewormed and de-flead prior to admission. For our lengthier getaways we found their flat rate quite competitive. The staff were all mature and knew what they were talking about. When we first visited the cattery we had noted that all the accommodations had clipboards detailing the boarder's daily habits – this was great to see – we were not worried about leaving our two chaps there. On the accommodation side, it is important to point out that there were no malodours at all. This is the first thing one notices when visiting a cattery, so fact that it smelt clean meant it was clean. We must add that for a city cat boarding facility the accommodation is strikingly beautiful and clean. Reminded us of IKEA furniture – sleek , deceptively simple and functional. We have no qualms in strongly recommending Carnegie Cat Cottage.

I had the worst experience with this cattery. Everything seemed lovely upon arrival of my beautiful cat, but when picking her up I discovered the careless attitude of the cattery. I had called to check how my kitty was going and they had said she was fine and eating well. However, when picking her up the staff asked me to get her out of their accommodation myself as she was very unhappy and hissing. She had not touched her food at all and obviously was very distressed in the cattery. Worst of all, she still would not eat once she was home and had to be taken to an emergency vets that night and was immediately placed in ICU for several days. After getting out of ICU, she still required several days of syringe feeding.

She was clearly unwell while staying in the cattery, yet the apparently caring staff either did not notice or did not care enough to get the vet to look over her. I'm extremely disappointed in the quality of this cattery and advise anyone looking to place their cat to avoid this cattery at all costs. Had my beautiful cat been in there any longer, I'm sure she would have died without any veterinary care.