Greenlane Veterinary Centre

I used this cattery as my usual one was full over the long weekend. They sounded great on paper, particularly for senior cats with medication needs, which I have. Checking my cat in was fine — I filled out a form detailing his usual medication (which I brought with me to give to them), and his special diet (which they assured me over the phone they often feed the cats anyway, and had plenty of to give him). He was weighed and given a cursory mouth check, then whisked away into the building somewhere. I was told he would be given a senior health check for free while he was there, I gave them his blanket and we left.
Picking him up was a different matter. There was one person at the desk, and she wasn’t particularly friendly. We gave her our cage, and she took it out back, then came back out and wandered about counting stock until the phone rang, whereupon she informed us they were having some trouble with our cat, and she would go and get him. Now, our cat doesn’t like going into his cage (what cat does?) but it’s quite simple — just lift the lid, pop him in, and close the lid. We do it all the time. So she emerges with the cat, swinging the cage and the poor cat is splay-​legged, and wailing loudly. She hands him over with the medication, and says goodbye. I had to ask for his blanket, and also ask whether or not he’d had his medication. There was no mention of the health check, whether or not it was done or what the results of it were. Very perfunctory.
The biggest problem, though, is that I don’t believe they fed him the right food, as my poor cat has had terrible diarrhea since coming back home (he has been to a cattery before where we physically gave them the food without incident in this regards). He has IBS and we’ve worked very hard to get him to a point where he’s on the right food and solid, regular bowel movements, and now we’re back to square one again. I won’t be taking him back there, and I’d encourage anyone else to double-​triple check that the staff know what your cats needs are and whether or not they can properly care for them before leaving them there.

I never actually came to this place to use the cattery or the vets, rather I was taken in to the cattery for the day when I applied for a job there, just to get an idea of a typical day (the fact that they did that was actually really cool, but that’s another story all together). I was impressed by the level of dedication that the people here put in, so I felt I had to write about it.
The cattery area is cool — it’s set in a little building which is in the garden (if you like) of the main vet centre. First off, the girl that showed me around and supervised me for the day was really cool. She was so friendly, and you could tell she adored being there taking care of the felines every day.
They pay a lot of attention to detail here. They let the cats out into the enclosed garden sometimes to have a run around. They take into account any food preferences that the cats need, and they isolate the ones which are bullies to the other cats so they wont take an eye out (but they still get room to run around, too). The cattery was really clean, and everything is very well organised to ensure the cats have a good stay.

This vets has an excellent cattery out the back which we use all the time when we go away. We like it because it is right near the vet clinic and surgery, so if anything goes wrong while our cats are in cattery care, qualified vets and nurses are really close which is reassuring. Our male cat is very timid and here they monitor and record each cat’s behaviour regarding eating etc. If a cat doesn’t touch its food for more than two days in a row that cat is then moved in to the vet clinic for closer monitoring and care. We also take our dog here for general care, they are really good at letting you know when your pet is due for it’s injections as they send a courtesy letter. This place is not cheap, in fact it is probably one of the most expensive vet clinics I have come across, however that being said they really do know what they are doing here and the medical care that they provide in incomparable in my opinion.