The lap of luxury: Cat ‘hotels’ give pets a nice place to unwind

Monday, April 8, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

From the roadside it's difficult to discern The Cat's Cradle hotel in northwest Las Vegas from the area's neighboring homes.

There is no "Vacancy" sign blinking in the night air. No porte-cochere jammed with limousines. Not even a "Cable TV" sign swinging from the hinges.

But inside it's a different story.

Guests are waited on hand and foot. Toys are abundant, restrooms are clean, and mingling between the visitors is commonplace.

"We call it the Bellagio the cat Bellagio," said Las Vegas resident Tony Baker as he and his wife, Aileen, dropped off Abby, their gray-and-white calico, recently for a weekend stay at the The Cat's Cradle.

The cat hotel is one of just a few boarding facilities in Southern Nevada that offer special amenities for cats and cat owners who are reluctant to leave their Pookie Bear or Muffin at a kennel teeming with barking dogs and stainless-steel cages.

Piped into the rooms at The Cat's Cradle is the soft twang of country music. Kitties free to roam from their cages snooze in the sun, lounge on countertops and mix with each other.

"They're calm because we're calm," Ariyana Saint Jennings, owner of The Cat's Cradle, said. "Once in a while we get a spit (hiss). We don't allow fighting."

Finding a boarding facility that offers more than shelter, food, water and litter-box cleaning is sought by cat owners who prefer to have their pets pampered while they are away. Even if it means paying a few extra dollars for the extra attention.

At The Cat's Cradle, which is connected to Saint Jennings' home, boarding prices range from $13 to $15 a day.

Reservations are required and monthly rates are available. Special-needs cats, geriatric cats and cats that are taking medicine are welcome. Meals are served regularly, but owners may bring extra treats for the cats to snack on during their stay.

"Sometimes leaving them at home isn't always the best choice," Saint Jennings said. "Sometimes it is. This is just another option."

"We don't worry about the cats when we are gone anymore," said Las Vegas resident Barry Frank, who boards his cats at The Cat's Cradle.

"(Saint Jennings) brushes them and plays with them," Frank said. "There's stuff for the cats to do.

"By the time we come home, if we were away from home for more than a week, (the cats are) like, 'Uh, do we have to go home?'"

At The Cat's Cradle, prospective clients (cat owners) are interviewed before their cats are allowed to stay at the facility. Medical records must be faxed directly from veterinarians.

Cats must be spayed or neutered. "We have no honeymoon suites," Saint Jennings said.

During such peak boarding seasons as the holidays, the hotel accommodates as many as 50 cats. A private room is available for large cat families so that they may keep to themselves.

"We have a family of five that arrives once in a while and their owners book the room," Saint Jennings said. "I think the most that we had was a family of seven. It was a lady from Hawaii who was moving to town."

A serious cat lover, Saint Jennings has been boarding cats since 1993 and had her house gutted to suit the needs of her own domestic cats.

A custom-built, stained-glass, enclosed tunnel that is called the "freeway" connects her cats from the living room to an enclosed outdoor sun porch. A cat staircase leads to a loft that overlooks the living-room area. Toys and climbing units are scattered everywhere.

Saint Jennings and her assistant/"cat slave" Linda Baker cater to the cats throughout the day. Bad attitudes among the free-roaming guests is rarely a problem.

"You just have to know your clients and your cats," Saint Jennings said.

The cats, she said, will tell you what they want and with what they are comfortable.

"I'm usually comfortable about deciding who's comfortable with who," she added.

Abby, the cat owned by the Bakers, "doesn't prefer to be with anyone. Abby prefers her own space. She loves her mom and dad. She gets used to me. But she doesn't like other cats. She'd prefer they didn't exist."

All about cats

At All About Cats, a veterinary office and boarding facility on South Durango Drive, it's typical on weekday afternoons to find an assortment of boarded felines watching the TV-courtroom show "Judge Judy," or being lulled by the bubbles gurgling in a faux-fish aquarium.

"It's a lot like being at home," veterinarian Terri Koppe said.

Koppe opened the boarding facility, along with the veterinary clinic, about five months ago.

"The most important thing is to make it visible," Koppe said, referring to the boarding room, which is adjacent to the waiting room and visible through large windows.

"I wanted people to be able to see it from the front of the clinic and not somewhere back in 'a dungeon.' "

Different people have different concerns when it comes to boarding animals, Koppe said. Hers, she explained, are safety and cleanliness.

Each two-room cat suite at All About Cats has fresh air circulated 10 times each hour through ventilation ducts. The ventilation system helps rid the suites of odors and germs.

Instead of metal cages, the boarding chambers are separated by walls and covered in front with glass plates to contain any germs that may result from cats sneezing.

Additionally, there are two larger, floor-to-ceiling suites that can house a family of two or three cats, or serve as temporary playrooms for cats staying in smaller chambers.

Cat cubicles can be rented for $15 a night. The larger suites can be rented for an extra $10.

The facility provides meals to the cats, but owners are free to bring their pets' favorite delicacies. One feline guest is fed a piece of microwaved frozen shrimp that the staff cuts up into small pieces. ("Some people will go to great lengths" to please their cat, Koppe said.)

"They're very content because it's quiet and there're no dogs," Koppe said of the cats, pointing to the room full of snoozing and stretched-out kitties.

When cats are boarded in facilities also occupied by dogs it can be very stressful, Koppe said.

"They're looking like that the entire time," she said, pointing to an apparently sad Snuggles, who cowered behind his bedding during his recent first day at the facility.

Birds, fish, oh my

Lesley Tomko, associate veterinarian at A Cat Hospital & Cat Motel on Green Valley Parkway in Henderson, said, "The lack of barking dogs makes the biggest difference of all."

A Cat Hospital boards cats in 2-by-2-by-4-foot "condos" that overlook a fish aquarium or a bird cage with three live finches, as well as a television set. Cats of the same family can stay in adjoining units.

"We are definitely catering to our patients' needs and perhaps playing on their desires as well," Tomko said.

Traditional boarding cages line the back wall of the facility. But for $5 more, an owner can rent one of the condos, some of which come with small cheese-shaped dens in which the animals can nap or hide.

Again, the facility provides kitty meals, though pet owners may bring additional food for the animal.

Because the motel is part of the hospital, patients that require medical attention can be looked after and treated during their stay.

In addition to entertaining the cats, the television, birds and fish also help stimulate the cats so they don't slip into a depression while they're away from "their person" and home, Tomko said.

"When we come in in the morning the TV goes on," she said. "We shut it off at the end of the day so they can have some quiet time. It gives them (the cats) a more homey environment."

As for the finches, Tomko said, "They do escape on occasion. The kitties, they love it."

Las Vegas resident Laura Zimmerman, who travels often, boards her 5-year-old tabby, Stride, at A Cat Hospital.

"I bring her stuff from home," Zimmerman said. "They let me fix up the cage. She has to have the cheese condo.

"I would never want to leave her anywhere else," Zimmerman said. "I like the fact that they let me come in and tour" the facility.

"Before you leave your cat, you want to get a tour of the facility and know where they're going to put your pet," Tomko explained. "If you're denied that, then you need to leave. You want to make sure that your pets are well taken care of."

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