Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Polydactyl - how many toes?!?
This article is long overdue, as Tigger has been a guest here at Cats Country Club on and off now for some time! Tigger is one of two polydactyl cats who stay at Cats Country Club boarding cattery in Shillington, 6 miles north of Hitchin on the Beds/Herts border.
Whilst you may think that the name Polydactyl has more of a place in a Monty Python sketch than relating to a cat, it actually is the generic name that describes animals that have more toes(digits) than they typically should have! In this case, a cat with more puds/toes/claws - nothing to do with Monty Python, a Norwegian Blue and beautiful plumage!! Feel free to read about it by clicking here (opens a new browser window).
Meet Tigger:
Most pet cats have 18 toes - five on their front paws and four on their rear and although Tigger may not have quite the number of toes (at twenty-four toes, seven front & five rear) that Des (opens a new browser window) sports, (he has twenty-six toes) he's not far behind.
Anyway, who's counting, certainly not the cats!!! Tigger also has a very cute and cuddly "sister" called Millie who sports the more normal complement of eighteen toes - you can see them both here at the Cats Country Club Picture Gallery! (opens a new browser window.)
Whilst you may think that the name Polydactyl has more of a place in a Monty Python sketch than relating to a cat, it actually is the generic name that describes animals that have more toes(digits) than they typically should have! In this case, a cat with more puds/toes/claws - nothing to do with Monty Python, a Norwegian Blue and beautiful plumage!! Feel free to read about it by clicking here (opens a new browser window).
Meet Tigger:
Most pet cats have 18 toes - five on their front paws and four on their rear and although Tigger may not have quite the number of toes (at twenty-four toes, seven front & five rear) that Des (opens a new browser window) sports, (he has twenty-six toes) he's not far behind.
Anyway, who's counting, certainly not the cats!!! Tigger also has a very cute and cuddly "sister" called Millie who sports the more normal complement of eighteen toes - you can see them both here at the Cats Country Club Picture Gallery! (opens a new browser window.)
Friday, January 25, 2008
So Long 2007 / Hello 2008
Monday, May 28, 2007
Web design changes
Several links to more general informational pages have recently been taken from their established position on the standard webpages that we've always served and their location on the page has been moved. Some new headings have also been created to reflect what we're doing and they all now appear as footers on each page of the website.
The reason for this was that in our view the pages were starting to get a little cluttered and the pages in question were all deemed not core to the cattery in respect of the services we offer, but nonetheless contained important information about our operation of it. These links can all now be found at the bottom of each page and currently they include:
faq | terms & conditions | important info. | privacy policy | site map | accessibility
The reason for this was that in our view the pages were starting to get a little cluttered and the pages in question were all deemed not core to the cattery in respect of the services we offer, but nonetheless contained important information about our operation of it. These links can all now be found at the bottom of each page and currently they include:
faq | terms & conditions | important info. | privacy policy | site map | accessibility
Online Booking Checker
It struck us that no cattery we'd ever been to prior to running this cattery ever gave out "appointment" cards for when cats and their owners were being expected either in or out. We also remembered that it was sometimes a worry, particularly if you were not used to the reliability of a particular cattery, that it was a kind of "hope for the best" process and trusting that the cattery booking over the phone was going to be true to the owners word, less than ideal perhaps from a customer perspective!!
So we've done something which is innovative and new to help both us and those customers who either book their cats in with us a long time in advance or simply would just like to be sure that we're sure of when they're coming in to drop off and pick up and all without a phone call, although please feel free to ring if you'd like to!!
It simply works like this - once a booking is confirmed with us and entered into our system, the booking details then get published onto the Cats Country Club website. As you would expect, no personal details are published, but cat names coming in and going out on any particular day can be viewed via the web to help provide a warm feeling about the service we offer and aid the fact that no appointment cards are provided or sent out by us. Not surprisingly it is a password protected service and to keep up with any userid/password changes, you'll have to be both a customer and have an email address lodged with us for any changes/updates as they occur.
Anyway, it's there if you need it, there's a link to it from every page, but we think it's a useful tool for us and we'll be using it internally anyway and hope that it's going to be useful for you our customers too.
So we've done something which is innovative and new to help both us and those customers who either book their cats in with us a long time in advance or simply would just like to be sure that we're sure of when they're coming in to drop off and pick up and all without a phone call, although please feel free to ring if you'd like to!!
It simply works like this - once a booking is confirmed with us and entered into our system, the booking details then get published onto the Cats Country Club website. As you would expect, no personal details are published, but cat names coming in and going out on any particular day can be viewed via the web to help provide a warm feeling about the service we offer and aid the fact that no appointment cards are provided or sent out by us. Not surprisingly it is a password protected service and to keep up with any userid/password changes, you'll have to be both a customer and have an email address lodged with us for any changes/updates as they occur.
Anyway, it's there if you need it, there's a link to it from every page, but we think it's a useful tool for us and we'll be using it internally anyway and hope that it's going to be useful for you our customers too.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Boarding Fees Increase - Feb. 2007/2008
Boarding Fees are increasing from Feb. 2007/2008. The first increase for 3 years, when we actually put boarding fees down by providing the collection day free of charge. It is inevitable that our daily cattery consumables have gone up in that period, but more significantly however, these increases have been dwarfed by the increases in energy prices, of which we are all aware and have little respite from.
Continuing to provide the collection day of your cats "gratis" effectively brings down our nightly rate significantly for our customers and this will remain the case as we move into 2007/2008.
Continuing to provide the collection day of your cats "gratis" effectively brings down our nightly rate significantly for our customers and this will remain the case as we move into 2007/2008.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Skype VoIP - goes live!!
I wasn't sure whether to do this, but in the end couldn't help myself (!!) - we now have a Skype "smart button" (this shows our on/offline status!) on the homepage of Cats Country Club. Now you can see when we're available to take calls via Skype by simply looking at the Skype Button status on the CCC homepage!!
When Skype have the PDA client ready for my PDA, that will be very regularly, more often than us just needing to be in front of the laptop answering emails and so on!
So now there's no call charges to speak to us, wherever you are holidaying from. For those long stays away in Oz, India or NZ or wherever you're enjoying yourself, we can arrange streaming video with audio and a Skype chat with us and the cat members of your family!
Hope you like it?!?
All @ CCC...
When Skype have the PDA client ready for my PDA, that will be very regularly, more often than us just needing to be in front of the laptop answering emails and so on!
So now there's no call charges to speak to us, wherever you are holidaying from. For those long stays away in Oz, India or NZ or wherever you're enjoying yourself, we can arrange streaming video with audio and a Skype chat with us and the cat members of your family!
Hope you like it?!?
All @ CCC...
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Cat Litter - our final "current" conclusions!!
After further testing between the OkO wood pellet, which is quite a chunky diameter pellet and another one - Comfey Pet, which is pine scented and slightly smaller in diameter than the OkO pellet.
We believe it's the Comfey Pet pellet that has it, it is also from the UK!!
The main difference is that when cats wee a lot, yes some do (!!) that the OkO pellets have a tendency to turn to wet and clingy sawdust, whereas the Comfey Pet pellet degenerates more completely into dust, albeit obviously damp. But as Marjorie Dawes says on Little Britain - "you can't beat a bit if dust" and with Comfey Pet it falls through the litter scoop so much more readily in this state than with the OkO, the latter is also pine scented for what that's worth. (Though if the cats are kept clean it makes little difference really). Whilst we do lose a small amount of the smaller Comfey Pet pellets through the scoop, as they're smaller in diameter, generally that's a price we're prepared to pay for general ease of use.
It would be great if OkO plus was available in bigger pellet form for those heavy weeing cats, because the clumping properties in those circumstances are just great, however as it's so small and so also quite dusty, it gets trampled everywhere and so is a relative "nightmare" for us at a Cattery at any rate to clean up.
For now at any rate Comfey Pet it is!!!
We believe it's the Comfey Pet pellet that has it, it is also from the UK!!
The main difference is that when cats wee a lot, yes some do (!!) that the OkO pellets have a tendency to turn to wet and clingy sawdust, whereas the Comfey Pet pellet degenerates more completely into dust, albeit obviously damp. But as Marjorie Dawes says on Little Britain - "you can't beat a bit if dust" and with Comfey Pet it falls through the litter scoop so much more readily in this state than with the OkO, the latter is also pine scented for what that's worth. (Though if the cats are kept clean it makes little difference really). Whilst we do lose a small amount of the smaller Comfey Pet pellets through the scoop, as they're smaller in diameter, generally that's a price we're prepared to pay for general ease of use.
It would be great if OkO plus was available in bigger pellet form for those heavy weeing cats, because the clumping properties in those circumstances are just great, however as it's so small and so also quite dusty, it gets trampled everywhere and so is a relative "nightmare" for us at a Cattery at any rate to clean up.
For now at any rate Comfey Pet it is!!!
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