Hello, and welcome to Catkins Cat Care, a cat-centred pet sitting service here in Leeds!

My name is Rachel Warrillow, and I am a self-confessed cat-woman. Please note that I haven’t said ‘mad cat woman’. What would be mad about being completely in love with this amazing species of felines?!

Wait, I know what you’re thinking – you can’t love all of them. It’s true, they are all such individuals, you certainly can’t love them all in the same way. But of all the cats I have ever known, some I have adored, others I have admired their physical beauty, if from a distance! With some it was love at first sight. Others I needed to get to know over time… I can honestly say I have never met a cat I didn’t enjoy being with. Just like humans there are many different ways they reveal their personalities, different levels of trust and understanding to be built. But when you accept them as they are, they are all wonderful creatures.

I have been around cats since the day I was born. The first I remember was Becky, a black and white cat who I would find asleep in my doll’s pram. She became quite temperamental as she got older, so she wasn’t a cuddly cat, but even as a child I understood that she needed her space. Dulcie was a stray cat who walked in one day. She knew it was my dad who needed to be won round, so she made a beeline for his lap! It quickly became apparent that she was pregnant, and she had one kitten. When she was neutered, the vet found a air gun pellet in her, so we can only imagine what she had been through, poor thing.

Then came Basil and Polly. We adopted these siblings when I was 9 years old and they were kittens. My parents really did everything wrong when they chose to allow me another cat. They answered an advert in the local paper. We never saw the mother cat or where Basil, Polly and their litter had been. I remember a woman bringing three kittens to the house, and convincing my parents – to my delight – to take two of them, rather than the one they had been planning to!

They weren’t very well litter trained, and had a habit of weeing behind the TV unit. From a young age, they had health problems. Polly had a cyst on her eye, and had to have the eye removed. Basil had cat flu while still very little, leaving him with cronic rhinitis for life. That meant that he would snore, have an almost constant runny nose and need regular trips to the vet.

My parents rued their decision to bring these cats into our lives… but I absolutely adored them. Polly was very much my companion, sleeping on my bed, ‘helping’ with my homework, while Basil would be with my brother, Ed, in his bedroom! Then when I was a teenager, Polly was involved in a tragic accident, leaving me heart-broken. My big brother Ed left for university, so that’s when Basil and I really found comfort in each other’s company.

When I left home at the age of 21 years, Basil came with me. There was no way I would ever have left him behind, and my parents were only too pleased for him to come with me. If ever I was away, he would sit and wait outside my closed bedroom door until I returned. His health wasn’t great, he was a bit snotty – when Basil sneezed, everyone ducked!! But we had already been through so much together, and I’m confident in saying it was a mutual adoration.

When I lost Basil, I was 27 and he was the grand old age of 18 – amazing for a cat with his health history! – I vowed to adopt, in his memory, the kinds of cats that nobody else wanted. Elderly cats. Cats with health conditions. Nervous, shy, ugly, odd, old, semi-feral… they would have a safe, fur-ever home with me, feel wanted, and want for nothing!

Over the years I have loved and lost many cats. I’ve taken in waifs and strays, fostered for the Cats Protection, and met some amazing cats and humans along the way. There is definitely heart-break involved, but the joy they bring far outweighs the pain!

My current companions are Twiggy and Bert. They are 12 years old now, and were semi-feral when I adopted them at six months old. Considering their start in life, they have done amazingly well. When Twiggy arrived, she was head-over-heels in love with another elderly cat I had at the time, called Dylan. She lived behind the sofa for three weeks, but when she dared to venture out, it was to his side she went first! She’s a very clever cookie, so she learned much from him. Twiggy is very much my shadow in the house now, and follows wherever I go!

Bert, or Special Bert, is the soul of the house! He has learning difficulties, he’s really not the brightest, but he is adorable. Slightly cross-eyed, with bow legs and a wonky tail, you can’t help but smile when he walks into the room! Like Basil, he has rhinitis, so he’s on permanent medication these days, but doing really well for it.

Basil was the reason I wanted to adopt the ‘uninsurables’ as my vet once coined them. Twiggy and Bert are the inspiration for me to become a cat-sitter. They each eat different food, because Twiggy has a sensitive stomach. Bert is on medication, but only every other day. They are really nervous of strangers, and it takes time for them to trust someone new. Oh, and I find it really hard to leave them, even to go on holiday!

I wanted to create a cat-sitting service here in Colton in Leeds 15, and for the surrounding area, for owners like me, and cats like them! A consistent service, so only one person cares for them; this means they can learn to trust their visitor – especially important if they are of a nervous disposition! – and nothing gets missed or forgotten. A reliable service, so owners like me won’t worry if a visit will happen, or if that text message will come through just to put your mind at ease that everything is fine, and at a time you’re expecting it. A quality service, so you return to clean litter trays with rubbish removed, plants watered, post picked up – and essentially, a happy cat(s)!!