As is usually the case, the woman from Zagreb who opened the cat hotel, otherwise the very first in Croatia, owns six cats and one female dog, and the idea came to her because going on away or on holiday always meant stress with her pets.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes on the 12th of December, 2019, while many of us try in vain to find jobs that fit in with the old saying “find a job you love so you won’t have to work one day in your life”, it seems that Zagreb’s Mirjana Sović succeeded in doing just that. Mirjana decided to bin her successful career in the automotive industry to launch an exclusive cat hotel, the very first in Croatia.
Back in early June in Dugo Selo, a fifteen-minute drive from Zagreb, the doors of the very first Royal Cat Hotel opened, which is specialised deluxe accommodation intended only for cats who have owners who are travelling, renovating an apartment/house, having allergic guests over, planning a wedding…
”We opened the hotel on June the 3rd and reservations have been coming in since June the 15th. We didn’t stop all summer, we were rushed off our feet. About 270 cats have passed through the hotel since then, with an average of about 35 of them a day, so the fear that we will not be filled up quickly disappeared. We could receive more, but the point is not to fill up the hotel’s capacity so that it ends up closed to everyone. The cats have to be interacted with,”
As stated, Mirjana owns cats and a dog herself, and therefore knew the stress of wondering what to do with pets when holidaying or going away all too well.
”I saw a cat hotel a long time ago in Asia, in Singapore, where they are luxury buildings with several floors, they’re quite common there. When we made one here, a lot of people thought I had finally “lost the plot”, Mirjana recounts with a laugh.
A colleague, Rahela Cvitković, with experience as a volunteer at an animal welfare association, also joined the project with a minority stake, and the current state incentives for self-employment provided the business with a spring in its step.
Although, like any innovative idea, the cat hotel which is the first in Croatia has naturally encountered a few raised eyebrows here and there. According to a GfK survey several years ago, more than 60 percent of households in Croatia have at least one pet, about one-third of those surveyed have cats, while 41 percent is made up by dogs.
What the potential of this market is speaks very much for itself, large retailers are rapidly expanding their supply of pet food and equipment, from food bowls, toys and clothing to fur health products, insurers are offering health insurance policies to cover any veterinary expenses, and there are more and more people who are professionally involved in taking care of and walking pets.
After about 230,000 kuna worth of investment, staying at the cat hotel truly is a luxury experience for our four-legged little friends.
The bright and clear space covering 120 square metres in total is always locked and surrounded on all sides by cameras and is connected to the security service 24 hours a day. Only after you’ve take off your shoes and put on some slippers can you enter the cat’s living spaces. The two rooms feature 16 Royal Vip and 9 Royal Classic apartments for the cats which are made of wood. The cats have separate sleeping areas, eating area and litter boxes that are cleaned from the outside in order to give the cats total peace and relaxation.
The apartments are equipped with a handmade wooden pedestal for ceramic bowls, and within reach of the cats’ paws are fresh cat grass, catnip balls, hiding places, climbing shelves, toys and more. The lounge area is packed with toys, climbing boards made of real wood, wall shelves, armchairs, and all the while, birds chirp from the speakers softly.
Unlike the situation in which you give your cat to someone for them to look after him or her in their home, absent owners can keep an “eye” on their cat at any time via live video streaming, even at night, thanks to an infrared camera. Particular attention is paid to hygiene and health. Only socialised cats can be accommodated at the hotel, and they must have a vaccination certificate and be neutered, on top of that, all owners must sign an accommodation agreement.
The toilets in the cat hotel are cleaned several times per day, the floors and apartments are sterilised using a steam cleaner and eco-friendly products, and the food bowls are washed in the dishwasher at maximum temperatures.
“When people come to us they are shocked that there is no smell. We’re constantly cleaning up, hygiene must be a top priority because we have a huge responsibility for the health of the other animals,” Mirjana explained.
When asked how the animals endure the shock of coming to the hotel, she says: ”Cats are extremely adaptable, curious and very quick to learn from others. We don’t force any of them into anything, if a cat doesn’t want to socialise, we will not force him or her to do so, only when she decides to join. Cats are very easy to reach agreements with, people are often a bigger problem,” she laughs.
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