We have been taking our cat to Rainton Gate Cattery in Durham approx. 3 to 5 times a year for the last 4 years. Initially the price when we started using it was about £8 a day which seemed reasonable for the excellent care and facilities provided by the previous owner, and often our cat would come home looking better than before she went in! Which was always nice to see.
However, with the change in owners approx. 2 years ago, the standard of care has in our opinion definitely gone down - not in significantly obvious ways but compared to how the previous owner looked after the animals it is noticable. However whilst care and treatment may have declined the prices have shot up! In the space of 4 years the daily rate has risen to now £11, so to go on holiday for one week costs almost £100 to board 1 cat. We do love and care for our pet but this rate is very high when you consider how much (or rather little) cat food costs, which is presumably the only outgoing, other than electricity for heating the shelters and staff costs. We have come to the conclusion that we cannot, on principle, pay such prices now and have found a perfectly suitable alternative which is literally half the price. Indeed every other cattery we called in the tyne and wear area was at least £3 per day less, so for this reason alone we would recommend shopping around first.