A Cat's Home Away from Home

Running a business is not always easy, especially when it involves other people’s property, like say their beloved cat.  Marla Tangen, who runs Purrfect Cat Boarding/Vacation Solutions, has transformed her home to maintain her business and keep up with demand.

Thankfully her husband Jeff is a sculpture and a builder and has helped tremendously with the major remodel of his 2,100 square foot shop that also accommodates cat boarding.

She opened her business 11 years ago with just a few cages. Right now she can board up to 70 cats and has 50 cages. Although she would never change a thing she does admit the responsibilities are tremendous. Her work is never ending, 365 days a year and 12 hours a day. 

“Getting away is difficult, maintaining a normal life can be challenging, and it's tiring to do the same things day in and day out,” she states. 

She has four employees who are very helpful and can cover when she and her husband decide to go on vacation. But if anything were to go wrong she would be the one held responsible, so leaving can be stressful.

She has a very strict regimen that she and her employees follow diligently everyday. They do their big cleaning first thing in the morning. They check the bedding, give medication, feed and make sure each cat is eating and drinking well. 

Sometimes cats take a little while to settle in and refuse to eat. In that situation she has special food to give the cats, usually soft and easy to digest.

She does take in sick cats, since she has the training and background from her previous employment. Before she started cat boarding she worked at Hooterville Pet Adoption Center in Bothell, where she was trained to work with sick, lost or abandoned animals.

A medical assistant by training for people, that experience has helped her be very comfortable with giving insulin, pills and subcutaneous fluids for cats that have kidney problems. 

Tangen claims that sometimes owners show her specific techniques they use at home on their sick cats. She also learns from different veterinarians. She credits Dr. Romatowski from Cat Clinic of NE Seattle as someone she often refers to when one of her cats is in need of medical attention.

“I just learn as I go,” she says.

Learning as she goes seems to be her business model. When she started she was mainly doing home visits and taking care of cats when their owners were away, but then people started asking her to board.

When she began exclusively boarding she realized it was a much safer way to continue her business:

“Sometimes at home visits cats would hide and I wouldn’t know if they were safe. There was a possibility they could get destructive if they were upset. If they were in-door/out-door cats they might just go off and not come back to the house frequently because they didn’t know someone was there.”  

With the cats in Tangen’s care she is able to check on them every hour and a half.  She and her small staff really watch them medically, and contrary to what some might believe, cats like being in their cage.

Owners are advised to bring something from home, like a blanket or something familiar from the cat’s environment.  The cage, along with the familiar toy or blanket gives that cat a sense of security. They usually settle in pretty quickly

“Cats like to watch other cats, just like people like to watch other people,” Tangen claims.   

They have a closed off play room for one or two cats, usually from the same family, who can get out and run and jump, look out the window or climb on the tall cat trees. She also rotates the cat’s cages from room to room, allowing them out one or two at a time to explore their new environment.

Tangen does just about everything to help make the cats feel secure. She has the soft sounds of music playing throughout each space, windows for them to look out and ample space for them to climb and explore the way they would at home.

She doesn’t allow them outside or to wonder from room to room. The space is very organized and exceptionally clean.  Despite all the cats there is no cat odor but rather a more sterile sent, like you might expect walking into a well kept day care.

When asked she admits that she would not advice someone to do what she is doing out of their home. There are so many guidelines to follow.

“Over the years we have come up to compliance with the new existing rules and regulations," she said.

They just had their first inspection in eleven years and passed with flying colors, but if a new cat boarding business were to open their doors they would have to submit a lengthy business plan to the county. Tangan never had to submit such a form since it wasn’t required at the time she opened.

“We didn’t have guidelines when we started, so we had to do what made sense to us, which was to keep our animals safe and clean,” she said.

Her simple, responsible and intuitive response to running her business has kept them very busy. At peak times, like holidays, they are turning people away, but that doesn’t mean they don’t keep coming back.

Jamia Hansen–Murray has been boarding her cat with the Mrs. Tangen for 10 years.  She’s seen all the additions and change and still couldn’t be happier with the boarding service.

“The cages are big. The rooms let in a lot of light. Even when we called from over seas to extend our cat’s stay, it was not a problem. The facility is wonderful,” she states.