http://www.fabcats.org/catteries/infosheets/choosing_a_boarding_cattery/choosing_boarding_cattery.htmlFAB have some good advice on choosing a cattery. Being FAB registered is useful but a cattery that's not registered as a FAB cattery may still be excellent. The cattery I use is not FAB listed but it's a great cattery imo. They're fully booked long in advance so there's no benefit to them of being FAB listed since they already have more than enough bookings than they can cope with.
The local authority licence is pretty basic and I've looked at some catteries that I would never leave my cats at despite them being licenced. They may have been ok in terms of cleanliness but I didn't like them and didn't give the impression that my cats would be cared for as I'd like. A cattery should have a double door system which makes cats very unlikely to escape (unless there's a break in or they have very slack staff). At the cattery I use they'd have to get past several doors to get outside as there are doors all along the central corridor so a cat out of it's pen wouldnt' get very far before reaching another door. I can't remember what kind of heat they use, tbh.
If your cats go outside then a pen with an outside run is a good idea. Otherwise an indoor pen is probably best as you don't want them getting a taste of something they can't have when they go home.
I know it's difficult when you don't have a car (some catteries do collect so it's worth checking some out who are further afield) as that might reduce the number that are suitable. There are also pet travel companies that take pets to vets, catteries etc for owners who don't have transport or are disabled etc. I used one of those once and it didn't cost too much so worth checking out.
Trust your instincs. Once of the things that made my mind up to use my current cattery was that I clicked with the owner, manager and staff straight away and felt that they would look after my cats well. They obviously spend time playing and interacting with them and observing their behaviour. As soon as I return to collect them they can tell me what the boys have been up to, how Jaffa's coped etc. Last time I collected them the owner was in the shop/reception area and as soon as I went in he was able to talk about them both and how they'd been in a way that made it obvious he really had taken the time to find out or observe them himself.
Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. A good cattery will stick to your routine as much as possible and feed your cats what you want them to eat at the times you want. Most will be give medication, groom cats etc as well. And playtime for kittens is a must! Ask if you can bring things from home too. That's one thing that surprised me a bit as some of the catteries I looked at a few years ago weren't keen on owners bringing in much. You were allowed one toy or something! The cattery I use allows me to bring whatever I want (one year I even took their own litter tray as I thought they'd like to stick with their usual, covered tray!). I take loads of stuff - beds, toys, scratching post, old T shirt that smells of me
and at xmas I take presents for them both which the staff unwrap on xmas day and give to them
(they actually offer to do this in the booking confirmation along with asking if they would like turkey or tuna for their xmas day treat).
There are good catteries out there, it's just finding them that can be hard, esp if you don't have transport.
