Some of you that have visited us recently will be aware that in October last year, new Animal Welfare regulations came into place. These regulations relate to all manner of premises from stables, kennels, home boarding establishments and of course, us, The Bythams Cattery.
To be fair the powers that be are trying to establish a standard that enhances the welfare of animals which, includes your pets whilst they are resident at our cattery (or any other such business). So as far as we are concerned this has to be good from everyone’s point of view. Yes, it has entailed more work on our part. The original 5 page licensing document we went through with our local authority licensing officer has grown to 27 pages – the completion of various written policies relating to the running of the business, feeding, cleaning, fire safety amongst many others – has required many hours of work, but now completed all have been submitted to enable us to continue running the business with the necessary local authority licence.
Under the new legislation, the local authorities will award a star rating to each business. With a 1 – 5 star rating, 5 being the highest grade and will give a 3 year licence. 3 and 4 star ratings will receive a 2 year licence, with 1 and 2 star ratings receiving a 1 year licence. All will receive unannounced visits from the local authority inspectors.
Having been inspected in December we await the decision of the Local Authority Licensing Officer, but whatever the outcome, we will continue to strive to achieve the highest standard possible to ensure your pets are happy, comfortable and safe whilst they stay with us at The Bythams Cattery.
June & Vicki.
