We were planning on taking our two cats here to stay for a week, but once we went out to see the place we changed our minds.
We aren't the kind of people that over-pamper our cats. We rescued them both, love them very much, and consider them a part of our family, but they eat on the floor and get tossed off the bed when it's too hot if you know what I mean. I spent some time on the Oak Park Kennel website and was led to believe that our cats would be staying in a relatively pleasant environment. Lines like this, ""Purrfectly comfortable describes our feline accommodations. Our kitty condos provide the wall-to-wall carpeted comfort of home"" are what gave me that impression.
We had to drive out there to leave a cash deposit in order to get a reservation because they don't take credit cards. The cash and check only thing gave me pause, but I figured it was a family run place and maybe they were just old fashioned. I'm glad we had to go out there now. Though I was told over the phone that the cats would get a little playtime, once we got out there we were told they aren't let out of their cages. And yes, the ""kitty-condos"" referred to above are just little cages. The website refers to the cat area as the cattery, as in, ""Soothing background music compliments the cattery's high traffic area, which is turn ensures your cat receives lots of attention throughout the day."" In practice the cattery is an unimpressive (and slightly unkempt) room of cages that serves as a passage way to the dog kennels. Which means that not only is your cat not leaving his or her cage all week, but it's going to be listening to barking dogs just a dozen feet away the whole time. Somehow the most irritating disappointment of all these was the lack of ""soothing background music."" I guess because it's something I didn't really care about but would have been so easy for them to actually have. All it requires is a radio and an AM station. Essentially they're lying about having a radio, which is just...silly.
The woman at the desk (the owner, Marion I think) is also a bit...churlish. She was annoyed when I called lost after my GPS left me at some dead end in the woods. ""That's why we tell people to use the instructions on the website. Because we're on the wrong side of the road."" I'm not sure when exactly they're telling people this, but it's not mentioned on the website and they didn't tell me over the phone. Maybe they were going to write me a letter. I'm not sure what ""we're on the wrong side of the road"" is supposed to mean, but seems like something that isn't my fault or problem and regardless, helping a customer find your location isn't something to get testy about. She wasn't awful, but friendly isn't a word I would use either. The other woman that was there, Dee, was also kind of pissy, both with us and the gentleman there before us. If you can't manage some common courtesy for your customers I can't imagine much goes to the animals in your care.
We usually take our cats to City Pet Center and we've always been pleased with their service and care. We were just branching out this time because we were hoping to find a back-up place we liked as much in case CPC was ever full. We left Oak Park and made a reservation at City Pet Center from their parking lot. In addition to being a nicer facility with a nicer staff and a play area for your cat, they're cheaper. Oak Park has an additional fee for everything. Not just administering medication, either. If you want them to feed your pet your own food that you provide it costs you extra. City Pet Center had no additional fees for food or administering medication.
This isn't the place for your cat.
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