Happy First Birthday to The Cat Butler Chichester!

The Cat Butler Chichester launched on March 20th 2023 providing exceptional care for the cats of Chichester, Bognor Regis, Arundel and Littlehampton while their humans were away.

I had assumed that our services would be called upon when people were planning a holiday but cat parents have trusted us with their precious furry family for many reasons: when they go on holiday, yes, but also when they travel for work; spend time in hospital; attend weddings; or even get married themselves.  Occasionally we also get to pop in to keep new kittens company while their humans are at work.  Hmmm… it’s a hard job, but someone’s gotta do it!

When we started out, I carried out all of the cat sittings myself - merrily trundling from Bury Hill to Bosham Harbour via Wick, Aldwick and central Chichester.  But there are only 24 hours in a day (who knew?!?) and, as the word spread and demand for our services grew, it was time to expand the team.  I’m so blessed to have been joined by Cat Butler Jane and Cat Butler Keith - two people who are not just as cat crazy as I am, but who understand and share the Cat Butler Chichester ethos of quality, excellence and compassion.  

In our first twelve months, we’ve had the pleasure of caring for over a hundred kitty clients, many of them on a regular basis.  From our very first client, the handsome Mr Pickles and his tortoise chums; to our oldest (and possibly sweetest) client, a 23-year-old girl called Bob; from cute kittens Zebedee, Betty and Gus; to the chaos twins, Tina and Coolkat; and hapless Bailey who is constantly getting into scrapes.  Pedigrees and moggies; old and young; long-haired and short-haired; shy, naughty, poorly, friendly and feisty: we’ve seen them all.  And I can honestly say there isn’t a single one that we didn’t fall in love with.  We consider each and every one a member of our Cat Butler family.  During the past year, three members of that family have sadly crossed the rainbow bridge, but we feel privileged to have made their acquaintance and they’ll forever live in a little corner of our hearts.

As we move into our second year, I’ll leave you with a memory of a surreal moment just after we launched.  One of our very first telephone enquiries came from a pleasant American-sounding gentleman who was keen that we come to look after his two beloved cats as he didn’t want to put them in a cattery.  It was quite a crackly line, so it took longer than usual to take down some of the basic details, but I was able to explain all about The Cat Butler service and how we could care for his furry family in the comfort of their own home. 

Everything appeared to be going swimmingly until the man asked whether we were really based in Chichester, expressing surprise that we would come out to him “all the way from Hampshire”, and querying whether we had anyone a bit closer.  I explained that Chichester is, in fact, in West Sussex, not Hampshire, and that we do cover quite a large portion of West Sussex but could he just repeat the name of his village to confirm?  Turns out he was in Indiana in the USA and thought I was based 878 miles away in Chichester, New Hampshire.  When I informed him I was actually 3923 miles away in Chichester, England, I think it blew his mind!

Altogether now, “Indiana wants me, Lord I can’t go back there…”

Sandra James

Owner & Founder

The Cat Butler was set up by Sandra James in recognition of the fact that a stay in a cattery can be unsettling for many cats and also their owners.