Anna and Bevan Russell with their cat Yoda. The family returned from holiday to discover another of their cats, Minka, was lost by the cattery. Photo / Michael Craig
Anna and Bevan Russell with their cat Yoda. The family returned from holiday to discover another of their cats, Minka, was lost by the cattery. Photo / Michael Craig
A couple is distraught after a company claiming to be a “luxury” cattery lost one of their two pedigree cats.
The SPCA is now investigating Puss N Boots, which was located at Flypark, a Māngere company offering car parking and a shuttle service to the airport.
Anna Russell said her two cats, Minka and Yoda, spent three weeks at the cattery that she later discovered was unfinished.
She said, in her opinion, it “was like a pet prison”.
On January 9, the night before she, husband Bevan and their three children flew home from Australia, cattery owner Jack Penny sent an email to the couple saying Minka was missing.
“I was heartbroken, she is like one of my children,” Anna said.
She claims Penny hasn’t been able to remember what date the cat went missing.
Anna, 49, an accounts administrator, had booked a “deluxe” room for the cats at the Brookdale Kennels & Cattery in Ramarama, South of Auckland, which lists Penny as a director.
In October, Anna paid a deposit to secure the room, which cost $722 for three weeks.
A few days before the family departed, Anna said Penny suggested the cats stay at his “brand new luxury” cattery near the airport, which was housed in the same building as Flypark.
“It seemed a great idea and very convenient. They take you to the airport and pick you up on the way back - what could go wrong? I never thought my cats would be unsafe and wouldn’t be there when we got back.”
Bevan, 43, an IT consultant, regrets he never inspected the cattery but claims a staff member told him when he dropped the cats off it was unfinished and the cats would be transferred to Brookdale the day they left for Australia - but that didn’t happen.
When the couple returned, a staff member showed them inside.
“It was a complete shambles, the accommodation was substandard. I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t check it out, I would never have left them there. It was a large commercial shed with cars and a big cage for the cats. There was no natural light, no bedding or toys, everything was covered in sawdust. The cats would have been petrified by the building noise and the only ventilation was from when the roller doors were up. It wasn’t fit for anyone or anything to live in there.”
Yoda and Minka were great mates and followed each other everywhere. Yoda now calls out for his “little sister” every night and is too frightened to leave the house.
Anna said Minka would not run away without Yoda. There was also a third cat in the same cage.
“How could Minka shut the door on her way out? If she escaped, so would Yoda. We were told the cats were fed twice a day and the door was shut. My cat is missing and they can’t tell me what day that was. What kind of business is this? The place was unfinished and not secure - there were no handles or locks on the door.
“The owner said, ‘This will be amazing once this is finished,’ and I thought, ‘Are you delirious?’
“In my opinion, I thought he would make a lot more money by shoving cats in one area as overflow if Brookdale is booked out.”
According to Anna, Penny didn’t have photos, records, feeding regimes or CCTV footage.
“The huge concern for us is the cattery’s lack of process or action to rectify this or show any care for the animals they are being paid to look after.”
In a recording supplied to the Herald, Penny told the couple he doorknocked the neighbours and was hopeful Minka would return safely. He apologised but said he couldn’t explain how the cat escaped. He admitted the indoor cameras didn’t work and said he was unable to access outdoor footage on his computer.
Penny acknowledged Puss N Boots was “unfinished”.
In an email to the couple, he wrote: “I don’t know how this has happened. Everything is new and there are no holes anywhere so we are totally confused. We think that maybe one of the staff’s children went in without supervision, opened the door and left it ajar, or someone has stolen her. The builder has been working there and had left the outside sliding door open allowing a cat to escape. There are two doors to escape through to get out of the building and the area is out of bounds to customers.”
In an email responding to questions from the Herald last week, Penny wrote, “The police have been and investigated this incident and found nothing illegal or untoward happened. Worse things happen in this world every day that need reporting.
“As for Puss N Boots, this has closed indefinitely and that is all we have to say.”
Penny also told the family: “In 15 years, we have only had three cats escape and we eventually found two of them. It is not uncommon for a cat to head back home in Grey Lynn and we hope this is the case.”
Anna said: “That’s Iudicrous. I said, ‘What? Hitch-hike across to Grey Lynn from Māngere? Minka won’t make her way home without getting squashed.’”
When the couple demanded to look at CCTV footage, they claim Penny initially said there was far too much to go through and needed an IT expert to access it. Bevan claims Penny’s story changed multiple times.
Puss N Boots cattery where Minka went missing.
“He wasn’t being honest. It started with, it’s too hard to review the footage, to the cameras don’t work, to there was an electrical fault.”
This week, Penny sent Bevan an email saying the outdoor security cameras were “down as a result of a power failure for several months”.
The SPCA recently received a “call of concern” regarding Puss N Boots and is investigating. They were also aware of complaints made about Brookdale cattery recently.
The Russells are distraught. Photo / Michael Craig
Science officer, Dr Alison Vaughn said: “Catteries are currently poorly regulated in New Zealand, which means there are very minimal animal welfare standards that operators must legally comply with.”
Auckland Council don’t keep records of how many catteries there are. There are no bylaw requirements to open a cattery and you don’t need a licence.
Penny initially offered the couple financial compensation for Minka, which they intended to use as a reward for finding her and if she returned, the money would be returned to Penny.
But the couple says the money never arrived. They said Penny then offered to buy them a new cat or kitten but reneged on the offer when Bevan calculated the costs, including getting a kitten spayed, microchipped and vaccinated, which amounted to $3500.
“When we gave him the rundown of costs he said, ‘It’s your choice to get another kitten or a cat who has been vaccinated and microchipped. I’m happy to find you a similar cat for you online.’ It was like you lost our baby and I will find another one for you - we didn’t want him choosing a cat for us,” Bevan said.
The couple say Penny suggested the matter should be sorted in the Disputes Tribunal.
“Now he wants to pick a fight? I don’t want his money, I just want Minka back. I feel gutted I was so naive and trusted him. I want to warn other people not to make the same mistake as we did by not seeing where they were staying or who was looking after them.”
