Cat hotel Tompoes

Caribbean cats

Michelle herself has 4 cats, Isa, Evi, Nia and Noa and they
all have a special background. To start at the beginning, Michelle moved from
the Netherlands to Curaçao with her husband a few years ago. They had two cats
at the time, Isa and Fay (unfortunately deceased), who of course went with them
to the Caribbean island.

In total, Michelle and her husband have lived in Curaçao and
Aruba for 4 years. There is a major stray animal problem on both islands. And
through a foundation, Michelle has taken care of several stray dogs and cats.
The stray animals were then placed in her house to strengthen and socialize so
that they could be adopted by a nice new home.

In addition to their own work and the volunteer work they
did for the Foundation, Michelle fed about 25 stray cats in her own backyard
and had them neutered or sterilized. Of all those stray cats that Michelle and
her husband have helped, they have of course also kept a few. Evi is a Yu du
Korsou (child of Curaçao) and Nia and Noa are Arubianos as Michelle calls them.

Taking care of animals

When they all moved back to the Netherlands, Michelle mainly
did marketing work at tourism companies. But after a while she could no longer
find her way in this, because the lack of taking care of the animals became too
great. After all, this is her passion. That's why she decided to open her own Cat Hotel Tompoes !

To make her dream come true, she did the training for the
certificate of professional competence dog and cat decree in 2019, applied for
a permit from the municipality and thanks to the help of her husband and
stepfather, the Cat Hotel was built and meets all legal requirements. In
addition, the Cat Hotel is equipped with all the luxury and comfort that the
cats also have at home. Michelle keeps her knowledge up-to-date about cat
behavior, for example with the Bootcamp Pro course by Anneleen Bru of the well-known
Happy Cats books!

The fact that she was able to realize the Cat Hotel next to
her own home and can now call herself a real cat professional is a dream come
true for her.

The nicest guests

That Michelle gets to welcome the very nicest visitors to her hotel is the biggest perk of her job. Her guests come from all over the country and even beyond, for example, she has had cats from Spain, Australia and Romania as guests. Last year, there were five cats from China who were brought from Schiphol Airport by animal taxi and stayed with her for several weeks. Their owner later flew back to the Netherlands with her other 2 cats. During Corona, there have even been cats who stayed with her for months because their owners could not fly back to the Netherlands.

Although it is a lot of work, which involves a lot of care
and sometimes special attention, Michelle does all this with love. She enjoys
her guests who have a good time in her cat paradise. She takes everything into
account, when cats need special care or food, Michelle has a separate room for
this.

When Michelle starts giving wet food, it is always a nice
sight. "Together with a lot of cats that come to the kitchen from every
nook and cranny, I am filling all the food bowls like crazy to satisfy all the
gourmets!" she says.

The cats can eat all day long, because there are bowls with
food everywhere. They also get tasty sweets every day. So they stay on an all
inclusive basis, they just can't order 😹 room service

High season

The high season is at the Cat Hotel during the summer
holidays. They are then fully booked, and in general the cats all get along
well. This is because they are not in their own territory, and therefore the
urge to defend is lost. Yet the cats quickly feel at home, this is due to the
design of the Cat Hotel. There is a nice living room feeling, with a sofa and
lots of soft sleeping places and nice scratching posts.

How does the Cat Hotel distinguish itself? "Everything
is luxuriously furnished and it is small-scale in design. There is more
attention, space and time for the cats. No lofts where they have to sit all
day, which you often see at guesthouses. Often everything there is designed to
be easy to clean and therefore there is a sterile and impersonal appearance.
With me, all cats always run free, even at night, and are allowed to go where
they want and do what they want. They are also always allowed outside in the
covered outdoor run," explains Michelle. Have you become enthusiastic
about the Cat Hotel Tompoes and are you considering letting your cat stay here?
Then you can always get a tour in advance to see and experience how things are
going in the hotel and you can bring your cat with confidence. Michelle also
texts nice photos and videos of the cats to the owners every other day, so that
they can see that everything is going well and they don't have to miss their
cats too much.