- Combined cat café and hotel allows guests to live with cats before adopting
- Owner of pet hotel breaks the law in selling 3 purebred cats at hotel
- Feral cats at the Suncoast Casino Hotel in Durban enjoy their new “Happy Cat Hotel”
Is this the world’s most glamorous hotel for cats and dogs? All the photographs are by João Morgado. It has been built on a former vineyard in Parada, Portugal. The design is by Raulino Silva Arquitecto. It’s a pet hotel complex which has been shortlisted for a design award which, for me, is unsurprising. It contains a grooming parlour, a pet pool and there is an on-site veterinarian together with grooming rooms. There is plenty of light and it is a beautiful, airy minimalistic design. Of course, the cats and dogs are kept in separate blocks. An internal garden runs right through the middle of the corridor in the dog’s block. There are views from each compartment looking out over the gardens. The dogs will be allowed outside to play in an area secured by a confinement fence (what about the cats!?). The hotel is designed to be easily maintained and cleaned. Raulino Silva Arquitecto was founded in 2011 by Raulino Silva and is based in Vila do Conde.
The design is nice, but I can’t help but wonder about enrichment for the cats too. The pictures don’t show the specific quarters of either cats or dogs – just an overview of the complex. Although impressive looking in its size, I can’t help but wonder about the actual living quarters, being minimalist.
Are there beds? Toys? Cat trees? Open air for the cats to explore, like a giant catio area? Do any of the animals have the ability to explore and/or partake in a garden of their own?
Curiosity peaks my interest. It would be nice if pictures in more detail were available.
Yes, well said again Gail. It is a beautiful design but it needs the common touch. It needs to be lived in and I would hope that those aspects of a dog and cat home that you mentioned will be added