When you're taking a trip away from home often the most difficult decision is where to leave the family's loveable moggy and this month we discovered somewhere that's the cat's whiskers. HEATHER RAMSDEN reports

The sign outside Oakley Hotel for Cats hints at five-star accommodation and this feline-friendly establishment does its best to deliver.

Owner, Adele Blackmore, who has run this cattery for 12 years took me on a tour of the "hotel" in which cats socialise happily, rather than being kept in pens, without a claw being drawn.

"Cats are territorial creatures, but this is neutral territory so they are all quite content," Adele explains.

She adds cats can be kept in isolation, but most owners just want their cats to be happy.

Licensed for 125 cats, this cattery is full most of the year round. Its pens are heated, the cats have an abundance of toys to play with, easy chairs to relax on, music to dose to, duvets to cuddle up on and scratch posts in every corner.

Blocks are decorated in a Disney theme with Winnie, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore sections.

They are allocated to cats according to their energy levels with guests such as 24-year-old Biggles bunking down in a block with similarly frail moggies.

Adele says: "We aim for happy cats because for many of the owners, their cats are like their children."

And one of the reasons Oakley's cats are so contented is manager Tina Morgan-Taylor who knows every cat by name and owns 10 of her own.

Enjoying a diet of Iams and Hills, the cats are getting the best nutritional food but staff do also cook meals like chicken for fussy eaters.

And when it comes to taking their pills, it appears a spoonful of delicious liver pate helps the medicine go down.

Cats stay anything from overnight to up to four years and Adele has had some well-known clients as well.

"I've had a TV chef and a sports presenter, but I'd better not say who," she laughs.

And the demand is huge, with people trying to book for the following summer and some even making up outrageous stories to get their pets booked in like one owner who invented a story about a dead relative to get Tina to squeeze her cat in to a full cattery.

Adele says: "Sometimes we have people who ring up from all over the world and send cards to their cats. We happily put the cards on their cat's door.

"We had one client who called three times a day while he was on honeymoon to inquire about his cat and even had the staff take the phone to the cat."

It's hard to stifle a giggle when listening to Tina's anecdotes like the one about the owners who insisted their cats only drank rain water, another whose cat would only eat prawns, and one owner who brought in two weeks' supply of roast dinners for her cats.

After visiting this cattery the impression you are left with is one of healthy and most of all contented cats enjoying a holiday of their own.

The cattery has one full-time staff member, four part-time and holiday help. Fees are £5.50 plus VAT per day, and £4 for additional cats. Call Oakley Hotel for Cats on 020 8462 0996.