Covid-19: Dog kennels and catteries under threat without funding

Dog kennels and catteries rely heavily on people being able to take holidays to make a living

"It's just been horrendous, we are the forgotten sector."

Dog kennels and catteries have told BBC News NI they have struggled for support during the pandemic.

Businesses rely on owners leaving their pets while on holiday or at work, so have lost the majority of their income.

As dog kennels and catteries are not required to close under current Covid restrictions, some business owners said they were ineligible for the localised restrictions support scheme.

A spokesperson for the Department for the Economy said they may be eligible for Part B of the Covid Restrictions Business Support Scheme if they could "demonstrate their business is reliant on businesses being open which are closed as a result of the Health Protection Regulations (for e.g. hotels)".

Julie Gorman, owner of The Dogs' House boarding kennels, had to shut her business last March.

She would normally house 20 dogs at a time but with customers cancelling their holiday plans, her business dried up.

She said the financial pressure has led her to getting part-time work in a supermarket to subsidise her losses.

"I was getting one or two dogs in and it just wasn't viable for me to keep the kennels open," she said.

'The industry without a voice'

She was granted a one-off self-employment grant of £10,000 and three months' rates relief last March "but with business bills to pay it didn't last very long".

She applied for a business loan but she said it was unfair that her industry was being excluded from non-repayable grants.

"That money still has to be paid back. It's how long I have to hold out without any extra help through something that is not my fault that's so frustrating," she said.

Jenni Murphy, owner of Dogwood Pet Resort, said "we really are the industry without a voice".

The Easter holidays are one of the busiest times of the year for dog care facilities but Ms Murphy has had back-to-back cancellations.

She has reduced her business hours and furloughed all of her staff in an attempt to keep her business afloat.

"We've had to take a £20,000 loan against the business just to stay alive and we can't afford to up that again so if this goes any further we're done, we're bankrupt," she said.

'No-one wants to help us'

A grant of up to £2,500 was made available to businesses that adapted their premises to be Covid-secure, but Ms Murphy's dog business did not fall into the qualifying category.

"It's not like we have a shed in a garden, we have a purpose-built facility for the dogs that we invested well over £100,000 in to make the facilities perfect, and we love what we do and we're just not going to let it fail," she said.

"We are going round in a hopeless circle, we've asked everyone for help."

Michelle McConnell said her cattery did not fit the qualifying criteria for business support grants

Dog kennels and catteries are licensed by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, but Ms Murphy said she has received no support because her business is not classed as agriculture.

"We've fallen into this gap and we don't fit into a category so no-one wants to give us support," she said.

'No man's land'

Michelle McConnell, owner of the Cottage Cattery, has been in the business for more than 30 years.

Normally she would be fully booked for the Twelfth of July fortnight six-months in advance but nearly everyone has cancelled.

"It's just been horrendous, we are the forgotten sector," she said.

Having trained as a veterinary nurse, she went back to work part-time in a vet clinic after being forced to let all of her staff go.

She said her business did not fit the criteria for the 12-months rates relief holiday because it was not classed as hospitality or tourism.

"The government don't seem to see us as travel and tourism and our governing body is the Department of Agriculture but they don't see us as agriculture either, so we're just in no man's land.

"The kennel and cattery business has been completely looked over."

The spokesperson for the Department for the Economy also said: "Dog kennels and catteries also benefitted from the four months' rates holiday provided to all businesses.

"Any decisions on further support measures would be for collective executive agreement."

A petition for the government to provide financial support to boarding kennels and catteries, similar to what is available to the travel and hospitality industry, has received more than 22,000 signatures.