Just over a week ago my boyfriend and I adopted a beautiful 12 month old cat from Pondersoa Kennels. We had been planning to get a cat for over six months and finally decided to go for it. We called up on a Sunday and asked if it would be fine to come and visit, which it was. We looked the location up on the internet and found them really easily; they're based in Castleford only about half an hour out from Leeds. We came in and the lady, who wasn't particularly talkative (it was the end of the day, to be fair) showed us into the kennel area. It's a bit ridiculous, as I'm not naive so I've no idea what happened, but within about a minute of walking in to see the cats I burst into tears. There was nothing wrong with the condition of the cages and it was nothing to do with how they were kept - everything seemed absolutely fine. It was that as soon as we entered the cats started crying out for attention. It just cut me to pieces! Every single one of them was utterly desperate for attention, fuss and love and it was as if they knew that when someone visited one of them would get to go home! Man, it really cut me up and it was so hard to decide who to take. After about 15 minutes of being flustered by emotion, my boyfriend and I chose Milly (originally Tiny) on the basis that she was the most desperate to be loved! She jumped up onto the cage with all four paws and literally would have squeezed through the 1 inch holes if she could have! We couldn't leave her behind, though having said that we very nearly took two home as we were so affected by how much the cats need a home... We paid a donation of just under fifty pounds for her, which presumably covers the costs of their operation, and were able to collect her in a few days once the vet had given her a proper check. She also came with a free month of insurance, which is very good too. She's settling in really well and has easily become a part of the household. The lady, although a little on the quiet side, was great when we had questions and told us about the cats that we were interested in. It's fantastic that they are helping the serious problem of homeless cats, and will do their best to take on a pet that people may be struggling to care for too. (They rehome dogs too!) I urge you, if you have been thinking about adopting a cat (providing you have the facilities) please do and consider visiting Ponderosa too. They have a number of beautiful cats who would all be fantastic and need a loving home! Do it! All they want is love! read more

Ponderosa Kennels - Taken from site - Pet Sitting Near Me - Castleford, XWY

My husband and i decided that we were going to look for a Lab. Any colour male or female up to the age of about 5. We looked at many sites. Alot of these sites were asking the regular questions eg. Do you work, How long are you going to leave your dog for, safe fenced garden ect. Here however there we NO qustions asked , which we found most strange. We saw a dog on the site before we went, this is because once you get there...yes you want to take them ALL home. Delboy (now diezel) a black lab aged 11 months. Male, Came out of a nice clean pen...pulling like mad as most labs do. Tail wagging like there was no tommorrow. After a short checkover him and getting him to look at me those big brown eyes won me over... I paid the deposit and a couple of days later after the vet had checked him over i paid the rest = total £270. After a day i noticed blood in his fecees. I though it might be the change of food or maybe he had been having bones! I took him to our vet a day later and he told me it was COLITIS!! 3 months of rice and chicken Cost a fortune but with a bit of patience and hard work (cleaning up!!!) it all worked out ok. He is now on CHAPPIE- its gentle on the stomach. He may still get colitis but you just have to make sure when his nose is to the ground he doesn't eat owt. Easier said than done. He has turned out a great dog,loving friendly but a good guard dog too. He has been to vets on more than one occassion because he loves his run in the woods and has cut his paws badly, which cost another £450.00. So please be aware that when you buy a dog alsorts can happen!! We now have him insured and hope to spend many more years with him. Still training him and he is still training us..so he thinks, so good luck to all who enter into getting a dog...well worth it. read more

I ended up with a gorgeous dog which originally came from ponderosa, she is an extremely lively staff boxer who is very strong, both physically and mentally and she was rehomed with an elderly woman who couldn't cope with her, they wouldn't take her back so she ended up on death row, I wanted to ring them and ask for any history on her, a few people told me not to bother as they a not very helpful and seriously lack of people skills but I decided to anyway, first time I rang they wouldn't tell me anything and told me I needed to get previous owners to confirm she now belonged to me, which I did, before they could tell me anything. rang back the next week and she was very rude, "well I don't no what you want me to tell you" wouldn't tell me anything, why she ended up there, how long she was there, any warnings about her AMAZING She knew as she didn't even ask the bloody dogs name!! While I was on the phone someone else rang, she told me to wait a minute and she answered the phone for a brief 5/10 second phone call where she was equally rude and unhelpful to the other person, make your own judgements but if that was me I would want to no which dog it was and how it's getting on, just very upset all i wanted was ANY info on my dog! read more