About Us

Our History

Tomten Kennels & Cattery was founded 40 years ago by Sheila Gee, as a complimentary service to her husband's successful veterinary practice. Raymond Gee moved his surgery from Radlett to his family home in the village of Shenley in the late 1950s, and the kennels provided a boarding service for the surgery's clients, many of whom could not find suitable holiday accommodation for their pets.
In 1996, their daughter, Samantha Gee, took over the running of the boarding kennels and cattery and supervised the design and complete re-building of both the dog kennels and the cattery. Now Tomten has 28 state-of-the-art dog kennels for all sizes of dog from the tiniest Yorkshire Terrier to the largest Great Dane. The cattery consists of 25 cat houses; 15 for single accommodation, 8 double houses and 2 "suites" for a family group of 3-4 cats. Spacious and purpose built accommodation ensures that boarders at Tomten are provided with the very highest standard of pet care.

Our Name

The name "Tomten" comes from a Swedish folktale written in the 1960s by Astrid Lindgren. The story tells of a troll - a Tomten - who watches over all the animals on the farm where he lives. People do not see him but, during the long, cold nights, the Tomten keeps the animals safe from harm, and even gives the hungry fox, who comes prowling, a bowl of porridge. We think that "Tomten" is a very appropriate name for an establishment specialising in protecting and looking after our clients' precious pets.

Proprietor and staff

Samantha Gee is involved in all aspects of Tomten and closely supervises the day-to-day running of the kennels, in addition to meeting and greeting many clients herself.

Assisting Samantha are 2 full-time staff members: Leigh, who has worked at Tomten for 16 years and Emma who has been part of the team for 2 ½ years. In the very busy periods, extra members of staff are employed to help with the walking, grooming, cleaning and feeding duties, under strict supervision. All staff follow our own written procedures manual and we have a comprehensive Health and Safety File that is updated regularly. Tomten is licensed by the local Authority Hertsmere to ensure that we comply with the Animal Boarding Establishment Act of 1963. We are inspected regularly by a Hertsmere Council officer.

FAB approval

We were very pleased to be awarded Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB) approval in May 2003. There are only a few FAB approved catteries in the area, and this approval indicates the high standard of accommodation and care achieved and maintained at Tomten, and which the FAB insist on before approving a cattery. Incidentally, cat owners will find the FAB website a very good source of information and advice on all feline matters.

Our Clients

Our existing client base is wide and varied. Some of our clients are local residents who have been bringing their pets to Tomten for years and others have been recommended to us by friends and family. Many clients have been referred to us by their vets in Hertfordshire, Middlesex and London and some of these vets board their own pets with us, which we like to take as a testimonial to the high standard of care we offer our animal guests!