Sometimes, you've just got to get away for a few days.

But when there's a cat to care for, planning a simple weekend trip can be difficult.

You don't want to leave your best friend alone, but you also want to give kitty all the comforts of home.

Enter the Phat Cat Inn in Anmore. As its name would suggest, the inn is essentially a hotel for cats - but think of it more along the lines of the Ritz-Carlton.

Rather than leaving a kitty in a cage at a traditional boarding environment, the Phat Cat Inn offers individual rooms with all the fixings to keep any feline feeling fine.

The hotel is the brainchild of Kathy Richardson.

The mom and entrepreneur ran a successful dog grooming business for 15 years, but carpel tunnel syndrome put an end to that career.

Richardson had always thought about starting a hotel for cats.

"I'm always in search of a more simple life," she told The NOW.

So in 2011, the 46 year old fixed up an old barn on her six-acre property in Anmore to become a pet hotel magnate.

She transformed the barn into an 11unit hotel with rooms offering nine-foot ceilings and an average of 26 square feet of floor space per cat.

Every room has a window, with corner suites having two. Tile floors were installed to create a sterile environment with in-floor heating for cold winter months and a ventilation system in each room.

As Richardson noted, it's all part of her mission to keep cats and their owners happy.

"The most gratifying thing that I get when they [clientele] pick up their cat is when they say they didn't have any worry at all," she said.

"They knew their cat was in good hands and not in a cage."

A stay at the hotel costs $26 per night.

The fee includes litter, bedding and bowls and, of course, some attention from Richardson.

And it appears cat owners are searching out her venture.

Rooms are booked until January, while stays at Christmastime are nearly full.

While most clients are from the Tri-Cities, Richardson notes there are some cats coming from Richmond, North Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Owners range from couples in their 20s to the elderly going in for a medical procedure who need to have their cat taken care of.

Richardson suggested there's a stigma toward cat owners and the cat world, and said people are surprised when they meet her and see the hotel.

"They're just surprised I'm not one of those crazy cat ladies," she joked.

Far from it, she just wants cat lovers to know there are other options besides sticking a beloved pet in a cage.

For more information on the Phat Cat Inn, go to www.thephatcatinn. com.

jdeutsch@thenownews.com