hi, I’m Philippa, founder of nestr
Before I tell you about nestr, I'd like to tell you about my cats. I've had cats my entire life.
Three family cats, and two I adopted myself. That's a lot of cats, so let me introduce you to the most recent ones.
Gracie
Gracie and I grew up together. She was with us for 18 years.
She was a tortoiseshell, but without any of the famous tortie attitude. She was sweet natured, shy and a little nervous, and she had her favourites: me and my mum. She was a creature of habit. In summer she'd spend all day under her favourite bush, and every evening she'd be straight onto my mum's lap until bedtime.
Marge
I adopted Marge from the RSPCA when she was 16. She was an end-of-life cat, found at the side of the road with no owner anyone could trace.
Alongside her health conditions, she was deaf, which made for some interesting cohabiting. She liked to be near you, but never on you. A classic old lady cat: asleep most of the day, until 5am, when she decided it was breakfast time and made sure the whole flat knew about it.
Paddi
Paddi came from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, again as an end-of-life cat. She'd been given up by her owners after ten years, and we never found out why.
She was an anxious girl, but the most affectionate cat I've known. She didn't need to be on you, she just needed to be in the same room as you. She came with some separation anxiety, and we worked with the vet to help ease it.
so why tell you all this?
Because I believe a business that looks after cats should be run by someone who genuinely loves them.
They're my why. They've been with me through grief, heartbreak, new schools and new jobs. I'll always put cats at the heart of everything I do.
Cats aren't small dogs
I do love dogs. But I'm tired of walking down the pet aisle and finding it 90% dog. Tired of sitting in the corner at the vet so the dogs don't frighten my cat.
31% of UK households have a cat, rising to 44% in London. This is not a niche. Through nestr, I want to show that cats aren't just small dogs, and they'll never be an afterthought here.
Cats first, always.
where is nestr now?
nestr is still in development, and I'm taking my time to get it right.
I'm building it with feedback from owners and sitters, so that sitters can earn money doing something they love, and owners can leave home with real peace of mind.
There's more coming soon. But if you've read this far, thank you. I hope you've joined the waitlist, and I can't wait to share more.
This is cat sitting, done differently
the cats around the site
You'll spot some lovely illustrations of cats around the website.
Every one of them is hand-drawn by the fantastic artist that is my mum, the original cat lady.
If you'd like to see more of her work, visit her website: amandanester.co.uk