Feline Friends

About Feline Friends

Feline friends was established in South Woodford, over 5 years ago by Rosie Winner, a veterinary nurse, to look after a growing number of clients' cats. It became so successful that she gave up her job to concentrate on petsitting full-time. Unfortunately, she had to move away and transfer the business after 2 years. This is where I came in.

My name is Maria Alford and I have run Feline Friends since November 2004, based in Woodford Green, Essex. Before then, I worked in various office jobs, but dreamed of working with animals. My family always had a variety of pets and my sister, Lisa, is a veterinary nurse, which is how I met Rosie. After hearing that she was looking for a suitable person to whom she could hand over her business, I jumped at the chance of a career change and spent a lot of time with her, learning "the ropes". I also received some training from the National Association of Registered Petsitters and became a fully-insured member.

I have focussed on looking after cats and found that they seem to like me straight away. I love getting to know them individually and forming a special bond. I have a cat of my own too, Riley, who you will see in the various photos on this website. Although I love dogs equally, I cannot condone leaving them alone overnight. I sometimes walk dogs for people, but petsitting usually takes up all of my time. I also look after quite a few non-cat pets, including rabbits, rodents, tortoises, budgies, fish and snakes.

Although I do not have any other full-time staff, my sister Lisa, the veterinary nurse, covers my holidays for me and is always on-hand for advice, if I need it. I trust her implicitly, which is very important with such a responsible role. I know that, like me, she would treat each pet as her own. If that involves an emergency trip to the vets, then so be it.

I consider myself truly-blessed to be in a job that I adore and excel at. I hope that I can provide a service for you and your beloved pets, so please do not hesitate to contact me.