Today we’d like to introduce you to Toni Castro.
Hi Toni, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My name is Toni Castro. I’m originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, and a Charleston Southern University Alumni!
I grew up loving and caring for animals of my own (horses, cats, dogs, turtles, and snakes were just the tip of the iceberg). I always knew I wanted to work with animals, but never could quite put my finger on the right career path for myself. I eventually found pet sitting! I worked for different pet sitting services over the years in conjunction to my day job and completely fell in love with the profession right away. For me, the natural progression was to start working on my own brand, and running a business was always a dream of mine.
In November of 2018, I founded Coastal Cat Care right here in Charleston, SC. By January 2019 I hired my first sitter as the business started to rapidly grow and the rest is history. We now have 12 sitters on our team that run every corridor of Charleston and an ever-growing client base. Working as a team, efficient communication and our undying love for cats has truly helped us get to where we are today!
My specific love for cats began with having three of my own! They all inspired me to take the leap of starting Coastal Cat Care and create a more specialized pet sitting experience that would only cater to cats’ unique needs. Getting to know and understand my own cat’s (Panda, Xena, and Jean Pierre) personalities has truly transformed my thinking on what it means to care for cats and my team hopes to bring this perspective to every single one of our clients.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The majority of obstacles we faced have not been so much cat-based as just normal trials and tribulations of starting a business from scratch and juggling other work while the business grew. 2020 was a tough year for all small businesses, but we were lucky to have still grown in a year where about 3 months were a complete wash. Our business completely revolves around our client’s travels plans and is not a daily casual experience like dog walking. Our cat sitting services came to a complete halt, which was an extremely scary happening as we were just hitting 1.5 years of business. However, as most people can understand, by the end of 2020 people were sick of being cooped up in their homes. Travel resumed and so did business. In fact, we experienced such an influx of work by 2021, I could hardly keep up and that was when I decided to mass hire. The wheels have been turning (fast) ever since!
We’ve been impressed with Coastal Cat Care, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Coastal Cat Care is Charleston’s only cat exclusive pet sitting service. We are a cat-focused group of professionals that provide in-home care as an alternative to boarding. Our client’s kitty(s) can now stay home, in a more familiar environment, while they’re owner is away!
Our services include taking care of all cats’ basic needs: Putting out fresh food in clean dishes, replenishing water bowls, and taking care of the litter box, with every scheduled visit our clients receive a detailed message, pictures, and a report card about what their kitty has been up to each day! We provide playtime and companionship to ensure your cat is never lonely. Our basic service includes picking up mail, watering plants, and ensuring your home is secure. Any basic house-sitting duties!
We offer medical services: Insulin injections, subcutaneous fluid administration, pills, and supplements.
If your cat needs a lift to a grooming appointment or veterinary appointment, you bet we’ll be by to pick them up and take them where they need to go with our Cat Taxi service. We are full-service and cat-centric with more offerings to come in the future! I am most proud of being the only business in town to focus solely on cats and the fact that we are paperless, all of our communications and scheduling run directly through an app to streamline the client experience!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
Pet Sitter Confessional is my favorite work-related podcast. It truly is a support channel for my line of work. I love the hosts and their insight on the pet sitting industry as a whole! I always learn something new!
Outside of work-related podcasts, I’m totally invested in junk crime podcasts: Criminal and And That’s Why We Drink are in regular rotation.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle are 2 of my favorite books that really changed my perspective and thinking about life
The only Apps I really use: Time To Pet (the app that we run our business through) Google Docs/Drive, Canva (the life-blood of our marketing), Google Calendar, Spotify, and Instagram, of course!
Pricing:
- Standard Visit – $20
- Premium Visit – $30
- Meet & Greet – $10
- Cat Taxi – $50
Contact Info:
- Email: info@coastalcatcarechs.com
- Website: www.coastalcatcarechs.com
- Instagram: coastalcatcare
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coastalcatcare/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/coastal-cat-care-charleston
Image Credits
Vie Lum Visuals
