Dog boarding and day care in Colchester, area by area
Colchester's twenty-three listed dog boarders, day cares and kennels are spread unevenly across the town's nine defined areas. This guide lists exactly what is published in each, and says plainly where nothing currently is.
| Area | Businesses listed |
|---|---|
| Colchester centre | 3 |
| Lexden | 3 |
| Stanway | 3 |
| Highwoods | 7 |
| Greenstead | 0 |
| Wivenhoe | 4 |
| Tiptree | 1 |
| Rowhedge | 1 |
| West Mersea | 1 |
Highwoods is the strongest area
Highwoods has seven of the town's twenty-three listings, more than any other area: Amy's Pet Retreat, Animal Magic Kennels & Cattery, Dogs Play Centre, Muttley & Mabel and Vanderburg (all kennels or day care) alongside home boarders Bone Sweet Bone and We Love Pets Colchester.
Colchester centre, Lexden and Stanway
These three areas each have three listings. Colchester centre's are all home boarders: 5 Star Pet Services, Simply Pawfect and Maisies Mates. Lexden's are also all home boarders: All Seasons Dog Walking & Pet Services, Hoopers Hounds, and Walkies, Talkies and Cuddles, the latter run by Sarah, who walks locally around Friday Woods, Gosbecks, Highwoods Country Park, Lexden Woods and Westlands. Stanway has two home boarders, Kickstart My Bark and The Dog Hut, plus one day care, Colchester Canine Creche, which takes up to around 40 dogs a day in a nursery-style setting on Moss Road.
Wivenhoe: covered by nearby villages, not the town itself
Wivenhoe's four listings — Hilltop Boarding Kennels and Cattery in Thorrington, Brightlingsea Boarding Kennels and Cattery in Brightlingsea, Blackbrook Kennels near Dedham, and the home boarder Bones & Belly Rubs, shown by area only — all sit in villages that share the CO7 postcode district with Wivenhoe rather than in Wivenhoe town itself. No licensed dog boarder, day care or kennels was found addressed directly in Wivenhoe at the time of research.
Greenstead, Tiptree, Rowhedge and West Mersea
Greenstead has no published business at all: research found licensed operators in the neighbouring Highwoods, Mile End and New Town cluster of the same CO4 postcode district, but none registered in Greenstead itself. Tiptree, Rowhedge and West Mersea each have exactly one: Mutley's Hotel and Day Care Centre near Tiptree, offering boarding kennels and day care with a four-acre paddock; The Woof Wagon, a home boarder in the Rowhedge area; and It's All About The Dogs, a home boarder offering both home boarding and day care in West Mersea.
If your area shows none, or only one, it is worth calling Colchester City Council or, for the Tendring-licensed villages, Tendring District Council directly and asking for their current list of licensed boarders, since a genuinely new or small operator can take time to appear in research like this, and a licence can be issued between one research pass and the next. See our choosing guide for what to ask once you have a shortlist.