Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Lioyryan.
Hi Shawn , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Cats in the City began in Portland in 2006 when my husband, Daniel, and I set out to create the kind of care we wanted for our own cats. I came from a background in clinical social work, while Daniel brought his training in behavioral neuroscience. We recognized that most pet-care systems were built around dogs and that cats deserved environments and methods designed specifically for their behavior, emotional safety, and individual needs.
We started small and remained deeply involved in every aspect of the work. Each cat taught us something—especially those who were fearful, elderly, medically complex, or considered difficult to groom. Over time, those experiences helped us develop TANDEM Cat® Grooming, a cooperative, trauma-informed approach that emphasizes careful observation, synchronized handling, and respect for each cat’s physical and emotional thresholds.
Today, Cats in the City has grown to four Portland-area locations offering feline-only grooming, boarding, in-home sitting, transportation, transition support, and other specialized services. We also founded the TANDEM Cat® Institute to turn nearly two decades of practical experience into professional education and higher standards for feline care.
Although the organization has grown, our purpose has remained simple: Better Care for Cats. We want every cat to be seen as an individual, treated with dignity, and understood—especially during the moments when care is most challenging.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. For the first thirteen years, Daniel and I worked every day—including weekends and holidays—and reinvested nearly everything into the business. At times, we even slept in spaces that would later become boarding suites. We were committed to building the right model of care, but it took time to make that model sustainable for ourselves and our team.
Another challenge was that no established blueprint existed for what we were creating. Most pet-care systems were designed around dogs, speed, or volume. We were developing a feline-specific approach centered on observation, emotional regulation, and individualized care. Cats who were fearful, medically complex, elderly, or considered “difficult” pushed us to question conventional methods and develop better ones.
Growth brought new challenges. The knowledge Daniel and I had developed through years of hands-on work needed to become teachable, consistent, and scalable across multiple locations. We had to translate intuition into protocols, training, documentation, and shared standards without losing the compassion at the heart of the work.
The greatest lesson has been that difficulties are valuable information. Whether the issue involves a frightened cat, an inefficient process, or an exhausted team member, it is telling us that something in the system needs attention. Learning to listen, adjust, and keep improving has been essential to getting where we are today.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Cats in the City is a feline-only care company serving the Portland metro area through four locations in Southeast Portland and Beaverton. We offer professional grooming, boarding, in-home cat sitting, transportation and relocation assistance, mobile claw care, behavioral support, rescue and rehabilitation services, and lifetime-care planning.
We specialize in cats who benefit from a more thoughtful, individualized approach—including cats who are fearful, elderly, medically complex, sensitive to handling, or previously considered difficult to groom. Our spaces, procedures, and team training are designed specifically for feline needs.
What distinguishes us is our TANDEM Cat® method, a cooperative, trauma-informed approach developed through nearly two decades of hands-on experience. Instead of expecting a cat to submit to a standardized process, we observe the cat’s breathing, posture, movement, muscle tone, and emotional state, then adjust our handling, pacing, and environment. We treat grooming as an important part of health and well-being—not simply a cosmetic service.
I am most proud that our brand has remained anchored to one clear promise: Better Care for Cats. For us, that means creating calm, feline-only environments; maintaining careful documentation; communicating honestly with families; and treating every cat with dignity and respect.
Our work also led us to establish the TANDEM Cat® Institute, where we turn what we have learned in practice into professional education and standards for the wider feline-care field. We want readers to know that Cats in the City is more than a collection of services. It is a care philosophy built on the belief that every cat deserves to be seen, understood, and supported as an individual.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The greatest credit belongs to my husband and co-founder, Daniel. Cats in the City grew from the combination of our different backgrounds—mine in clinical social work and his in behavioral neuroscience—and from nearly two decades of solving problems together. Daniel brought scientific rigor, systems thinking, and a deep understanding of behavior and physiology to the work. The TANDEM Cat® method and everything we have built would not exist without our partnership.
Our team also deserves enormous credit. They trusted us while we translated years of hands-on experience into teachable systems, and they helped refine those systems through daily practice. Their patience, observational skills, compassion, and willingness to keep learning have allowed us to grow without abandoning the individualized care on which the company was founded.
Our clients have been essential as well. Many supported us when the business was small, referred their friends, offered encouragement, and trusted us with beloved cats whose needs were not being met elsewhere. Their questions and honest feedback continually challenged us to improve.
Finally, the cats themselves have been our most important teachers. Particularly fearful, elderly, medically complex, or misunderstood cats showed us where conventional approaches fell short. By paying attention to what they communicated, we developed safer and more respectful ways of working. Our success belongs to everyone—human and feline—who trusted us enough to help build a better model of care.
Pricing:
- Our pricing reflects resource-intensive, team-based care. Multiple trained professionals work together so the team—not the cat—absorbs the complexity of necessary care.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://catsinthecity.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/catsinthecityportland
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/catsinthecitypdx
