DeOGee Spaw owner focuses on boarding, grooming and a family feel in downtown Kinston
When Cynthia Cash took over DeOGee Spaw a year ago, she started with herself, a small client base and a goal of making the downtown Kinston pet business feel less like a kennel and more like home.
Now, Cash said the business has grown in grooming and daycare, and she wants more people to know DeOGee Spaw also offers boarding.
“When you walk into the door at DeOGee Spaw, you’re not just somebody off the street, you become our family,” Cash said. “When you board your dogs here, we’re going to treat them like our animals.”
DeOGee Spaw is located at 111 W. Gordon St. in Kinston. The business offers dog grooming, daycare, boarding, bath and nail services, cat grooming services and basic work with dogs that need help with behavior or anxiety.
Cash said boarding is one of the biggest services she wants to grow. She said dogs are checked on throughout the day, walked, allowed time to play and treated with attention beyond basic care.
“We’re not going to make you pay an arm and a leg to get extra hugs with your dog,” Cash said. “You should have that regardless.”
Cash said the business also serves people who are traveling through Kinston, including traveling nurses who need daycare while they are working. She said those clients often return because their dogs are comfortable.
“She brings her dog here because he’s happy,” Cash said of one traveling client. “He leaves happy, he comes in happy.”
DeOGee Spaw has expanded its hours to 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cash said the change was made to better fit customers’ work schedules. She said staff will also work with customers who may run a few minutes late.
“Everyone has a different story,” Cash said. “So we work with them.”
Cash said some dogs come in with anxiety, fear or behavioral issues, and staff try to build trust with them over time.
“We work with dogs like that,” Cash said. “Dogs that have really bad anxiety, or they’re scared of the groomer, they come in scared. We work with their anxiety.”
For Cash, that trust-building is part of the business model. She said dogs need exercise, socialization and patience, especially when they are in an unfamiliar place.
“We let them run around,” Cash said. “We let them get used to us.”
Cash said she also sees DeOGee Spaw as part of the broader downtown business community. She wants people who come downtown for pet care to notice other businesses nearby and spend more time in Kinston.
“We want it to grow downtown Kinston,” Cash said. “We want it to bring people here so they can see what else is around.”
DeOGee Spaw can be reached at 252-275-3913.
