Cattery Software Built Around How Cats — and Catteries — Actually Work

Cattery software is a management platform built specifically for cat boarding facilities. It handles online bookings, individual enclosure assignments, cat-specific vaccination tracking (FVRCP, FeLV/FIV), feeding and litter logs, medication administration records, multi-cat family management, and daily photo updates to owners. Purpose-built systems save catteries 10–14 hours per week compared to paper systems, and remove the administrative barriers that make multi-cat and long-stay bookings disproportionately time-consuming.

Yes, in meaningful ways. Cats require individual enclosures (they do not naturally coexist with strange cats the way dogs tolerate group spaces), and their vaccination protocols differ from dogs — cats need FVRCP and often FeLV/FIV testing rather than Bordetella and DHPP. Cattery operations also have different monitoring rhythms: litter box checks are a care task dogs don't require, and cat appetite and litter box habits are the primary health indicators staff monitor during a stay. MyPetCare's cattery mode handles these species-specific differences while running alongside dog boarding if you operate both.

Multi-cat family bookings are more complex to manage manually than single-cat bookings: each cat may have different vaccination status, different dietary needs, and owners want them booked together or in adjacent enclosures. MyPetCare handles this with linked pet profiles under one owner account, group booking flows that place cats in the same or adjacent enclosures, automatic sibling pricing (e.g., 2nd cat 15% off), coordinated care schedules visible to staff as a grouped task, and a single invoice covering all cats in the family.

The vaccination tracker handles the full range of cat-specific vaccines used by UK catteries: FVRCP (Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis, Calicivirus, Panleukopenia — the core "cat flu" vaccine), FeLV (Feline Leukaemia Virus), and documentation of FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) testing where required. Automatic reminders go out to owners 30 and 60 days before certificates expire, and the system can block new bookings for cats with lapsed vaccination records until updated certificates are uploaded.

Cattery management software typically costs £40–150 per month. MyPetCare offers flat monthly pricing from £79 with no per-booking transaction fees and all features included. For early access customers, founding-member rates are available. Avoid platforms that charge 3–5% per booking — at typical cattery volumes, particularly during peak holiday periods, this represents a significant recurring cost.

Yes. Staff send daily photo updates from their phone with a brief welfare note — whether the cat ate well, used the litter box normally, is settling in, or has any flagged behavioural changes. These go to owners as branded email updates or appear in the owner portal. For cats on longer stays, particularly those whose owners are abroad, this daily contact significantly reduces anxious calls to the cattery and gives owners confidence without requiring them to interrupt your day.

Feeding instructions are stored on each cat's profile: preferred food, portion size, meal frequency, and any dietary restrictions or medical diet requirements. Staff see a daily care schedule showing each cat's feeding tasks in time order and mark completions from their phone. Litter box checks can be added as a separate recurring task on the same schedule. Any concerns — a cat refusing food, unusual elimination habits — are logged as notes visible to all staff and to the owner. These logs also serve as a welfare record relevant to local authority inspections.

Each enclosure or chalet in your cattery is set up in the system with a name, size category, and any special features (outdoor run access, elevated sleeping area, ground-floor accessible). The enclosure grid shows each unit's current status — occupied, vacant, cleaning required, maintenance block — at a glance. When a booking is confirmed, you assign the appropriate enclosure manually or via auto-assignment based on cat size and family grouping preferences. Sibling cats from the same household can be placed in shared enclosures or adjacent units according to the owner's preference.

Yes. UK catteries operating under Animal Activity Licensing (AAL) regulations require annual licence renewal and are subject to inspection. Inspectors assess record-keeping including vaccination compliance, care logs, emergency contacts, and general welfare documentation. MyPetCare's digital records — vaccination database with certificate uploads, timestamped feeding and care logs, owner and emergency contact information for each boarder — produce the kind of retrievable, complete record set that supports a positive inspection outcome.

First-time boarding cats often eat less and are quieter for the first 24–48 hours while acclimatising to new surroundings. The staff notes feature lets your team log these observations in the cat's record, which helps owners understand what's normal behaviour and what would warrant a vet call. A photo of a cat settling into their enclosure on day one, sent as a daily update, is more reassuring to a first-time cattery owner than a phone call saying everything is fine. The communication tools in MyPetCare make this kind of proactive owner management straightforward.