PetGroomBossPro Blog — Cat Grooming

Scheduling Cats at a Set Time: Fixed Slots for Cat Appointments

“Sometime between 9 and 1” works for some dog owners. They leave the gate code, the dog is in the yard, and the groomer gets there when they get there. Cat owners usually cannot work that way. Somebody has to be home, the cat has to be inside and findable, and in many homes the cat needs to be in the carrier before the van arrives.

That is why most mobile groomers who take cats book them at a set time.

Set Times Are Built In

Homes with more than one pet came up in Cats and Dogs at the Same Home: Multi-Pet Visits in Cat Grooming Software. Whether the stop is one cat or a cat and two dogs, the appointment has a set time.

In PetGroomBossPro, every appointment has its time, and the time shows on every card: on the Scheduled list in the office, on the route sheet, and on the groomer's phone. Nothing about this is special to cats. It is how the scheduling works for every appointment. Cats are simply where it matters most.

What a Set Time Gives the Cat Owner

• A time to plan around. They know when to be home and when to have the cat ready.
• Alerts tied to it. Owners can choose a reminder the night before, a text when they are next, and a text when the groomer arrives.
• A live view on the day. In the customer app, owners can see the route on a map, along the lines of “You're stop 12 of 20 — the groomer is 5 stops away.”

Put together, the owner gets a time the day before and a heads-up as the van gets close. That is usually enough to have the cat inside and the carrier by the door. The texts are covered in Texts to Cat Owners: Night-Before, On-the-Way and Arrived Alerts.

What a Set Time Gives the Groomer

On the groomer app, the day's appointments are in order with their set times. A groomer looking at the phone between stops can see that the cat is at 10:30, the next dog at 12:00, and whether there is room for lunch.

Set times also make cat appointments easier to hand between vans. If one groomer is out, whoever covers the stop sees the same time, the same pet record and the same notes.

Building a Day Around Cat Slots

Every mobile groomer builds days differently, and the software does not impose a pattern. A few common approaches:

• Cats first. Some groomers put cats early, before the van has been running all day with dogs.
• Cat days. Some put all cats on one or two days, often days with two people in the van.
• Cats in fixed spots on a mixed day. A cat at 10:30 every Tuesday, with dogs around it.

Whatever the pattern, the Scheduled list shows the day's appointments by van, you can filter by van, and you can set the route order by hand or auto-route Closest First or Furthest First from the shop. Times stay on each card, so you can see whether a route order still fits the times you promised. Route sheets can be printed for the van.

Set Times on Repeat Visits

The set time really pays off when the cat is a regular. Add Recurring Grooming books a client on the same weekday, time and van every week, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, monthly, or on custom days. A cat booked at Tuesday 10:30 every 8 weeks stays at Tuesday 10:30 every 8 weeks.

Each visit is written up front and waits on Pending Jobs with its planned day, time and van until the office confirms it. One click keeps each visit as planned. If the owner needs to move one visit, the office changes that one. If they want a new standing time, the Recurring Clients list can change the day or time for upcoming visits. That is covered in Repeat Cat Appointments Every 6 or 8 Weeks With Add Recurring Grooming.

When the Day Runs Late

Days run late. A doodle with more matting than expected pushes everything back half an hour. The set time is a promise, and when it is going to slip, the owner should hear about it.

The automatic texts help here: when-they're-next and arrived alerts go out based on where the groomer actually is in the route, not on the set time. For anything more, the office can send a two-way text, such as “Running about 30 minutes behind, we'll be there around 11.” Van GPS on the office map shows where each van is, so the office can give a real answer.

A Time the Owner Can Count On

A set time is a small thing for the schedule and a big thing for a cat owner. It is the difference between a cat ready at the door and a cat under the bed. For how set times fit with the rest of cat grooming in PetGroomBossPro, go to the cat grooming software page.