PetGroomBossPro Blog — Cat Grooming

Cat Grooming Software: The Complete Guide for Mobile Groomers Who Take Cats

Plenty of mobile groomers take cats. Some take a few, squeezed in between doodles and shih tzus. Some build a whole van day around them. A few groom nothing but cats. Whatever the mix, cat appointments put a different kind of pressure on the records you keep, because the details that make a cat groom go well are easy to lose between visits that may be six or eight weeks apart.

This guide walks through how cats are handled in PetGroomBossPro, from the first booking request to the paid invoice, and where the software helps and where it simply stays out of the way.

Start With an Honest Picture

This guide is the first stop in the cat section. For the short version of everything here, see the PetGroomBossPro cat grooming software page.

Before anything else, a straight answer to the question most groomers ask first: does PetGroomBossPro have special cat features? The honest answer is no, not beyond the basics. PetGroomBossPro is mobile grooming software for dogs and cats. It does not have a separate cat module, cat-only screens or cat-specific automations.

What it does have is a pet record that treats cats as first-class pets. Every pet on a visit is marked Dog or Cat, with its own name, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and a notes line for the cut and behavior. Cat services sit on the same service list as your dog services, with their own prices. Cats run through the same booking page, the same groomer app, the same checklist and the same billing. For most mobile groomers, that turns out to be exactly what cats need: a place to write things down that comes back every time.

The Pet Record: Where Cats Live

Each appointment holds the pets at that home, up to four per visit. For each one you record:

• Name, the way the owner says it.
• Dog or Cat. The single setting that tells the groomer which kind of appointment this is.
• Breed, typed in: Persian, Maine Coon, Ragdoll, domestic longhair, whatever the owner tells you.
• Size: Toy, Small, Medium, Large or Giant. The sizes were built with dogs in mind, so most groomers settle on a simple rule for cats, such as Small for most cats and Large for the big longhairs, and stick to it.
• Coat: Short / Smooth, Medium, Long, Double Coat, Curly / Doodle, Wire or Hairless.
• Rabies due date, typed in by the office or the groomer.
• Notes: the cut and the behavior, in a line such as “Lion cut, leave boots and tail tuft. Two people for nails.”

The part that matters most for cats: the next visit at that home fills in from the last one. Nobody re-types the cat, the coat or the cut. Eight weeks later, the same notes are on the groomer's card. The details are in Saved as Cat: How Each Cat Is Recorded on the Visit and Carried Forward.

Cat Services and Pricing

You set up the services you sell. For cats, a typical list looks something like cat groom, lion cut, comb-out, sanitary trim and nail trim, each with your own price, for example a $95 cat groom or a $20 nail trim. Add-ons such as De-Matting, Ear Cleaning and Nail Grinding are ticked on the job when they apply.

The online booking page uses the same list. A cat owner taps your Book Now link, picks a service, enters how many pets and each pet's name, breed and size, picks add-ons and a preferred day and time of day, and sees a price right away. The price comes from the base price you set per service, a price add-on per size, your minimum, any frequency discount and your add-on prices.

One thing to know up front: the booking page asks for name, breed and size, not Dog or Cat. What makes it a cat booking is the service the owner picks. That is why most groomers who take cats create services with “cat” in the name. Each request lands in Leads with everything the owner picked and the quoted price, and you get an email. It is a request, not an instant calendar booking; the office confirms the time and books it. See Cat Services on the Service List: Cat Groom, Lion Cut, Comb-Out, Sanitary Trim and Nail Trim for how to set the list up.

Scheduling Cats: Set Times and Repeat Visits

Cat owners usually need to be home and need the cat inside and findable, so a set time matters more than a loose window. Every appointment in PetGroomBossPro has a set time, and that time shows on every card on the schedule and on the groomer's phone.

For regulars, Add Recurring Grooming books the cat on the same weekday, time and van every week, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, monthly, or on custom days. Every visit is written up front and waits on Pending Jobs with its planned day, time and van until the office confirms it, usually the day before. One click keeps each visit as planned. From the Recurring Clients list you can change the van, day, time or price for upcoming visits, extend the series, or stop it.

The frequency is picked per client, not per service, so the same cat groom service can be every 6 weeks for one owner and every 8 for another.

On the Groomer's Phone

The groomer app runs in the browser on iPhone and Android and installs to the home screen, with no app store. Groomers log in with your company login and a personal PIN. They see the day's appointments in order with their set times, navigation to each address, and each pet on the card with breed, size, coat and cut notes. Add-ons, van notes (where to park, gate code, outlet and water hookup) and past notes from earlier visits are there too.

Start, Skip and Complete run the day. The app sends the owner automatic on-the-way and arrived texts. Before and after photos are saved with the job. When the groomer taps Complete, the invoice is created and the card on file can be charged.

The Checklist and the Grooming Report

For each pet, cats included, the groomer app has a grooming checklist: coat and skin checked on arrival, brushed out / de-matted, bath and conditioner, blow dry and fluff, haircut / style, sanitary trim, paw pads, nails, ears, eyes and face, and a final brush-out, plus the add-ons on that job. There is also a note for the customer, such as “matting behind the ears is coming back.”

The checklist is the same list for dogs and cats. Not every line applies to every appointment, and the groomer simply ticks what was done. The office sees the checklist on the job and can print a Grooming Report for the owner.

Texts, Payments and the Customer App

Owners choose their alerts: the night before, when they are next, and when the groomer arrives. Two-way texting lets the office answer “can you come after 2?” without a phone call. Every plan includes a monthly text allowance: 500, 1,000 or 2,000 texts sent and received on Start, Pro and Crew.

In the customer app, owners see today's route on a live map, update their card, see invoices, pay, and leave a tip on a paid invoice. They can also request service and rate and refer you.

Two-Person Cat Days

Some cats need two sets of hands. Employees in PetGroomBossPro are assigned to vans, and a groomer and a bather can share a van. Many groomers build a two-person cat day around that: the cats whose notes say “two people” go on the day both people are in the van. That is covered in Two-Person Cat Appointments: Running a Team of Two in One Grooming Van.

What This Guide Series Covers

The rest of the cat guides go one topic at a time: adding cats to a dog business, coat and behavior notes, lion cut notes, cat services and add-ons, booking page pricing, multi-pet homes, set times, repeat visits every 6 or 8 weeks, the checklist and Grooming Report, texts, rabies due dates, cat-only businesses, marketing, invoicing and switching software. The next one, Adding Cat Grooming to a Mobile Dog Grooming Business: Setting Up the Software First, starts with the setup.

Plans are Start $59, Pro $89 and Crew $199 per month, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. Cats work on every plan. For the overview of every cat feature in one place, go back to the cat grooming software page, or click around the live demo with no signup.