PetGroomBossPro Blog — Cat Grooming

Behavior Notes for Cats: Saving the Lines That Make the Next Visit Go Better

Every cat has its own way of handling a groom. Some sit through anything. Some are fine until the nails. Some want to be left in the carrier until the last possible second. The groomer who did the last appointment knows all this. The question is whether the groomer at the next appointment does.

Behavior notes are the answer, and in PetGroomBossPro they live on the cat, not in anybody's head.

Coat First, Then Behavior

The coat side of the notes was covered in Coat Notes for Longhair Cats: Writing What the Next Groom Needs to Know. Behavior shares the same notes line, and it is often the more important half.

Each pet on a visit has one notes line for the cut and behavior. It shows on the groomer's card with the pet's name, Dog or Cat, breed, size and coat, and it carries forward to the next visit at that home. Write it once and it comes back every time.

Lines Worth Saving

Good behavior notes are short and specific. They tell the next person what happened, not how to feel about it. Examples of the kind of thing groomers write:

• “Needs two people for nails.”
• “Nervous with the dryer. Quiet dryer only.”
• “Hides under the guest bed. Owner to have her in the carrier before we arrive.”
• “Fine for the brush-out, not for the back feet.”
• “Calm if the owner stays in the van. Worse if they leave.”
• “Muzzle for nails, owner is fine with it.”

Each of these changes what the next appointment looks like: who needs to be in the van, what the owner needs to do before arrival, or what the groomer brings to the door.

What Not to Put in the Note

A few things do not belong in a behavior note:

• Labels without detail. “Bad cat” tells the next groomer nothing they can use. Say what happened instead.
• Medical guesses. If something seems off, tell the owner and suggest they ask their vet. The software is for your records, not for diagnosis, and the note should not read like one.
• Old history. If a cat that needed two people last year now sits fine, take the warning out. A stale warning books a second person who is not needed.

Behavior Notes Drive the Schedule

The most practical use of a behavior note is in the office, before the day is built. A cat whose note says “needs two people for nails” should be on a day when two people are in the van.

In PetGroomBossPro, employees are assigned to vans, and a groomer and a bather can share one. Appointments have set times, and repeat appointments booked with Add Recurring Grooming keep the same weekday, time and van. So once a two-person cat is placed on the two-person day, it stays there every 6 or 8 weeks unless someone changes it. More on this in Two-Person Cat Appointments: Running a Team of Two in One Grooming Van.

To be clear, the software does not read the note and move the appointment for you. The note is there for the person building the schedule to see and act on.

Behavior Notes and the Owner

Some behavior notes are really instructions for the owner: “have her in the carrier before we arrive,” or “keep the bedroom doors shut.” Those work best when the owner hears them before the van shows up.

PetGroomBossPro sends night-before, on-the-way and arrived alerts by text and email, based on what the owner picks. The office can also send a two-way text the day before for a cat that needs a specific setup. The behavior note is what reminds the office to send it.

Who Writes the Note

The groomer who did the appointment is usually the best person to write or update the behavior note, since they were there. In practice, many shops let the groomer jot it in the job and have the office tidy the wording so the house style stays consistent.

Whatever the system, decide who owns the note. A note that three people add to without editing ends up long, contradictory and ignored.

The Note That Saves the Next Visit

A cat that went well because the groomer knew what to expect is the whole point. A short, current behavior note on the pet record is how the next groomer knows, even if they have never met the cat. For the rest of how cats are handled, from services to scheduling, see the cat grooming software page.