PetGroomBossPro Blog — Cat Grooming

Rabies Due Dates for Cats: Typing Them In and Seeing Them on the Card

Many mobile groomers keep track of when each pet's rabies vaccination is due. Some ask for it on every new client. Some have a policy about it. Some just like to have it on file. Whatever your approach, the date has to live somewhere other than a stack of paper.

In PetGroomBossPro, it lives on the pet, cats included.

One Field on the Pet Record

Photos were the subject of Before-and-After Photos on Cat Grooms: Saved With the Job. The rabies due date is a much smaller piece of the record, but it is one many groomers want on file.

Each pet on a visit has a rabies due date field, next to the name, Dog or Cat, breed, size, coat and notes. The office or the groomer types it in. Like the rest of the pet details, it carries forward: the next visit at that home fills in from the last one, so the date is there on every visit without being re-entered.

What It Is, and What It Is Not

Being clear about the feature:

• It is a typed date. Someone enters the date the owner gives you or the date on the paperwork they showed you.
• It is not a document upload. There is no way to upload vaccine records or certificates into PetGroomBossPro.
• It is not connected to a vet. PetGroomBossPro does not connect to vet software or look anything up.
• It is not medical advice. The software stores the date you enter. It does not tell you or the owner anything about vaccinations.

What you require from cat owners, and what you do if a date has passed, is your own policy. The software just keeps the date where you can see it.

Getting the Date in the First Place

The easiest time to get the date is when a new cat client is booked. The booking page asks for each pet's name, breed and size, and the office follows up to confirm the time. That follow-up text is a natural place to ask: “Could you send us Luna's rabies due date for our records?”

When the owner replies, the office types it on the pet when it books the first visit. For cats that come in through an estimate, the pet details carry from the approved estimate onto the job, so a date entered while quoting is already there.

Keeping Dates Current

A due date that has passed is only useful if somebody notices. A few habits help:

• Look when confirming. When the office confirms tomorrow's visits on Pending Jobs, it is a good moment to glance at the pets and their dates.
• Ask with the reminder. If a date has passed, the office can text the owner the day before: “Our records show Mochi's rabies date has passed. Could you send the new date?”
• Update it once. When the new date comes in, change it on the next visit so it carries forward from there.

The software keeps the date. Noticing a passed date and deciding what to do about it is up to you and your office.

Multi-Pet Homes

At a home with a cat and two dogs, each pet has its own rabies due date. They are not one date for the household. If the dogs are up to date and the cat is not, the record shows that clearly.

More on homes with several pets in Cats and Dogs at the Same Home: Multi-Pet Visits in Cat Grooming Software.

Monthly Accounts

If you groom at a senior living community or apartment community on a pet day, the residents' cats are pets on those visits like any other, each with a rabies due date field. Community pet days often have their own rules about records, and those are set by you and the community. The software holds the dates you enter.

Writing a Policy Owners Understand

If you ask for rabies due dates, say so plainly on your website and in the text you send new cat clients, so it is not a surprise at the door. The software does not write that policy for you. What it does is give the office one consistent place to record the answer, on the pet, where it carries from visit to visit and shows up whenever the office looks at that cat.

A Date Where You Can See It

A typed rabies due date on each cat, carried forward from visit to visit, beats a folder of paper in the van. It is a small field, and it is honest about being only that. For the rest of how cats are handled in PetGroomBossPro, see the cat grooming software page.