Posted on: December 11th, 2015 by Dr. Dale Rubenstein

We love when your feline family members come to spend time with us. Each of them has a unique personality and their own likes and dislikes. Boarding your cat at A Cat Clinic should be a positive experience for everyone, and we work hard to make sure that happens.

We have two policies regarding boarding your cat that we frequently get questions about. One is regarding check-in time, and the other is a reservation deposit. We want to help you understand why we have these policies.

Why do I need to arrive 2 hours before you close?
When you check into a hotel, you kick off your shoes and flop on the bed, maybe turn on the TV. You decide where you want to go out to eat, or maybe call room service. If you take any medications, you set them out on the counter and follow your normal schedule.

With the cats who board with us, we try very carefully to follow their home routine as much as possible. But, since they can’t tell us their preferences or give us any instructions, it takes our dedicated technicians and assistants a considerable amount of time to carefully go through the boarding paperwork. The documentation they write up on admission will tell each shift how much of which food to feed, what medication, schedule and doses your cat should receive. We don’t fill these out in advance because we’re not sure until you get here if your diabetic cat is still getting 2 units of insulin twice daily, or has that changed? Same with your cat’s diet. If your cat has stayed with us previously, we may have noted that your cat prefers a certain type of litter box or litter, or that they are especially shy and prefer a towel covering the front of their temporary home, but again, this needs to be carefully documented so everyone caring for your cat at each feeding has the same information.

This is why we ask that cats come in at least 2 hours prior to closing (5 PM weeknights and 11 AM Saturdays).

Why do you require a boarding deposit?
Boarding space at a veterinary clinic is in high demand, as clients know we will take good care of their cats. But we are limited in boarding space, and always have more requests for busy holidays than we have accommodations available. Last-minute cancellations forced us to institute a boarding deposit. The deposit can be fully refunded if cancelled more than 72 hours (3 days) prior to boarding, which allows us time to make arrangements for another cat to come in.

Our goal is to provide a safe and caring home-away-from-home. Once we get to know our boarders, we do our best to accommodate their preferences. The technicians will often have a cat keeping them company in the treatment area when we’re not busy, and Ann usually has one boarder or another “helping” her in the admin office during their stay!