Boarding Kennel Client Intake Checklist

Client Intake Checklist for Boarding Kennels: What to Ask Before the First Visit

A boarding kennel intake form should protect the stay, not just collect marketing details. Staff need enough information to admit the pet, understand care instructions, handle emergencies, prepare billing, and avoid chasing the owner on arrival day.

Use this checklist before building a form in any CRM. For software context, read software for boarding kennels.

Owner Details

Ask:

• Full name
• Phone number
• Email
• Address
• Preferred contact method
• Emergency contact name and phone
• Who is allowed to collect the pet
• Whether the owner can receive SMS reminders

Keep emergency contacts structured. Do not bury them in a long note that staff may miss.

Pet Profile

Ask:

• Pet name
• Species
• Breed or type
• Age or date of birth
• Sex and neuter/spay status, if relevant to your process
• Identification details, if collected
• Usual vet contact
• Insurance information, if your policy requires it

If the kennel does not use a field, do not collect it. Intake forms become weaker when they ask for everything but staff trust none of it.

Feeding And Daily Care

Ask:

• Food type
• Portion size
• Feeding schedule
• Treat restrictions
• Items brought from home
• Exercise or enrichment preferences
• Sleep routine or comfort notes

Make the owner choose structured options where possible, then add one notes field for exceptions.

Why Boarding Intake Carries More Stakes Than A Single Visit

A boarding kennel intake form deserves more rigor than, say, a grooming intake form, for a structural reason that's easy to overlook: a boarding stay puts the kennel in continuous, unsupervised responsibility for the pet across multiple days, without the owner present to catch a problem early or answer a follow-up question in person.

A grooming appointment lasts an hour with the owner reachable and often nearby; if something is unclear, the groomer can simply ask. A multi-day boarding stay means any gap in the intake information (a missed feeding instruction, an undisclosed anxiety trigger, an emergency contact who turns out to be unreachable) has to be handled by staff alone, potentially in the middle of the night, without the owner available to clarify anything in real time. That is why boarding intake questions need to be more exhaustive and more clearly structured than a single-visit service's intake would need to be: the cost of a gap is measured in days of unsupervised uncertainty, not minutes of waiting for an answer.

Medication And Health Notes

Only collect medication details if your kennel is prepared to review and act on them. If yes, ask:

• Medication name
• Dose
• Timing
• Administration instructions
• Storage instructions
• Last dose before arrival
• What to do if a dose is missed
• Health changes since booking

This section should trigger staff review before arrival. It is not just an archive field.

Behaviour And Handling

Ask:

• Separation anxiety
• Reactivity around people or animals
• Escape risk
• Food guarding
• Handling sensitivities
• Noise sensitivity
• Known bite or aggression history
• Safe walking or exercise instructions

Phrase questions neutrally. Owners are more likely to answer honestly when the form explains that the information helps staff prepare, not judge.

Multi-Pet Households Need Explicitly Linked, Not Merged, Records

A household boarding two or three pets at once, common with siblings or a multi-pet family, creates a specific intake design decision that a single-pet form does not anticipate: whether each pet gets its own complete profile or whether staff end up combining feeding, medication, and behavior notes for multiple pets into one shared record because the form only accommodated one pet's details cleanly. Merging distinct pets' care instructions into one field is a direct path to a staff member accidentally applying one pet's medication schedule or feeding restriction to the wrong animal.

The correct structure keeps each pet as its own fully separate profile, each with its own feeding, medication, and behavior sections, while linking all profiles under the same owner and stay dates so staff see the full household context in one place without the individual pets' care details ever blending together. This is worth testing explicitly during intake-form setup, since a form that works cleanly for a single pet can silently fail this requirement the first time a two-dog household books.

Policy, Billing, And Arrival

Ask:

• Arrival date and preferred arrival window
• Collection date and preferred collection window
• Deposit or prepayment acknowledgement
• Cancellation policy acknowledgement
• Emergency treatment permission, if part of your terms
• Photo/social media permission, if used
• Invoice contact and billing details

Pair the intake form with reminder copy from the boarding kennel reminder templates. The form collects the details; reminders make sure they arrive on time.

Test The Intake Workflow In Tregovia

Tregovia can be evaluated for collecting intake information and keeping it near the broader client, appointment, and billing workflow. Do not claim that every form answer automatically becomes a perfect operational care plan; test how submitted information is reviewed and used by staff.

Test with real kennel examples:

• First-time dog boarding stay
• Repeat client with changed feeding instructions
• Medication that requires staff review
• Behaviour warning that should be visible before arrival
• Deposit or cancellation acknowledgement
• Emergency contact update
• Collection-time change

Use Tregovia pricing only after the intake workflow is clear, and review EU data hosting and client data before collecting sensitive operational details.

Intake Metrics

Review:

• Percentage of forms completed before arrival
• Missing emergency contacts
• Staff follow-up calls
• Arrival delays caused by missing details
• Billing disputes tied to unclear policy
• Incident reviews where intake information was missing or overlooked

If the form is long but staff still call every client, shorten and restructure it. If the form is short but staff are missing care details, add fields tied to real staff decisions.

Boarding Intake Questions

What should a boarding kennel intake form ask?

Ask for owner contact details, emergency contact, pet identity, feeding notes, medication notes, behaviour warnings, vaccination or policy requirements, arrival and collection windows, and billing agreement.

Should medication details be collected in a basic intake form?

Only collect what your kennel is prepared to review and act on. If medication handling is part of your service, make the question structured and require staff review before arrival.

When should the form be completed?

For first-time clients, collect it before confirming or well before arrival. For repeat clients, ask them to confirm whether anything has changed before each stay.

Where does Tregovia fit?

Tregovia's Client Forms add-on can be evaluated for intake, consent, and questionnaires. Keep claims conservative: verify how submitted information is reviewed and connected to daily staff workflow.

What should teams measure?

Track incomplete forms, staff follow-up calls, arrival delays, missing emergency details, billing disputes, and incidents caused by missing intake information.

Final Intake Rule

A boarding kennel intake checklist should make arrival calmer and staff decisions clearer. Collect only what the team uses, structure the high-risk details, and review incomplete forms before the pet arrives.