Ask anyone who has worked a busy kennel morning and they'll tell you the hard part isn't feeding forty dogs. It's knowing, at ten past nine, which of them have been fed, which ones had their tablets, and who still needs letting out. The Daily Care Log is our answer to that. It puts each pet's instructions for the round in front of the person doing it, lets them tick tasks off as they go, and saves every tick to the pet's booking.
Why we built it
Kennel owners have told us that keeping track of feeding and toileting on a busy day was harder than it needed to be. The information was all there. Feeding and medication instructions lived on the pet's profile, and staff could record activities against a booking. But there was no single place to see what every pet needed right now and mark it done.
So most kennels did what kennels have always done: a printed sheet on a clipboard, ticked in biro, then typed up later or not at all. That works until the sheet goes missing, two people feed the same dog, or an owner asks whether their dog ate on Tuesday.
How a round works
Open the Daily Care Log and choose AM, Noon or PM. It opens on the right round for the time of day. Every pet you have checked in is listed, with their run, their owner and two columns of instructions:
- Feeding. The pet's feeding instructions for that round, taken from their profile.
- Medication. Any medication due in that round, from the pet's medication slots.
Next to each pet are four tick boxes: Fed, Meds, Toilet and Water. Staff tick what they've done as they go round, pick who they are from the staff list, and press Save. Each tick becomes an activity on that pet's booking, with the time and the staff member's name.
Ticked tasks turn green and show who did them and when. The next person to open the log sees straight away what's already been done, so nothing gets done twice or missed. Each round tab shows how many tasks are left, and the round has a progress bar, so you can tell at a glance whether the morning is finished.
No instructions for the round? Not every owner fills in separate morning and evening feeding notes. If a pet has nothing for the round you're doing, the log shows their general dietary requirements and medical notes instead, clearly marked, so nothing is hidden just because it wasn't split out by time of day.
Toilet trips and water bowls count too
Feeding and medication get the attention, but toileting and fresh water are just as much part of a pet's day, and they're the easiest to lose track of. Toilet and Water appear for every pet in every round, so topping up bowls and letting dogs out get recorded like everything else.
If the pet hasn't eaten everything, staff can mark the feed as ate all, ate some or ate none, and add a short note for that pet. A dog that's gone off its food shows up in the record the same morning, not when the owner collects it.
Other activities and weights, on the same screen
KennelBooker already had separate pages for recording activities and recording weights. We've folded both into the Daily Care Log, so there's one screen to learn and one place to look.
- Other activity. Choose any of your activity types, such as exercise, grooming, enrichment or a type you've set up yourself. Tick the pets, add a description and save them all in one go. Each pet shows what's already been logged that day, and the log warns you if a pet already has the activity you've picked.
- Weights. Every boarding pet is listed with its last weight from this stay. Type in the new weight and save, and it appears on the booking's weight chart. It's useful for long stays, older dogs and anyone on a diet.
Records that stand up to an inspection
In England, licensed kennels must monitor food and water intake, toileting and behaviour every day, and keep records for three years. An inspector will want to see that it happened, not just that you meant it to. Because every tick in the Daily Care Log is saved to the booking with a time and a name, the record builds itself as the day goes on. There's no typing up the clipboard at the end of a shift.
It helps with owners too. When someone rings to ask how their dog is getting on, whoever answers can open the booking and see when it was fed, whether it ate, and when it was last out.
Paper still has its place
Some kennels like a sheet on the kennel door, and that's fine. Each round can be printed as a sheet with every pet's instructions and empty boxes to tick by hand. Staff can also go back to an earlier day to add anything that was missed, so a forgotten evening round can still be recorded the next morning.
Setting it up
There's very little to do. The Daily Care Log uses the feeding and medication instructions already on your pets' profiles, and the pets you already have checked in.
The one thing to check is Columns, at the top of the screen. It decides which of your activity types each tick is saved as, for example Toilet saved as "Urination/Defecation". We suggest a match based on the names of your activity types. Check them, change any that are wrong, and press Save columns. Only users with access to Settings can change this. If you'd rather not use one of the columns, you can hide it.
Tips for getting the most out of it
- Fill in the AM, Noon and PM fields on pet profiles where you can. The more specific the instructions, the more useful each round becomes. PawCheck lets owners check and update their pet's feeding and medication details before they arrive.
- Keep a tablet in the kennel block. The tick boxes are large enough to use on a phone or tablet while you work.
- Use "Only pets with something to do" to filter the list down to what's left once a round is under way.
- Tick all shown handles the jobs everyone gets, like water, in one tap.
The Daily Care Log is available now. Open it from Quick Links on your dashboard, and tell us how it fits your kennel's routine. A lot of this feature came from listening to owners, and we'd like to keep doing that.
Frequently asked questions
What is a daily care log for a kennel?
It's the record of what each pet had done for it during the day: when it was fed and how much it ate, which medication it was given, toilet trips, water, exercise and anything unusual. In England, licensed kennels must monitor food and water intake, toileting and behaviour every day, and the log is how you show it was done.
Does the Daily Care Log replace paper feeding charts?
It can. Staff work through the round on a tablet or phone and tick tasks off as they go, and each tick is saved against the pet's booking with the time and the staff member. If you'd still rather tick by hand, the round can be printed as a sheet with each pet's instructions and empty boxes.
Where do the feeding and medication instructions come from?
From the pet's profile in KennelBooker. If the AM, Noon or PM fields are filled in, the log shows the ones for the round you're doing. If they aren't, it shows the pet's general dietary requirements or medical notes instead, so nothing is hidden just because it wasn't split out by time of day.
Can I record things other than feeding and toileting?
Yes. The Other activity tab lets you pick any of your activity types, such as exercise, grooming or enrichment, tick the pets and save them in one go. The Weights tab records each boarding pet's weight, which then shows on the booking's weight chart.