Every boarding business needs paperwork, and most collect too much of it in the wrong place: on a clipboard at the door while the owner is trying to leave. This guide lists the forms a boarding kennel, daycare or cattery actually needs, the fields each one should have, and how to get them completed before the dog arrives.
Use the field lists as templates. Copy them into a document, an online form or your booking system's questionnaire builder, and cut anything you wouldn't act on.
Your terms, waiver and consent wording are legal documents. Have them checked by a solicitor or your insurer. This article covers what to collect, not the legal wording.
1. Booking form
This is the request itself. Keep it short, because everything about the owner and pet belongs in the profile, which they only fill in once.
- Owner name, phone and email
- Pet or pets being booked
- Service: boarding, daycare, cattery, grooming
- Arrival date and time slot
- Departure date and time slot
- Room or pen preference, and whether pets from the same home should share
- Extras: bath before collection, medication, extra walks
- Agreement to your terms and cancellation policy, with the deposit amount shown
2. Client and pet profile
Collected once and checked before each stay. Under the England licence conditions much of this is required for the animal register, so it's worth getting right.
- Owner's address and contact details
- An emergency contact, and a separate local contact who can collect the pet if needed
- The pet's name, breed, sex, age or date of birth, colour and markings
- Neutered or not, and microchip number
- Usual vet's name, practice and phone number
- Pet insurance provider and policy number
- Medical history and current conditions
- Behaviour: with other dogs, people, children, handling; any history of biting or escaping
- Exercise restrictions
- Dates of the most recent worming and flea treatment
- A recent photo
3. Vaccination record
Ask for a copy of the certificate, not just dates typed into a form, and record the expiry of each vaccination. Licensed dog boarding in England requires vaccination against parvovirus, distemper, infectious hepatitis and leptospirosis, with the primary course finished at least two weeks before the stay; kennel cough may also be required. Cats need feline panleukopenia and cat flu. Our vaccination policy guide covers what to require and how to enforce it.
4. Feeding and medication instructions
- Food brand and type, amount per meal, number of meals and times
- Whether the owner is bringing food
- Treats allowed or not
- Allergies and foods to avoid
- Each medication: name, dose, times, how it's given, and supply provided
- What to do if a dose is refused or missed
5. Veterinary treatment consent
If a pet becomes ill or is injured, you need to know you can act. The form should cover permission to take the pet to your vet or theirs, a spending limit before you call the owner, how to reach them, and who pays. Include what the owner wants to happen if they can't be contacted in an emergency.
6. Consents for sharing and group play
Licence conditions in England require written consent for several things, so collect them on a form rather than verbally:
- Pets from the same household sharing a kennel or pen
- Group play or daycare with other dogs
- For home boarders: mixing with dogs from other households and with resident dogs
- Walking off the lead, if you ever do it
- Being fed alongside other dogs
- Photos used on your social media
7. Terms and conditions, and waiver
This is where your cancellation policy, deposit terms, late collection charges, what happens if a pet isn't collected, and the limits of your liability live. Owners should sign or tick to accept it at booking, not at the door. Our article on why paper waivers cost you explains why signing online works better, and our cancellation policy guide has template wording for the cancellation section.
8. Collection authorisation
Who is allowed to collect the pet if it isn't the person who dropped it off. Names and phone numbers, and how you'll check identity. It sounds formal until the day an ex-partner turns up.
9. Incident report
A form for staff, not owners. Fill it in the same day for any injury, illness, fight, escape or medication error.
- Date, time and place
- Pets and staff involved
- What happened, in plain words
- Action taken, including any vet visit
- When and how the owner was told
- What will change to stop it happening again
Cattery booking forms
A cattery needs the same structure with a few changes. Feeding detail matters more: brand, flavour, texture, wet or dry, and whether the cat grazes or eats in one go. Ask whether cats from one home should share a pen or be kept apart. England's cattery conditions also expect consent forms to cover veterinary treatment, sharing or separating, toys and how much interaction the cat likes, and any items left with it.
Dog sitting and home visit forms
If you visit pets in their own home, add access details (key, alarm code, who else has a key), the house routine (bins, post, plants, lights), where food and supplies are kept, and the rules of the house.
Getting forms done before arrival
The best form is the one the owner completes at home the day they book. Send it with the booking confirmation, make returning clients confirm rather than re-type, and send one reminder a week before the stay. We cover the wording that works in how to get clients to submit everything before arrival.
How KennelBooker handles forms
In KennelBooker, the profile, vaccination and feeding information lives on the customer and pet records, which owners can view and update themselves in the booking portal. You build your own questionnaires for anything else, about the customer, the pet or the booking, and digital waivers are signed at registration or per booking type. Owners upload vaccination certificates and other documents to their account, and expired vaccinations are flagged at booking and at check-in. Run cards with contact details, feeding instructions and medical notes print in one batch at check-in. You can see how the pre-arrival flow works on our PawCheck page.
Frequently asked questions
What forms do I need for dog boarding?
At a minimum: a booking form, a client and pet profile, vaccination records, a veterinary treatment consent, your terms and waiver, and an incident report form. Licensed businesses in England also need consent forms for things like dogs sharing accommodation, plus the information for the animal register.
Is there a dog boarding form template I can use?
This article lists the fields each form should contain, which you can copy into a document or an online form. Have your waiver and terms checked by a solicitor or your insurer, because the wording that protects you depends on your services and where you are.
Do I need a separate cattery booking form?
The structure is the same, but a cattery form needs cat vaccinations (feline enteritis and cat flu), detailed feeding information, whether cats from the same home should share a pen, and preferences about handling and toys.
Can clients fill in boarding forms online?
Yes. Most booking systems let you send a questionnaire and waiver with the booking confirmation, so owners complete them before arrival. In KennelBooker, owners also upload vaccination certificates to their own account, and returning clients only need to check what's already there.