Daycare
Run daily daycare sessions with capacity management, groups, and report cards.
How daycare sessions work
Each daycare day is its own session. A session has a date, a group (optional), and a capacity limit. Patients check in at the start of the day and check out at the end. Multiple sessions can run on the same day (e.g. a morning group and an afternoon group).
Daycare is billed per session — not per night. Rates are set in Settings → Daycare → Rates and applied automatically at checkout.
Booking a session
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Go to Daycare → + New session
Click Daycare in the sidebar. The session grid shows today's sessions and how many spots remain in each group. Click + Book on the session you want to add a patient to.
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Select the patient
Search for the patient. Daycare is available to all active patients. If the group is at capacity, you can add the patient to a waitlist — they'll receive an automated notification if a spot opens.
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Save
Click Book session. The patient appears on that day's roster. An SMS confirmation is sent to the owner if your clinic has SMS enabled.
Check-in and check-out
At the start of the day, open the session from Daycare → Today and check in each patient as they arrive. At the end of the day, check out each patient. Check-out triggers invoice generation for the session charge.
Capacity management
Daycare capacity is set per session group in Settings → Daycare → Groups. When a group hits capacity, new bookings go to the waitlist. When a patient cancels, the first person on the waitlist receives an automated SMS and portal notification offering them the spot.
Report cards
Daycare report cards work the same as boarding report cards. From any active session, click + Report card to send a mid-day or end-of-day update to the owner. Include a note, demeanor tags, and a photo or video. Report cards appear in the owner portal and can be shared via a public share link.
| Daycare vs Boarding | Daycare | Boarding |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Single day | Multi-night |
| Rate type | Per session / per day | Per night |
| Capacity model | Group-based, per-session cap | Kennel-based, one pet per kennel |
| Report cards | Yes | Yes |
| Waitlist | Yes | No (by availability) |
FAQ
Yes. Daycare and boarding are separate modules — a patient can have an active boarding stay and also be enrolled in a daycare session (e.g. on a day they're picked up early). Each is billed separately.
Go to Settings → Daycare → Groups. Create as many groups as you need (e.g. Small dogs, Large dogs, Puppies). Set a capacity for each. Groups appear in the session booking form and on the session grid.
Recurring daycare bookings can be created from the session calendar. Select a patient and choose a repeat pattern (every Monday, every weekday, etc.). Each instance shows up as a separate session and can be cancelled individually if needed.
When a booked patient cancels, Chartling sends an automated SMS (and/or email) to the first person on the waitlist offering them the spot. They have a configurable window (default 30 minutes) to confirm. If they don't respond, the offer goes to the next person on the list.