Check-in is the worst possible moment to discover a missing document. A cattery is protecting every cat in the building, including yours, so its paperwork requests are predictable, and the owners who sail through reception are simply the ones who treated the proof pack as a job for the week before, not the morning of.
The Proof Set Catteries Ask For
Expect to show four things, and have all four ready as one set: in-date core vaccination proof, microchip details, vet and emergency contacts, and current flea and worming prevention evidence. Vaccination proof means the record showing her core vaccinations are in date on the day of the stay, not merely that she was vaccinated once as a kitten. Microchip details mean the chip number written down and the registry contact details attached to it checked, so the cattery is not copying fifteen digits off a squirming cat in a carrier.
Vet and emergency contacts means your own vet's name and number plus an emergency contact who can actually be reached during the stay and can authorise decisions if you cannot. Prevention evidence means the record or packaging showing her flea and worming prevention is current, because a cattery housing cats in shared airspace cannot take a verbal assurance on parasites. If she takes any ongoing medication, it travels in its original labelled packaging with written instructions, as an addition to the proof set rather than a substitute for any part of it.
Start About a Week Ahead
Begin about a week ahead, and use that week as working time rather than a countdown. About a week ahead is early enough to book a booster appointment if the vaccination record turns out to have lapsed, to ring the registry if the chip details carry an old phone number, and to replace a prevention record that exists only as a memory. Discovered the night before, each of those is a crisis; discovered about a week ahead, each is a phone call.
In that same week, confirm the practical terms directly with the cattery. Ask whether they need originals or accept copies or photos of the vaccination record, since practices differ and the answer decides what you pack. Get the provider's agreed terms confirmed in writing: the booked dates, the price, feeding and medication arrangements, and what happens if you are delayed returning. Written terms protect both sides if anything is disputed later, and a reputable cattery will expect the request rather than resent it.
The Handover Itself
Pack your own copies of everything you hand over, and keep one complete set at home, so a lost folder never means a lost record. Walk the cattery through the pack at check-in instead of just surrendering it: point out the emergency contact, flag anything in her routine that a stranger would not guess, and make sure the person receiving her knows where each document sits. A calm, documented handover also settles the cat, because the humans around her carrier are unhurried and in agreement.
Photograph the completed pack before you leave home, so a copy can be sent to the cattery within minutes if the folder is mislaid in transit. On collection, ask what was used, what was refused and how she ate and settled, and file those notes with the pack while they are fresh; they make the next stay's preparation shorter and the next cattery's check-in easier. A separate handover through Care Pass in KinsLe can grant one particular carer access limited to the days of the stay, covering only the details that carer needs.