A cat home from boarding is tired, hungry and smelling of somewhere else, which makes the first hour a poor moment for conclusions. Spread the inspection across the first days instead, in short calm checks folded into ordinary stroking, feeding and tray cleaning. You are looking for change from her own normal, and a written note of anything you find is worth more than a worried memory.
Coat, Skin, Weight and Face
Start with her coat and skin during a relaxed stroke. Part the fur along her back, neck and the base of her tail, looking for fleas, flea dirt, scabs, sore patches, lumps or areas she flinches away from, and notice whether her coat feels as glossy or as dry as it did before the stay. Move to weight next: feel her ribs and waist with the same pressure you would use at home, and weigh her if she tolerates the scales calmly, comparing the result with any weight recorded before boarding. Then look at her eyes, ears and nose together. Her eyes should be clear without discharge or squinting, her ears clean without a build-up of wax or a sour smell, and her nose free of crusting or persistent wetness. None of these checks requires equipment or restraint; done gently over a couple of days, they cover the surfaces where boarding strains, shared air and close contact with other cats would show themselves first.
Appetite, Water and Litter Over Several Meals
Judge her appetite over several meals, not the first hungry hour at home, when even a cat who ate poorly at the cattery may fall on food with relief. Note whether she finishes her usual portions across a full day and the next, whether she asks for food at her usual times, and whether her interest is rising, steady or fading. Watch her water drinking alongside it: bowls emptied at her normal rate are reassuring, while drinking far more or far less than her baseline deserves noting. Follow her litter use in the same spirit, checking that she is passing urine and stools, that amounts look usual, and that nothing is strained, bloody or dramatically changed in consistency. A cat whose eating, drinking and litter habits all return to her pattern over the first days has given you solid evidence that the stay cost her nothing but sleep.
Acting on Anything That Is Off
Photographs help where findings might change. A clear photo of a sore patch, a bald area or anything unusual in her coat, taken when you first notice it and again two days later, shows the vet whether the area is spreading, healing or unchanged, and it gives the cattery something precise to respond to rather than a general worry. Store the photos with the dates they were taken, alongside your written notes.
If something is genuinely off, act on both ends of the stay. Contact the vet for advice about her, describing what you found and when the stay happened, and let the vet decide whether she needs to be seen. Report the same finding back to the cattery promptly and factually, because a good cattery wants early warning: a skin change or an appetite problem noticed across several returning cats can reveal something in the shared environment that no single owner could spot. Keep your note of dates, meals and findings until the matter resolves, and add the outcome to her records so a future stay starts with a fuller history. If findings need following up, KinsLe helps you present them clearly, because Pet Passport holds her health history as a single packet rather than scattered messages.