Cattery staff handle dozens of cats they did not raise, in a place that smells of other cats, often while cleaning, feeding or giving medication on a schedule. What keeps those staff safe, and keeps your cat calm, is not a verbal warning at drop-off that the evening shift never hears. It is a written handling brief, specific to her, that travels from you to every person who opens her pen, backed by a clear card fixed to the pen door.
Put Her Limits in Writing, in Full
The limits go to the cattery in writing, covering her handling limits, her bite or scratch history, and what she must never have done to her. Handling limits means the specifics: whether she may be picked up at all, whether she tolerates being stroked and for how long, which areas she guards, and how she signals that she has had enough, such as a flicking tail, flattened ears or a low growl that staff should treat as a final warning rather than a challenge. A cat whose signals are written down gets respected earlier, before she feels forced to escalate.
History must be honest and complete. State any bite or scratch history plainly, including what triggered it, whether it broke skin and how she behaves afterwards, because staff plan their approach around that knowledge and under-reporting protects nobody. Then list what she must never have done to her in unambiguous terms: never scruffed, never chased around the pen, never pulled from under bedding, or whatever her particular never list contains. Concrete prohibitions beat general requests to be gentle, because a busy carer can follow a prohibition exactly.
Make the Notes Survive Every Shift Change
Written notes fail when they sit in an office file. Ask explicitly for the notes to be passed shift to shift, so the person feeding her on Sunday morning has read the same brief as the person who admitted her on Friday. A short handover summary, attached to her daily record, works better than a long document nobody reopens, so provide both: the full written brief for reference and a few-line summary covering her limits, her warning signals and her never list for quick reading at the pen.
Ask also for a handling warning on the pen itself. A clear card on her pen, visible before the door opens, is the last line of defence for a relief carer, a new starter or anyone covering a shift at short notice. The warning should be factual and brief, of the kind that prompts care rather than alarm, and it should match the brief exactly so no version of her handling rules contradicts another. Agree the wording with the cattery so the card says what staff need and nothing they do not.
Confirm Terms in Writing and Hand Over Deliberately
Because a cattery stay is a paid service, get the provider's agreed terms confirmed in writing alongside her handling brief: the price and what it covers, collection arrangements, how any injury, illness or incident is reported to you, and what happens if she needs vet care during the stay. Written terms and written handling notes belong in the same handover folder, agreed while everyone is calm, rather than reconstructed after an incident.
Hand over in person where you can, talk the named manager through her brief once while she settles, and confirm who will own her notes during the stay. For owners who prefer a digital handover as well, KinsLe provides her Care Pass, sharing her handling brief with one particular manager under access that stays scoped to the stay and expires at collection.