Scheduling Appointments for Pets

Modified on Wed, 25 Feb at 8:01 AM

MyTime allows pet merchants to add pets to client accounts, and you will also have the option to schedule appointments for pets. In this article, we will provide step-by-step instructions on how to book appointments for pets.

Things to know:

The ability to schedule appointments for pets is controlled by the "Accessing Appointments" access control permission.
If a client doesn't have a pet on their profile, you can add pet(s) directly from the appointment modal
For clients with only one pet, the pet is automatically added to the appointment when scheduling it
When clients are merged and only one pet remains on the profile, booking an appointment will automatically add that pet in the appointment modal. Additionally, when pets are merged, leaving only one pet profile, that pet is added by default when making an appointment.
For clients with two pets, after one pet is deleted, booking an appointment will default to the remaining pet
The "Must Select A Pet For Appointment" setting controls whether selecting a pet is mandatory when booking an appointment in-store. Once this setting is enabled, the following will occur:
Staff members will not be able to schedule an appointment without selecting a pet.
If a staff member attempts to schedule an appointment without selecting a pet, an error message will appear: "Please select a Pet for this appointment."
Appointments will be grouped once they are scheduled using the + Another Pet option in the in-store appointment modal or when an appointment is booked online for multiple pets. These appointments are automatically combined into a single POS ticket.
You can manage grouped appointments as follows:
- Click Remove to delete a specific appointment from the ticket without affecting the others.
- Click Remove All to remove all appointments from the ticket at once.
If some services require a deposit and others do not:
- Services that do not require a deposit will display a prepaid deposit amount of $0.
- Services that require a deposit will display the applicable deposit amount.

When scheduling multiple appointments for different pets, you can switch between them by selecting the tabs at the top of the appointment modal, labeled with each pet’s name.
When updating the status of an appointment, you will be prompted to choose whether to update only the current appointment or all related appointments.
Appointments cannot be canceled in bulk. To cancel an appointment, select the corresponding pet tab and cancel the appointment individually.
Changes made under one pet’s tab are automatically saved when switching to another tab.
- Save: Saves all changes made across every tab (for each pet).
- Discard Changes: Discards all changes made across every tab.

The Enable Single Ticket for Group Bookings hidden setting is enabled by default. The setting does not apply to previously created tickets, so those tickets remain unchanged, which can result in group appointments appearing on separate or combined tickets depending on when each ticket was created.
General Ticket Management:
- Selecting Create Ticket from the appointment modal automatically creates a single POS ticket that includes all appointments in the group.
- Clicking “Remove” on an individual appointment will remove only that specific appointment from the ticket.
- Clicking “Remove All” will remove all appointments from the ticket at once.
Resource selection for multi-pet appointments follows specific rules to ensure accuracy and a smooth booking experience:
By default, when selecting a service for the first pet, the system automatically assigns the same resource for that service to the next pet, as long as the resource remains available and eligible.
If a staff member manually changes the resource or service for the second pet—making the previously selected resource ineligible—the system updates the Resource field to display an appropriate alternative.
When resources are limited to one booking per time slot, the resource assigned to the first pet will not appear as an option for the second pet. In this case, the system automatically assigns another available resource.
You can add appointment notes. These notes can include observations about the pet's behavior, preferences, health concerns, or any special needs they may have so that the staff member can provide the best care. This is optional.
Default Start Time for New Appointments: When you click the + New Appointment button, the appointment's start time will automatically default to the next available time slot based on your account’s time picker interval. Example: If you create an appointment at 6:10 PM and your time picker is set to 15-minute intervals, the default start time will be 6:15 PM.
A ticket is created only when you click the "Create Ticket" button in the appointment modal or check out the appointment through the POS.
Once the date of birth field is completed for a pet, the age will be automatically displayed on both the pet profile and the appointment modal. The age will be represented as follows:
Less than 1 Month Old: For pets under one month of age, their age will be displayed as "< 1 month old."
Exactly 1 Month Old: For pets that are exactly one month old, their age will be shown as "1 month old."
Between 1 Month and 1 Year Old: For pets older than one month but younger than one year, their age will be displayed as "X months old," where X represents the number of months.
Exactly 1 Year Old: For pets that are exactly one year old, their age will be indicated as "1 year old."
Older than 1 Year: For pets older than one year, their age will be displayed in years and months (e.g., "1 year and 2 months old").
A pet's profile photo can be displayed in hover mode on the schedule once added. This feature is controlled by a hidden setting that only the MyTime team can enable. To request activation, please contact our support team at support@mytime.com.
If you schedule multiple appointments for the same pet at the same time, a message will appear in the appointment modal indicating a scheduling conflict: “{Pet's name} is already booked at this time.” This is just an alert and will not prevent you from saving the appointment.
For multi-day appointments involving multiple pets, when you change the date or time of an appointment, a confirmation prompt will appear. You will be asked to choose between two options:
Update this appointment only: Applies changes only to the specific instance you are editing.
Update all appointments: Syncs the new date and time across the entire group
Clients who book appointments for their pets—whether in-store or online—will receive a notification listing all services booked:
Booked in-store: The Booked by Business notification is sent.
Booked online: The Booked by Client notification is sent.

Contents

Scheduling an Appointment for a Single Pet
Scheduling an Appointment for Multiple Pets
Viewing Appointment Groups

Scheduling an Appointment for a Single Pet

Navigate to the Schedule
Filter by the desired location
Click on the "New Appointment" button below the calendar on the left-hand side of the schedule, or on a specific time slot directly in the schedule
The appointment modal will appear
Add the client you are booking the appointment for. If the client is new, click on the "Add Client" button and enter the personal information for the client
For clients with one pet, the pet's name is automatically selected. If a client has more than one pet, you must select the desired pet from the dropdown menu. You can also add a new pet to the client's profile by clicking on the "Add New Pet" icon
Select a date and time for the appointment
You can configure the appointment to be recurring by clicking on the "Recurring" button
Select a staff member
Select a service. To add multiple services to the appointment, you can click on the "Add a Service" button
Click the "Save" button located at the bottom of the modal
Once saved, the appointment can be viewed on the schedule
To edit the appointment, simply click on the appointment on the schedule. The appointment modal will open, and you can go ahead and make the necessary changes.

Scheduling an Appointment for Multiple Pets

On the appointment modal, click the "+Another Pet" hyperlink
The appointment details for the additional pet(s) will appear below. You can choose to schedule the appointments for the additional pet(s) concurrently (at the same time) or sequentially (after the first pet's appointment).
If the client does not have multiple pets on the account, you can click the "Add New Pet" button to add another pet to the appointment
Once you have entered the required fields, select "Save"

By following the steps provided in this article, you will be able to book appointments for a single pet and multiple pets.

Viewing Appointment Groups

Navigate to the schedule and locate and open one of the appointments scheduled
The appointment modal will display the appointment tabs at the top labeled with the names of each pet
When updating the status of the appointment, a message will appear asking if you would like to update the current appointment or all grouped appointments
If you select to update all appointments, the updated status will be reflected across all related appointments
- Rex
- Sam