01
Pre-arrival baseline
Food routines, medication, elimination, mobility, handling tolerance, social preferences, sound sensitivity, prior boarding response, and known stress signs are documented.
TANDEM Cat® boarding framework
Read the stay as a transition.
The TANDEM Cat® Transitional Care Model organizes the boarding experience into observable phases without assuming that every cat follows a neat linear path. It keeps activation, appetite, environment, handling, settling, interruption, and return home in one frame.
Arrival baselineActivationOrientationStabilizationInterruption and recoveryRe-entry home
Boarding requests, availability, current rates, and care approval are managed by Cats in the City.
NonlinearCats can move forward, pause, or regress after a new demand.
Baseline firstChange only makes sense when the usual cat is described accurately.
Re-engagement after interruption can be more informative than a single calm moment.
Why nonlinear matters
A cat can look settled and still lose capacity after a new demand.
Boarding observations are often flattened into “doing well” or “not doing well.” The transitional model keeps the sequence visible. A cat may eat, then stop after medication. Another may hide, then emerge after the room quiets. A third may play and still need extra appetite support.
The relevant question is not whether every behavior is positive. It is how the cat changes, what preceded the change, and what helps recovery.
Guardian role
The baseline is a shared clinical resource.
The team can only recognize change accurately when the guardian provides enough detail about the cat before arrival.
Food
Describe normal eating precisely
Include foods, textures, timing, portion pattern, treats, appetite variability, feeding location, and what refusal looks like for this cat.
Body
Describe movement and elimination
Note mobility limits, litter preferences, stool/urine baseline, grooming, respiratory patterns, sleep positions, and pain-related changes.
Relationship
Describe consent and stress patterns
Explain preferred approach, touch limits, hiding behavior, medication response, carrier history, sound sensitivity, and reliable recovery cues.
Transition is not a problem to erase. It is a process to observe, support, and respond to before the cat loses too much capacity.
Care boundary: Portland Cat Boarding and Cats in the City provide boarding, observation, medication support, and guardian/veterinary coordination. Boarding does not replace diagnosis, emergency care, or treatment by a licensed veterinarian. Every medical boarding request is reviewed for fit and current stability.
Build the stay around a real baseline.
Use the boarding request to describe what normal looks like, what change looks like, and what has helped your cat recover in prior transitions.
Transition and appetite library
Follow the model into the first meals, first days, and homecoming.
The Phase 3 cluster turns the care model into guardian-facing decision pages.
Framework
Transitional Stress Anorexia
Why early food withdrawal is meaningful before visible collapse.
Open TSAArrival
The first 24 hours
How arrival, room mapping, first meals, litter, and behavior form a functional picture.
Plan day oneIntake
Appetite monitoring
Track amount, food, timing, behavior, context, and trajectory.
Open appetite guideHydration
Hydration monitoring
Connect water, wet food, urine, stool, vomiting, and medical context.
Open hydration guideReturn
Returning home
Support a quiet re-entry and watch the direction back toward baseline.
Plan homecomingSequence
Boarding stay timeline
See request, arrival, stabilization, daily care, change response, and pickup as one system.
Open timeline