Why Fretso
Most pet software is a diary with a bill stapled to it
That works until you add retail, then boarding, then a vet room, and suddenly nothing agrees with anything. Fretso has real accounting and stock underneath, which is why it holds together when the business gets complicated.
The problem
Six things owners tell us on the first call
They're all the same problem wearing different clothes: nothing in the business shares a record with anything else.
01
Three systems, three different answers
The booking app says one thing, the till says another, the stock sheet hasn't been touched since March. Fretso holds one version and everything writes to it.
02
Two days rebuilding month-end
Takings by service, commission per groomer, tax ready to file. They're reports you open, not a weekend lost to a shoebox of receipts.
03
The phone never stops
When's the jab due, can I get in Saturday, can I get the same food, what do I owe you. All four are on their phone now, so your desk can serve the person actually standing there.
04
Money left on the table every month
Boosters due, grooms overdue, packages about to expire. Set the rule once and the message goes out whether or not you had time to think about it.
05
It only runs properly when your best person is in
Double-booked runs, lapsed boosters, two people off the same Saturday. The software refuses all three, so a quiet Sunday gets the same guardrails as a Monday with you in the building.
06
Opening a second shop means starting again
It's a settings change, not a migration. Customers, pets and prepaid balances carry across, and you get one login that shows both.
Comparison
Booking app vs. Fretso
Being straight with you: if a diary is genuinely all you need, buy a diary, it's cheaper. This is about what happens when you need more than that.
| Typical booking app | Fretso | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A booking diary with invoicing bolted on | Real accounting, stock, purchasing and HR underneath |
| The pet | A different record per service, joined up by whoever remembers | One file the groomer, the vet and boarding all write to |
| Tax | Exported to something else at month end and hoped for | Applied correctly the moment the invoice is raised |
| Stock | Counted by hand, or living in a second system | Drops as you sell and as the vet dispenses, and warns you |
| Second shop | A second system, and a spreadsheet to add them up | Same login. Managers see theirs, you see all of it |
| Mistakes | Training, and hoping the good manager is on shift | Double-bookings and lapsed boosters refused by the software |
| Your customers | Ringing the desk to ask when the next jab is due | A page on their phone with the card, the diary and the bill |
| Getting out | Their format, their timetable, export on request | Open-source core. Your data, exportable whenever you want |
The upshot
What that gets you
01
The phone rings and you already know
Type the name they said, or the number they're calling from, and that animal's whole history is on one screen — last visit, what you did, whether his jabs are current, whether he's in your kennels right now, and whether anything's owed. No “can I call you back?”
02
One file per pet, not four
Your groomer can see the vet flagged a skin condition last month. Your kennel staff can see he's on twice-daily meds. Same file, same pet, no phone call between rooms.
03
The software says no, so your staff don't have to
Nobody can double-book the same groomer. Nobody can put two dogs in one run on the same night. Not a warning somebody clicks past — the database physically refuses. Your Sunday cover gets the same guardrails as your best manager.
04
Staff see their job, not your business
A groomer opens Fretso and sees today's dogs and what they've earned. No takings, no other people's wages, no clinical notes they've no business reading. And the figures don't just get hidden — they never reach that browser.
05
It works on the phone in your hand
Every screen is built for a phone before a desktop. Photos come straight from the camera. Buttons are big enough to hit with a lead in your other hand. Tables turn into cards instead of shrinking into nothing.
06
An invoice you could show an auditor
Numbers with no gaps. Once it's issued nobody can quietly edit it — corrections are a credit note, mistakes are a void with a reason attached. And what it said is what it says: your details are copied onto it at the moment you issue.
Access
Five roles, and what each person sees
- Front desk
- Takes the booking, checks them in, answers the phone with the whole file open, raises the invoice, takes the payment.
- Groomer
- Their own board, their own dogs, their own commission. Not your takings.
- Boarding staff
- Runs, check-ins, feeds, meds, the daily log, belongings back at collection.
- Vet
- Consult notes, vaccinations, prescriptions, and the fee for the visit.
- Manager
- The roster, leave approvals, the money, and the things that are already late.
- Owner
- All of it. Your business details, your team, your prices, every number.
- Read-only
- Can look, cannot change. For the accountant, or the person covering a shift.
Next step
Come and see it on your own shop
Twenty minutes on the real software, walked through the way you actually work. No slide deck, and nobody chases you afterwards.