We Tried to Automate Time To Pet Invoices Into Xero. Here’s Why It’s Nearly Impossible. Chintan Prajapati March 27, 2026 11 min read IntroductionA Melbourne-based dog walking business asked us to sync invoices from Time To Pet into Xero. Simple ask. Should be a one-hour Zapier setup.It wasn’t.Time To Pet has no public API, no webhooks, and no invoice triggers in Zapier.Their only accounting connection is QuickBooks, which doesn’t even support Australian GST properly.We built a working proof of concept. Then we hit a wall. This is what happened.The Brief: Simple on PaperA dog walking business in Melbourne came to us with what sounded like a simple job.They run their operations on Time To Pet (TTP) and do their books in Xero.What they wanted was pretty straightforward: When an invoice is created in Time To Pet, it automatically creates a matching draft invoice in Xero.Pretty standard stuff for an accounting integration: Invoice numbers need to match between the two systems. All line items should sync (description, quantity, unit price) GST has to map correctly at 10% for Australia Contacts should be found in Xero or created automatically. No duplicate invoices Everything lands in Xero as DRAFT, never auto-approved We’ve done this kind of work dozens of times. Xero is our bread and butter. We’re an Xero-certified team.It should have been easy.Time To Pet homepage. Great product for scheduling and client management. Source: timetopet.comWe Built a Working Zapier POC in One DayBefore we even got on a call with the client, we built a complete proof of concept. A 4-step Zapier automation, tested end-to-end, is working perfectly.This is what the Zap looked like:Step 1: Webhook CatchA Zapier webhook receives the TTP invoice data via POST. Invoice number, client name, email, dates, line items, quantities, unit prices, total, currency.Step 2: Xero SearchBefore creating anything, the Zap searches Xero for an existing invoice with that same number. First line of duplicate defence.Step 3: Duplicate FilterIf the invoice already exists, the Zap stops. This catches retries, re-runs, and accidental double-fires.Step 4: Create Draft Invoice in XeroIf the invoice is new, the Zap creates a Draft ACCREC invoice in Xero with these mappings:FieldValueTypeACCREC (Accounts Receivable)StatusDRAFT (hardcoded, never changes)Invoice NumberMatches TTP invoice numberContact NameFrom TTP client nameContact EmailFrom TTP client emailDateTTP invoice dateDue DateTTP due dateCurrencyAUDLine Item DescriptionFrom TTP line itemsLine Item QuantityFrom TTP quantityLine Item Unit AmountFrom TTP unit priceAccount Code200 (Standard Sales – Australia)Tax TypeOUTPUT2 (GST on Income – 10%)Line Amount TypeEXCLUSIVE (GST calculated on top)Test results: Invoice INV-2001 created in Xero as DRAFT, all fields correct Contact auto-created (name and email matched) Line items synced: Dog Walking sessions, Qty 5, Unit $30, all good. GST applied correctly (OUTPUT2, EXCLUSIVE) Duplicate prevention working: second run of the same invoice got blocked at Step 3We were feeling pretty good about this. The Zap was published. The mapping was solid.And then we got access to a live Time To Pet account.The Brick Wall: Time To Pet Has No Invoice TriggerWe logged into the live TTP account. Opened Settings. Went to Integrations.This is what we found: Backup Calendar Integration QuickBooks Texting ZapierFive options. That’s the full list.There’s no Webhooks section anywhere.You can’t register a custom webhook URL for any event, invoice or otherwise. There’s no API documentation, no developer portal, no endpoints, no tokens. Nothing.The Zapier tab just lets you connect your Zapier account. You can’t register a custom trigger URL or configure what data gets sent.Time To Pet’s official Zapier integration documentation. Notice: only client and staff triggers listed. Source: help.timetopet.comIn most cases, integrations rely on structured API workflows like thisThe 5 Triggers That Don’t HelpTime To Pet launched its Zapier integration in July 2023. They announced it with enthusiasm on their blog.But look at what you actually get. Five triggers total:1. New Client CreatedFires when a client is added2. Client Created or UpdatedFires on client profile changes3. New Prospect CreatedFires when someone fills the new client form4. New Staff Member CreatedFires when staff is added5. Staff Member Created or UpdatedFires on staff profile changesMany businesses face similar automation gaps when relying only on third-party tools.Understanding broader accounting automation challenges can help you plan better long-term integration strategies.Go ahead, read that list again.Every single trigger is about clients or staff. It’s all contact management. No “Invoice Created” trigger. No “Payment Received” trigger. No “Quote Sent” trigger. Nothing financial at all.You can’t get invoice numbers, line items, amounts, or dates out of Time To Pet through Zapier. Full stop.Our POC worked perfectly on simulated data. But there’s no way to fire it from a real TTP event. The webhook has nothing to catch.All 5 Time To Pet triggers on Zapier. Every single one is about clients or staff. Zero invoice triggers. Source: zapier.comTime To Pet triggers next to Xero triggers on the same Zapier page. Xero has rich financial actions (Create Sales Invoice, etc.), but TTP has no financial triggers to feed them. Source: zapier.com“They’re Actively Developing It” – For Two Years NowOn their help page, Time To Pet says: “We are in active development of new triggers.”They launched Zapier in July 2023. It’s now March 2025. Still the same five triggers. Still zero financial data.They invite users to email support@timetopet.com with feature requests. We did. No timeline was given.Time To Pet’s own help page acknowledges they’re open to new trigger requests. But two years later, no invoice triggers have been added. Source: help.timetopet.comThe QuickBooks Trap“But Time To Pet integrates with QuickBooks!”Yes. It does. It’s their only accounting integration.For Australian businesses, that’s a problem.The QuickBooks integration is US-focused and doesn’t properly handle Australian GST at 10%. QuickBooks has a minority market share in Australia, where Xero dominates with 80%+ of small businesses. And running a QuickBooks-to-Xero bridge means double-hopping through two accounting platforms, which adds cost and breaks easily.The funny part? Time To Pet’s own blog article, “The Best Accounting Software For Your Pet Care Business“, actually recommends Xero as a great option for pet care businesses.They just don’t integrate with it.Time To Pet’s invoicing page. Scroll to the bottom: QuickBooks is the only accounting integration. No Xero. No MYOB. No alternatives. Source: timetopet.com/invoicingTime To Pet’s own Academy article recommends Xero as “popular accounting software suitable for small and medium-sized pet care businesses.” But they don’t integrate with it. QuickBooks gets the integration mention. Xero gets a generic paragraph. Source: timetopet.com/academyEvery Workaround We InvestigatedWe don’t give up easily. We tried everything we could think of:ApproachResultWhyTTP Native Zapier Invoice TriggerDoes not existOnly 5 triggers, all client/staffCustom Webhook Registration in TTPNot availableNo webhook section in settingsTTP to QuickBooks to Xero BridgeNot viableQuickBooks integration is US-only. AU GST not supportedTTP Email Parsing to XeroFragileOnly works if Auto Charging is on. Breaks if TTP changes email templateScreen Scraping the TTP DashboardRiskyAgainst ToS. Fragile. Not scalableWait for TTP to Add Invoice TriggersNo timelineFeature request submitted. “Actively developing.” Two years and countingFive dead ends. One “maybe” that’s too fragile for production.What We Actually Built: A Chrome ExtensionIf TTP won’t give us the data through an API, we’ll go to where the data actually lives: the browser.We recommended and built a lightweight Chrome Extension as a POC. The idea is simple. The business owner installs the extension once in Chrome. They open any invoice page in Time To Pet, just like they normally would The extension reads the invoice data directly from the page (invoice number, client details, line items, amounts, GST) They click one button. The extension pushes the data to the Xero API and creates a Draft ACCREC invoiceNo Zapier subscription needed. No TTP API dependency. No fragile email parsing. No double-hop through QuickBooks.The business owner’s daily effort: open the invoice in TTP, click one button.We built duplicate prevention into it, along with contact matching against existing Xero contacts, GST mapping (OUTPUT2, EXCLUSIVE, AUD), and invoice number matching so the TTP number always equals the Xero number. Draft status is hardcoded, so nothing ever auto-approves.It’s not the clean automation we originally wanted to build. But it works, and it works today.The Competitors That Get It RightTime To Pet isn’t the only game in town. And its competitors prove that building an Xero integration is very much doable.Pet Manager (Australia) They have a native Xero integration with a full accounting dashboard. Customers, invoices, payments, overpayments, and credit notes all flow directly into Xero.Real-time reconciliation. They’re listed on the Xero App Store AU with a 5-star rating.Pet Manager on the Xero App Store Australia. 5.0 stars, native integration with invoices, payments, contacts, and credit notes, all synced. This is what proper integration looks like. Source: apps.xero.comPetboost (Australian-built) Xero bank feeds integration. AUD pricing with no currency conversion. ABN on invoices out of the box.Local support in the Australian timezone. Built specifically for dog grooming, daycare, walking, training, and boarding businesses.PetBooqz Integrates with both Xero and MYOB. Gives Australian businesses a choice of accounting platforms.These platforms address the same market. They handle the same data. They built Xero integrations because their Australian customers need it. Time To Pet chose not to.My Take: Time To Pet Is a Walled GardenI’ve spent 20+ years building accounting integrations. I’ve worked with restrictive platforms before. But Time To Pet is something else.What gets me is this: There’s no API at all. Not even read-only. Not just for invoices. Most modern SaaS platforms, even small ones, expose at least some basic API endpoints. TTP has zero. The Zapier integration feels like it’s there for the features page. Five triggers in two years, all contact management, no financial data. That’s not an integration strategy. That’s a checkbox. QuickBooks-only is a regional blind spot. TTP serves businesses globally. Australia and New Zealand run on Xero. Ignoring that isn’t a technical limitation. It’s a product decision. The data belongs to the business. When a pet care company creates an invoice in TTP, that’s their financial data. They should be able to get it out and put it where they need it. TTP makes that unreasonably hard.Look, I’m not saying Time To Pet is bad software. For scheduling and client management, it’s well-built. The mobile app is solid. 4,000+ businesses trust it for good reason. But if you’re an Australian business running on Xero, you’re walking into a dead end. You won’t see it coming until you try to connect the two systems. And by then you’re already committed.Situations like this highlight why building or extending accounting systems is rarely straightforward.From API limitations to data consistency, there are multiple challenges businesses need to consider.If You’re Stuck in This SituationYou’re not alone. We’ve had multiple Australian pet care businesses contact us with this exact problem.These are your options, roughly in order of how well they solve the problem:Option 1: Switch to a Xero-Native PlatformIf you’re early enough in your TTP journey, consider Pet Manager or Petboost.Both have native Xero integration. Both are built for the Australian market. Migration hurts, but it solves the problem permanently.Option 2: Custom Integration (Chrome Extension or Middleware)If you’re committed to TTP and can’t switch, a custom bridge can be built.It’s not cheap, but it’s a one-time cost with no recurring platform fees. This is what we built for our client. When native integrations are not available, custom integration solutions like middleware or browser-based tools can bridge the gap and ensure reliable data flow between systems.Option 3: Manual Double EntryThis is what most businesses default to. Open TTP. Open Xero.Type the same invoice twice. It works. It’s painful. It’s error-prone. And it’s what TTP’s closed ecosystem forces you into.What Time Should You PetThis isn’t a hard problem to solve. A few things would fix it: Open a read-only API for invoices and payments. Even basic REST endpoints will unlock an entire ecosystem of integrations. Add invoice and payment triggers to Zapier. The infrastructure is already there. The Zapier integration exists. Just add the triggers that businesses actually need. Build a native Xero integration. Pet Manager did it. Petboost did it. PetBooqz did it. It’s clearly possible. Recognize the problem publicly. A roadmap. A timeline. Something. “Actively developing” with no date isn’t a commitment. It’s a holding pattern.Until then, every non-US pet business using Time To Pet and Xero is stuck manually copying invoices between two screens.Choosing software that supports strong integrations from the start can save significant time and effort later.Evaluating integration capabilities should always be part of your decision-making process.About UsSatva Solutions is an accounting integrations and FinTech development agency.We’re Xero-certified (Advisor + Developer) with 20+ years of experience building bridges between operations platforms and accounting software.If your pet care business is stuck between Time To Pet and Xero, or is dealing with any other integration gap, get in touch. We’ve solved this before, and we can solve it for you.Have you run into this same problem? Drop us a line. We’re collecting stories from businesses that need TTP to open up, and yours adds to the case.FAQWhy doesn’t Time To Pet integrate directly with Xero?Time To Pet currently does not offer a public API or native integration with Xero. This makes direct syncing of invoices and financial data challenging without custom development or third-party workarounds.How can I automatically sync invoices from Time To Pet to Xero?To automate invoice syncing, businesses typically need a custom integration solution that extracts data from Time To Pet and pushes it into Xero using Xero’s API. Off-the-shelf tools like Zapier usually don’t support this use case.What are the limitations of using Zapier for Time To Pet and Xero integration?Zapier cannot be used effectively because Time To Pet lacks triggers like webhooks or invoice events. This means there’s no reliable way to automate workflows between the two platforms using no-code tools.Is there any workaround to connect Time To Pet with Xero? Yes, possible workarounds include: Custom API-based integration Middleware solutions Manual CSV exports and imports (less efficient)However, the most reliable approach is a tailored integration built for your workflow.How much does it cost to build a custom Time To Pet–Xero integration?The cost depends on complexity, data flow requirements, and automation level. A basic sync setup may be relatively affordable, while advanced automation with error handling and real-time updates requires more investment.Can I sync GST-compliant invoices from Time To Pet to Xero?Yes, but it requires careful mapping of tax rules during integration. Since Time To Pet doesn’t natively support Xero-specific tax structures, a custom solution is needed to ensure GST compliance.