diff --git a/utils/watchcat/Makefile b/utils/watchcat/Makefile
index ed5d8084903e93..88c7d4350322f8 100644
--- a/utils/watchcat/Makefile
+++ b/utils/watchcat/Makefile
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk
 
 PKG_NAME:=watchcat
 PKG_VERSION:=1
-PKG_RELEASE:=25
+PKG_RELEASE:=26
 
 PKG_MAINTAINER:=Daniel F. Dickinson <dfdpublic@wildtechgarden.ca>, Dharmik Parmar <dharmikparmar2004@yahoo.com>
 PKG_LICENSE:=GPL-2.0
diff --git a/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.config b/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.config
index 0513d411994264..ef7ad8fb63b793 100644
--- a/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.config
+++ b/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.config
@@ -6,3 +6,5 @@ config watchcat
 	# For restart_iface and run_script, start a fresh failure window after
 	# each recovery action finishes before allowing another restart.
 	# option reset_failure_timer '1'
+	# 'enabled' allows disabling individual watchcat instances without removing them, default 1
+	# option enabled '1'
diff --git a/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.init b/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.init
index 75a8f012457796..2364228eb31519 100644
--- a/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.init
+++ b/utils/watchcat/files/watchcat.init
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ time_to_seconds() {
 
 config_watchcat() {
 	# Read config
+	config_get_bool enabled "$1" enabled 1
+	[ "$enabled" -eq 1 ] || return 0
+
 	config_get period "$1" period "120"
 	config_get mode "$1" mode "ping_reboot"
 	config_get pinghosts "$1" pinghosts "8.8.8.8"