What to record about your pet: an electronic passport without the chaos

A paper vet passport, photos of lab results on your phone, notes about food in a messenger, receipts in a drawer. When the vet asks «When was the last vaccination?» or «What was the treatment last time?», finding the answer quickly is almost impossible. Here's a short list of what's worth recording, and why.

The basics

• Name, species, breed, sex, date of birth (or an estimate).
• Microchip number — you'll need it if your pet gets lost, and for travel abroad.
• Spaying or neutering and its date.
• Special notes: allergies, chronic conditions, things your pet reacts badly to.

Health

• Vaccinations: vaccine, date, batch number (the sticker in the passport), when the next one is due.
• Treatments against ticks, fleas and worms — with the date and product.
• Vet visits: reason, diagnosis, prescriptions.
• Medications: what, which dose, for how long. «Given» check marks help avoid a double dose when several people look after the pet.
• Tests and exams: photos or PDFs of the results.

Weight

Weight is a simple health indicator. Sudden loss or gain is a reason to see a vet, and most medication doses are based on weight. Weigh adult pets once a month, puppies and kittens once a week.

Food and care

• Which food and how much, and any reactions.
• Grooming, nail trims, teeth and ear cleaning.

Documents and expenses

A scan of the vet passport, purchase contract, pedigree, insurance. Seeing food and treatment expenses by month helps you plan your budget.

Why in one place

With everything together, you can show the vet the full medical history in seconds. If your pet moves to a new owner, you hand over the whole history instead of a pile of papers.

micamic is a free service for exactly this: an electronic passport, vaccinations and treatments with reminders, weight, food, documents, expenses and a PDF medical record for the vet. You can share access with your family, and there's a QR tag for walks in case your pet gets lost.