The 2pm tablet nobody signed for
Three dogs in block B are on medication this week. One has a thyroid tablet morning and evening, one has eye drops three times a day, and a senior Labrador has a joint supplement and a painkiller with food. In the cattery, a diabetic cat has insulin at set times, which only two of your staff are trained to give.
The paper chart for the Labrador has a tick at breakfast and nothing at lunch. The member of staff who did lunch thinks she gave it. The one who did the afternoon round assumed lunch was done. Nobody knows for certain, the bottle does not help, and the owner is on a beach in Portugal.
Why paper charts fail across shifts
Kennels run on shifts, and medication runs on the clock. A chart on a clipboard relies on everyone remembering to look at it, find the right line and sign it.
- Charts are handwritten from the owner's instructions at drop-off, which is itself a copy of what the vet wrote.
- There is no prompt when a dose is due, only the chart for those who remember to check.
- Initials and ticks are hard to read and easy to forget.
- Pets needing trained staff, such as those on injections, rely on the rota having the right person on.
- At collection, nobody can easily summarise what was given and when.
Most general kennel booking software records that a pet has medication. Fewer handle the actual dose schedule and sign-off, so the chart stays on paper.
What a missed dose puts at risk
Medication is where a small admin slip becomes a serious conversation. A missed or doubled dose can matter to the pet, and even when it does not, an owner who finds out will lose trust in everything else you do. Your licence inspection is also likely to look at how you record medication, and a chart with gaps is hard to defend.
The daily cost is staff stress. People who care about animals worry about getting this wrong, and they spend time double checking charts rather than doing their rounds.
A dose schedule with sign-off
We build medication as its own record, stricter than feeding, with a schedule and a signature for every dose.
- At drop-off, the owner's instructions are entered as a schedule: medicine name as on the label, dose, times, with food or not, and any notes the owner or their vet gave. Staff check the entry against the packaging, and a second person can confirm it.
- Each shift sees a list of doses due in the next hours, in time order, with the pet, run and exactly what to give.
- The member of staff giving a dose signs it on a tablet or phone with their own login, so the time and person are recorded. Refused or partial doses get a note.
- Doses not signed within your set window appear as overdue on a senior's screen and can trigger a text.
- Pets that need a trained person are marked, and the rota view shows whether a trained person is on for each due dose.
- At collection, the owner gets a printed or emailed record of every dose given during the stay.
| Question | Paper chart | Dose schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Was lunchtime given? | Look for a tick, maybe | Signed, with time and name |
| What is due next? | Read every chart | One time-ordered list |
| Is a trained person on? | Check the rota separately | Shown against each dose |
| What do we tell the owner? | Piece it together | Printed record at collection |
What to do if a dose is missed, refused or seems to be causing a problem is a matter for your procedures and the pet's vet. The system records, prompts and escalates to a person. It never advises on medication.
A calmer medication round
At 2pm a tablet by the kitchen shows two doses due: the Labrador's painkiller with a small meal and the eye drops in block B. They are signed off as they are given. At 2.40 the senior on shift can see both are done without walking the block. When the Labrador's owner collects him, she gets a sheet showing every tablet, every time, and who gave it.
Could this be you?
- Medication is recorded on paper charts on the runs or in the kitchen.
- You have had a doubt about whether a dose was given.
- Pets needing trained staff depend on the rota being right.
- You cannot give owners a clear record of doses at collection.
- Staff spend time double checking charts every round.