How do you keep track of your cats' health records?

[david68]

I've decided to get more organized about keeping track of things like vaccinations, etc..., so I've set up an Excel spreadsheet to keep it all in one location and make it easier to keep track of. In total, between mine and my mother's, I'm responsible for looking after seven cats.

Since mine are getting older, I've decided I'm going to weigh each of them every two weeks, so I set up cells for that, and I set up vaccination records for dates, where they were done, and how long they are good for. (Some of mine are seen at one vet, and some at another. It's complicated.) And I made sure I had all their microchip numbers recorded. I also updated some of the information on the microchip sites (like one cat that has hyperthyroidism).

Is Excel the best thing to use? I had already set up an Excel sheet for my TNR colony.

 

[Maurey]

I use 11pets. Free for all the features I find necessary

 

[maggie101]

I use color notes app. You can also share on it

 

[LTS3]

There are pet health record apps you can download and use on your phone but most only work if your vet uses the same app / software because of some features such as schedule an appointment and requesting a prescription refill. I don't know if the apps can just store health info that you enter yourself.

Excel should work ok if there is a tab for each cat. Google Spreadsheet is another one you can use and can easily share with the vet via a shareable link.

 

[daftcat75]

I use Google Drive for all kinds of records keeping--not just the cat. I created a folder for Krista to store scanned copies of all her bills and labs. Bills went in one folder and labs in another. I also kept a Google Sheets for her food journal when keeping her fed became a challenge (pancreatitis, IBD, and lymphoma, at one time or another.) In her food journal, I kept one week's worth of meals in each tab, with each day a column, and each meal a row. Inside the cells I noted how much she ate (weighed the food going on the plate and what was left when I picked up the plate.) I also used colors to indicate incidents such as after which meal she pooped, the quality of said poop, and any other butt or gut incidents (e.g. vomiting.) Colors helped me flip through the weeks looking for patterns without having to read every note. I also attached notes for any meds or supplements given at that meal and just general notes about her disposition (did she eat willingly or needed to be coaxed and bribed?) At the end of the week, I duplicated the tab for the next week and zeroed out the cells and notes. Each Monday I would weigh her and record that weight at the top of the week's sheet. I also had extra tabs for calculations like how much to feed her depending on the calorie content of the food, including how to mix and match foods to get her up to the correct daily calorie target. And I had a tab for recipes for homemade food, and the calculations that came with those. If this all sounds complicated, it's because it's an iterative process that got added to and improved with repetition.

I recommend using Google over Excel because it's easier to share, if needed, and because hard drives fail. I'd rather have anything I want to keep on someone else's computer ("the cloud") and simply use my own computers as terminals or web stations. As a computer professional by trade, I have gone through so many computers (and hard drives) over the years, that something's going to get lost if I leave it to local storage. It also means that I can access my files wherever I can access the web including someone else's computer. As long as I can use a web browser, I can get at all the files I need without needing or installing any additional software on the local computer.