Pet care guides
Practical, source-backed guidance on understanding changes in your pet, keeping records that are actually useful, and preparing for veterinary care. Written to be useful whether or not you use Patter.
The guides
What to track when your pet seems different
A six-part way to record a change: what changed, how it differs from your pet's normal, when it started, and when to stop tracking and call a veterinarian instead.
Pet appetite changes
What counts as a meaningful change when your pet eats more, less or differently: the five things to record at the bowl, the context that changes how they read, and when to call a veterinarian instead.
Pet water intake changes
How much water cats and dogs need each day, how food moisture counts, how to measure drinking at home, and how to recognise a change that needs a veterinarian.
Dog vaccination schedule
Puppy and adult dog vaccination charts, core vaccines, booster intervals, and why exact dates depend on your dog and local requirements.
Cat vaccination schedule
Kitten and adult cat vaccination charts, FVRCP and FeLV timing, what indoor cats need, and why boosters depend on risk and local requirements.
Vet visit checklist
What to bring, a dated concern timeline, questions to ask and a two-page printable worksheet with room for appointment notes and follow-up instructions.
Pet weight and body condition
Why the number on the scale is a starting point: how weight, weight trend, body condition score and muscle condition score differ, and what is worth recording between visits.
How these guides are written
These guides draw on veterinary references including the Merck Veterinary Manual, WSAVA, AAHA, Cornell and other topic-specific sources. Each guide names and links the references it uses, including publication dates or editions where available. Commercially published sources are identified where relevant.
What the guides add is organisation. Each one sets out a practical way to structure information that the underlying sources do not provide, and says where that structure is ours rather than an established veterinary assessment. Facts about what Patter does are kept in their own section, separate from the sourced material — and what Patter does not do is set out on Patter and your veterinarian.
These guides help you understand common patterns, consider possible explanations and record useful information. They do not determine the cause of an individual pet's symptoms or replace a veterinarian's assessment. Where a guide describes how Patter handles the same information, health in Patter covers it in full.
Each guide shows when it was last reviewed. Reviewing means re-reading the sources, not assuming they still say what they said.