Patients & Records

By the end you'll be able to find a pet's record, create a new one, edit its details, keep its medical history up to date, and understand the little status badges that tell you whether a patient is active, inactive or deceased.

In Wattle, a patient is an animal — a dog, cat, horse, bird, and so on. The pet's human is called the client (the owner). Every patient is linked to one owner. If you're looking after the owners' details, see Clients (pet owners).

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The two main screens

There are really only two screens to learn.

1. The Patient List — a big table of every animal in the clinic. This is where you search and filter.
2. The Patient Detail page — one animal's full record, split into tabs (Summary, Visit History, Vitals, Medications, and so on).

You reach the list from the sidebar: click Patients. You reach a detail page by clicking any animal in that list.

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Find a patient

Usually: receptionist, but everyone does this all day.

Step by step

1. In the sidebar on the left, click Patients.
2. You'll see a table of animals. At the top is a search box that says Search patients….
3. Start typing — the pet's name, or the owner's name, phone number or email. The list narrows down as you type — you don't need to press Enter.
4. When you see the right animal, click anywhere on its row to open it.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ Search box (above): the fastest way when you know the name — or the owner's name, phone or email.
• From the owner's file: open the owner in Clients, click the Linked Patients tab, and click the pet's card. Handy when an owner has several animals.
• From an appointment or consult: open the appointment or visit record and click the patient's name in the heading.

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Filter the list by status or species

Usually: receptionist or admin.

Above the table, next to the search box, are two dropdown filters.

• Status — starts on Active. You can switch it to All Statuses, Inactive or Deceased.
• Species — starts on All Species. You can narrow it to a single kind of animal — Canine, Feline, Equine, and so on.

Step by step

1. Click the Status dropdown and choose what you want to see. Choose All Statuses to see every animal regardless of status.
2. Click the Species dropdown if you want only one kind of animal.
3. The table updates straight away.

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Create a new patient

Usually: receptionist (when a new client arrives with a pet), but anyone can.

Before you start: every patient needs an owner. If the owner is already in Wattle, great. If not, don't worry — you can create them without leaving this form (see the tip below).

Step by step

1. Go to Patients in the sidebar.
2. Click the New Patient button at the top right.
3. Owner — click the Owner box and start typing the owner's name. Pick them from the list.
   • Owner not in the system yet? Click the small + button next to the Owner box. A panel slides in where you can create the new client. When you save them, they're selected automatically and you carry on. Your patient details are kept while you do this.
4. Patient name — the animal's name.
5. Species — choose from the list (dog, cat, bird, horse, and many more — 16 in total).
6. Breed — type it in (optional).
7. Sex — Male, Female or Unknown.
8. Desexed — Yes, No or Unknown.
9. Age — fill in years and months if that's what you know, or pick a Date of birth instead (see DOB and Age below — they're linked; Age comes first on the form).
10. Microchip ID — type the number if you have it (optional).
11. Status — leave on Active for a normal new patient.
12. Click Create patient. Wattle opens the new animal's detail page.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ From the Patients list (above): the simplest, fastest path.
• Starting from the owner: open the owner in Clients, look at the Linked Patients tab. It points you to the Patients page to add the animal there — so this just loops back to the form above, with the owner already in mind.

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Good to know: Date of birth and Age are linked

The Date of birth and Age (Years / Months) fields are two ways of saying the same thing, and Wattle keeps them in step automatically.

• Type a date of birth and the Age fills itself in.
• Type an Age instead and the date of birth is worked out for you.

So you only ever fill in one of them — use whichever you know. If you change one later, the other shifts to match. This is on purpose; the form isn't misbehaving.

Good to know: Estimated date of birth

For rescue animals or any pet whose real birthday nobody knows, you can give an approximate age (or date) and mark it as a guess. Next to the Age label there's a small estimated checkbox — it covers both fields, since they're linked.

1. Fill in your best-guess age (or pick a date).
2. Tick estimated.

Wattle then shows the age with a little ~ in front of it (for example ~3y 2m) so everyone can see at a glance that it's an estimate, not a confirmed birthday. The checkbox is small and easy to miss — it sits right on the Age line.

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View a patient's full profile and medical history

Usually: vets and nurses live in here; reception dips in to check details.

Open any patient (search or click from the list) and you land on the Detail page. The top of the page — the header — always shows the key facts: name, a photo or species icon, age, sex, breed, latest weight, the patient's ID number (with a copy button), the owner's name (hover for contact details), the status badge, and a medical-alerts pill if there are any alerts.

Down the left side you'll see the owner's contact card, the Medical Alerts card, and (if your clinic has it switched on) a Reminders card.

The main area is a set of tabs:

Summary is the tab you land on. Details is second — it's where you edit the record (see below); there's no separate "Edit patient" page any more.

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Edit a patient's details

Usually: anyone correcting a record.

Editing happens inline on the Details tab of the patient's own page — there's no separate "Edit patient" page to open and come back from.

Step by step

1. Open the patient.
2. Click the Details tab (it sits right after Summary).
3. Change whatever you need — name, species, breed, date of birth, age, sex, microchip, status — plus the Billing & insurance column covered below.
4. Click Save. One Save covers the whole tab, billing and insurance included. You stay on the Details tab; the page header updates to match.

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Add or change a patient's photo

Usually: receptionist or nurse.

You add the photo on the Details tab — not on the create screen. So the order for a new animal is: create the patient, then open its Details tab to add the photo.

Step by step

1. Open the patient and click the Details tab.
2. At the top of the form you'll see a rounded photo box. Click it.
3. Choose an image from your device, or take one with the camera.
4. Click Save.

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Who the bills go to (Bill to)

Usually: admin or reception — when someone other than the owner pays.

By default, a patient's charges land on its owner's account, and that's right for nearly every animal. But sometimes a different account settles the bills — a rescue group paying for a foster pet, or a company you subcontract to. The Default payer selector, in the Billing & insurance column of the Details tab, is how you point a patient's charges at that account.

Step by step

1. Open the patient and click the Details tab.
2. In the Billing & insurance column, find Default payer. It starts on The owner (default).
3. To send this pet's charges elsewhere, choose the paying account from the list. (Only accounts marked as "pays for other clients' patients" appear here. If the list is empty, it says so and links you to the client file where you tick that box — see Third-party billing.)
4. Click Save at the bottom of the tab.

From now on, new charges for this pet accrue to that payer's account instead of the owner's. The charges still show on the patient's own record exactly as before — only the balance moves. The full picture, including how to invoice a payer at the end of a period, is in Third-party billing.

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Insurance (insurer and policy number)

Usually: reception, when an owner has pet insurance.

The Details tab has a Billing & insurance column where you record the pet's cover. In Australia, pet insurance is reimbursement-style — the owner pays your bill, then claims the money back from their insurer — so Wattle simply keeps the policy details on file. The documents that actually make the claim are the itemised tax invoice and the patient history PDF.

Step by step

1. Open the patient and click the Details tab.
2. In the Billing & insurance column, fill in the Insurer — start typing and Wattle suggests common Australian pet insurers; pick one, or type your own if it's not listed.
3. Enter the Policy number.
4. Click Save at the bottom of the tab — the same Save that stores the rest of the patient's details.

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Attachments (photos, lab results, referral letters, consent scans)

Usually: vets, nurses or reception.

Open any patient and click the Attachments tab. This is where you keep files that belong with the animal's record — clinical photos, lab results, a referral letter, a scanned consent form, and so on. Anything you'd otherwise have stuck in a paper folder.

You can upload images or PDFs, up to 25 MB each, and you can add several at once. Each file you upload can later be downloaded again or deleted.

Upload one or more files

Step by step

1. Open the patient and click the Attachments tab.
2. Click the Upload button.
3. Choose one or more files from your device. You can pick several at once.
4. They upload and appear in the list, each showing its name and a download and delete button.

Download or delete an attachment

• Download — click the download button on a file's row to save a copy to your device.
• Delete — click the delete button, then confirm.

You'll also meet the same attachments inside a consultation, where you can tie files to a particular visit. See Consultations → Attachments.

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Transfer a patient to another owner

Usually: admin or reception — when a pet changes hands.

Sometimes an animal moves to a new owner — a pet is rehomed, or sold, or a family member takes over its care. You can move the patient to a different client without losing any of its history.

Step by step

1. Open the patient.
2. At the top right, click the ⋯ More actions menu.
3. Choose Transfer to another owner.
4. Pick the new owner from the list.
5. Confirm. From now on, the patient belongs to the new owner.

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Generate a patient history PDF

Usually: vets, nurses or reception — whenever someone needs the animal's history as a document.

Sometimes you need the whole record in one file — to send to a referral vet, hand to an owner who's changing clinics, or attach to an insurance claim. Wattle builds a true PDF, with your clinic letterhead, laid out reverse-chronologically (most recent visit first).

Step by step

1. Open the patient.
2. At the top right, click the ⋯ (more actions) menu.
3. Choose Generate history PDF. A dialog opens.
4. Choose what to include. Tick the sections you want:
   • Summary — the headline details about the animal.
   • Consultation notes — the visit history.
   • Vitals — weight, temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate readings.
   • Medications — drugs recorded.
   • Financials — billed items.
5. Optional — narrow the dates. Set a From and/or To date to limit the history to a period. Leave them blank to include everything.
6. Choose how billed items show. This is the one to think about:
   • With prices — each item with its cost. Use this for insurance claims, where the owner needs the figures.
   • Without prices — the items appear, but no costs. Good for a clinical referral where money isn't relevant.
   • Exclude — leave billed items out altogether.
7. Click Download PDF. A real PDF file saves to your computer.

The PDF reads newest visit first, with your clinic letterhead — the same polished, selectable-text quality as an invoice.

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Patient status: Active, Inactive, Deceased

Every patient carries one of three statuses. Here's what each means:

Inactive and deceased records are never deleted by changing status — they're simply tucked away. You can always bring them back into view with the Status filter.

Change a patient's status

Usually: receptionist or admin.

Step by step

1. Open the patient.
2. Click ⋯ → Change Status.
3. Choose Active, Inactive or Deceased.
4. If you choose Deceased, Wattle shows a gentle confirmation ("this action can be difficult to reverse") — click to confirm.
5. A small message confirms the change, and the badge on the page updates.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ ⋯ → Change Status (above): one click, fastest.
• Via the Details tab: Details tab → Status dropdown → Save. Works the same; just slower.

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Archive a patient

Usually: admin tidying up.

Archiving just means setting a patient to Inactive so it drops out of the everyday list. The record stays safe.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ From the detail page: ⋯ → Change Status → Inactive. No extra confirmation needed.
• From the list, one row: in the Patient List, click the ⋯ on the row and choose Archive.
• From the list, several at once: tick the checkboxes on the rows you want, then click Archive in the bulk-action bar and confirm.

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Delete a patient

Usually: admin only, and rarely.

⚠️ Deleting is permanent. There is no undo. In almost every case you want Archive (above), not Delete — archiving hides the record but keeps it. Only delete a genuine mistake (for example, a record created twice or test data).

Step by step

1. Go to the Patients list.
2. Tick the checkbox on the patient (or patients) you want to remove.
3. In the bulk-action bar, click the red Delete button.
4. Read the confirmation ("Permanently delete N patient(s)? This cannot be undone.") and confirm.

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Merge two duplicate patients

Usually: admin.

Sometimes the same animal gets entered twice (say "Max" and "Maximilian"). Merging folds the two records into one, keeping all the history. The record you keep is the survivor; the other is deleted.

Step by step

1. In the Patients list, tick the checkboxes on exactly two patients.
2. In the bulk-action menu, click Merge selected.
3. In the dialog, pick which record to keep (the survivor) using the radio buttons.
4. Check the warnings:
   • Species mismatch is blocking — if the two animals are different species, Wattle won't let you merge. This is a safety net against merging the wrong pair.
   • Differences in microchip, date of birth, sex or status are soft warnings only — you can still merge.
5. Where the two records disagree, a small table lets you pick which value to keep for each field.
6. Click Merge — this can't be undone. The records combine, the duplicate is deleted, and you land on the survivor's detail page.

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Medical alerts

Usually: vets and nurses — these are clinical safety flags.

Medical alerts are the warnings that matter most: "Allergic to Penicillin", "Diabetes", "Heartworm+". They live on the Medical Alerts card in the left sidebar of the Summary tab, each with a coloured dot.

Add a medical alert

Step by step

1. Open the patient and stay on the Summary tab.
2. In the left sidebar, find the Medical Alerts card.
3. Click the + button at the top right of that card. A New Alert dialog opens.
4. Choose a Severity — Low, Medium or High.
5. Type the Message (for example, "Allergic to Penicillin").
6. Add a Description (optional) if you like.
7. Click Save. It appears in the list with its colour-coded dot.

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Reminders (preventive care)

Usually: nurses and reception, for vaccinations and the like.

Reminders track preventive care: vaccinations, flea & tick, dental cleaning, and so on. They sit on a Reminders card just below Medical Alerts in the Summary tab's sidebar, with a coloured dot showing how urgent each one is.

Add a reminder

Step by step

1. Open the patient, Summary tab.
2. In the left sidebar, find the Reminders card (below Medical Alerts).
3. Click the + button. A New Reminder dialog opens.
4. Type the Type — free text like "Vaccination" or "Flea & Tick".
5. Add a Description (optional) if helpful.
6. Pick a Due Date.
7. Click Save. It appears with its due-status colour.

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Vitals (weight, temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate)

Usually: vets and nurses.

Vitals are recorded during a visit (consultation) — they don't appear on their own. A patient who has never had a visit simply has no vitals yet. To start recording them, start a new visit (below).

View vitals history

Step by step

1. Open the patient and click the Latest Vitals tab.
2. You'll see four cards: weight, temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate, each showing the latest reading and a little trend arrow.
3. Click any card to open its history — a chart and list of every past reading for that vital.
4. Close the dialog to return to the tab.

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Medications

Usually: vets and nurses checking what a pet is on.

The Medications tab lists the drugs recorded for this animal — drug name, amount, the directions you typed and the dates. You can add a medication here by hand (handy for chronic or ongoing medicines), and reprint a dispensing label for any row.

Most medications land here automatically when you dispense a drug during a visit — see Dispensing labels & medications for the full flow, and The consult (a visit) for charging.

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Financials and estimates

Usually: reception and admin handling money; vets glance at it.

Financials tab

The Financials tab shows this patient's invoices (newest first), with amounts and payment status, plus the owner's account balance.

Estimates tab

The Estimates tab lists quotes created for this animal — each with its number, date, status (typically Draft or Finalised), total and a "Valid Until" date. Click one to open it.

To learn how charges, invoices and estimates fit together, see Charges vs invoices, Invoices and Estimates (quotes).

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Things you do for a patient

A patient's detail page is also the launch pad for the day's work. Most of these live behind the ⋯ menu or the big primary button at the top.

Start a new visit (consultation)

Usually: vet or nurse.

Step by step

1. Open the patient.
2. Click the New visit button at the top right (it has a stethoscope icon).
3. The consult form opens with this patient already selected.
4. Fill in the chief complaint, exam notes and so on, and submit.

If the patient has no vitals yet, you can also start a visit from the empty state on the Summary tab. Full detail in The consult (a visit).

Book an appointment

Usually: receptionist.

Booking from the patient's own page keeps you where you are — the panel opens with this pet already chosen, and their owner comes with them. You only pick the date, time and type.

Step by step

1. Open the patient.
2. Click ⋯ at the top → Book Appointment.
3. The booking panel slides in with the pet already filled in.
4. Set the date, time and Type, add a reason if you like, then Create Appointment.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ From the patient: ⋯ → Book Appointment (above).
• From the Summary tab: the Next Appointment panel has a Book appointment action — same panel, same pet.
• From the Appointments tab: if the pet has no appointments yet, the empty state offers Book Appointment — same again.
• From the Schedule: Sidebar → Schedule → click an empty slot → search and select the patient. Best when the time matters more than the patient (you're filling a gap in the day).

Create an estimate

Usually: vet or reception.

• ⭐ From the patient: ⋯ → Create Estimate. Opens a new estimate with the patient pre-selected.
• From Billing: Sidebar → Billing → Estimates → New, then search for the patient.

See Estimates (quotes).

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Communications with the owner

Usually: reception.

When switched on, the Communications tab shows a timeline of emails, calls and notes about this patient's owner. You can also start an email from ⋯ → Send email, which opens with the owner's address already filled in (the owner needs an email on file).

For the full email workflow, see Emailing clients.

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Quick recap

• Patients are the animals; their owners are clients. Every patient links to one owner.
• Find patients with the search box — by pet name or by the owner's name, phone or email; remember the Status filter starts on Active.
• Create from the New Patient button — and use the + beside the Owner box if the owner isn't in the system yet.
• Date of birth and Age stay in sync; tick estimated when the birthday is a guess.
• Status — Active (current), Inactive/archived (hidden but kept), Deceased (kept for history).
• Archive to tidy up safely; Delete is permanent and list-only; Merge combines duplicates.
• Attachments tab holds photos, lab results, referral letters and consent scans (images or PDFs, up to 25 MB each); deleting one is permanent.
• Edit a patient on its Details tab (second tab) — there's no separate edit page; photo, Bill to and Insurance all live here.
• Bill to (Details tab) sends a pet's charges to a paying account (rescue, company); charges stay on the pet, only the balance moves — see Third-party billing.
• Insurance (Details tab) stores the insurer and policy number; AU claims are made by the owner with your invoice + a with-prices history PDF.
• Transfer to another owner (⋯ menu) moves the pet to a new client — but existing invoices and payments stay with the current owner; only future charges move.
• Generate history PDF (⋯ menu) builds one animal's full history as a true PDF — pick sections, dates and whether prices show (with / without / exclude); most-recent visit first.
• Alerts are clinical safety flags; Reminders (optional) track preventive care; Vitals and Medications come from visits.
• On Financials, the Account Balance is the owner's total across all their pets — not just this one.

Stuck? See If something looks wrong — troubleshooting & FAQ or the Glossary.