Exotic and farm animal veterinary software: from a tortoise's shell to a herd of forty
Exotic and farm animal veterinary software has to hold patients a cat-and-dog program was never drawn for: a budgerigar weighed in grams, a snake with no flank to mark, a horse of half a tonne, forty dairy cows examined as one patient. This guide sets out what such a record must keep, follows a rabbit and a herd through OPALEVI, and says where OPALEVI stops.
Key takeaways
- Each species needs its own body figure. In OPALEVI every species but “Other” has one, and a reptile has three: lizard, snake and tortoise.
- A herd or a flock is one file with a head count; its visit counts head seen, affected and died instead of one pulse.
- Withdrawal days are typed from the datasheet; OPALEVI calculates the first day milk or meat may be sold and prints it on the certificate.
- Ask what a program does not do. OPALEVI sets no next-dose date or reminder on a group, plans no farm rounds and holds no reference ranges for any species.
Signs your software was built for cats and dogs only
Owners, vaccinations and kennels are covered in our guide to veterinary practice software. These signs show up the day someone carries in a bearded dragon, or rings to ask you out to a dairy yard:
- Kilograms only. A 40-gram canary typed as 0.04 kg invites a rounding error.
- A dog-shaped body chart. A mark on the “flank” of a snake tells the next vet nothing.
- A herd as forty files, or as one paragraph. Neither says how many were lame this month against last.
- Withdrawal kept in someone's head. The farmer asks whether Monday's milk can go to the collector, and the answer is in last week's handwriting.
In mixed and farm practice the record has to change shape with the patient: one gram or five hundred kilograms, one animal or a whole shed.
What a record for exotic and farm animals should hold
Before comparing programs, agree what a file has to answer. The list fits any system, paper included:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Species, and the body type within it | A tortoise and a gecko are both reptiles and share no anatomy. |
| Weight with its unit, from grams to tonnes | Small exotics are followed in grams, horses and cattle in hundreds of kilograms. |
| Diet, housing, water and bedding | Many exotic and herd problems begin with how the animals are kept. |
| Individual animal or group | A herd examined as a whole needs counts, not one heartbeat. |
| Head seen, affected and died | What a farmer is asked on the phone, and what the next visit compares. |
| Microchip and passport for the individual | Horses travel, compete and are sold on their papers. |
| Each dose with its milk and meat withdrawal days | When food from a treated animal may be sold again. |
| Findings placed on a figure of that species | A lesion is found again faster on the right animal. |
Normal values differ between species, so OPALEVI keeps what the vet measured: it holds no reference range for any species and flags no value.
One exotic consultation in OPALEVI, step by step
A pet rabbit off its food, seen in the Exotic animals department of OPALEVI for veterinary clinics. Bold words are labels as the screen shows them.
Registering the rabbit
Reception registers the animal with its owner. Species is one of nineteen, from rabbit to fish; the breed is typed. If the birth date is a guess, tick The date is an estimate and the age reads “about”.
Weighing in grams
Under Vital signs, choose grams or kilograms beside the weight. Saving puts the weighing on the animal's chart, and Weight at earlier visits draws the line from the second one.
Examining
The Veterinary examination asks history and diet, then the Clinical parameters, among them the Body condition score on the nine-point scale; twelve systems are ticked normal or abnormal.
Marking the finding
The Body map opens on a rabbit, not a dog. Tap the jaw and write the finding and its size in millimetres.
Plan and bill
Write the treatment and the plan, set Recheck on, and press Invoice this visit. The department's price list starts with an Exotic animal consultation, yours to rename and price.
A body figure for each species
OPALEVI draws twenty body plans, and every species but “Other” is marked on one drawn for it, the bird and the fish included. A reptile is first asked its Body type: Lizard, Snake or Tortoise or turtle.
- Rabbits, small mammals and birds: both sides, front, rear, From above, Belly and the head from either side.
- Lizards: side, from above, belly and head. A tortoise adds the front; a snake has from above, belly and head.
- For fish: side and from above.
Zones follow the animal: beak, crop, keel and vent on a bird, carapace and plastron on a tortoise, fins on a fish. “Other” gets no figure and the vet writes the site in the findings, because no drawing can be claimed for an animal the list does not name.
Herds, flocks and horses: one file for the yard, one for the horse
The Horses and farm animals department keeps animals seen one at a time, such as a horse, and animals seen as a group.
A group of animals as one patient
Tick Group of animals and the file asks for the number of head instead of sex, birth date, microchip and passport. On its visit, the Clinical parameters and the Body map give way to The group:
- Head seen, Head affected and Head died: whole numbers you type, never turned into percentages.
- What was seen across the group: gait, coat and condition as you walked through them.
- Feed, water and housing: ration, water, bedding and ventilation.
History, systems, assessment and plan stay as for one animal. A group's dose carries Head treated and no next-dose date, since one date cannot say which half of the shed had its booster, so no reminder is sent for a group: book the next herd visit as a consultation before you leave. The price list starts with Farm visit and Herd vaccination.
A horse is a patient of its own
A horse, a donkey or a single cow is an individual file, with microchip, passport, a weight chart and a figure of its species: both sides, front, rear and head, with zones such as hooves, withers, croup and poll, and an udder on a cow, sheep or goat.
Milk and meat withdrawal, typed once and dated by OPALEVI
After a vaccine or a parasite treatment, a food animal's milk and meat may not be sold for the period its datasheet gives. Record vaccination and Record treatment ask Milk withheld (days) and Meat withheld (days) on a group and on species that may be food: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, donkeys, rabbits, birds, fish and any animal filed as “Other”. Dogs, cats, ferrets, reptiles and small rodents are not asked.
- Blank or zero. Blank means the datasheet gave no period; 0 reads Nothing withheld.
- The date, calculated. As you type, the form shows Milk saleable from and the date, counted from the day given; correct that day and the date follows.
- On the file. While a withdrawal runs, the animal's file carries a badge with the sale dates.
- On paper. Print certificate adds a framed Withheld from sale box with whichever dose ends last, milk and meat separately.
OPALEVI looks no product up: the days are the ones the vet reads on the datasheet. Where the practice keeps stock in OPALEVI, a dose chosen From stock leaves the shelf, one unit per head on a group dose.
Owners, reminders and the rest of the practice
Every animal or group is invoiced to its owner, a family or a farm business. Reminders follow single animals: each day OPALEVI finds the doses due within fourteen days and reminds each one once: an owner who chose Agrees to reminders for vaccinations and treatments can be e-mailed, and where an e-mail cannot go, reception is given a task to call. Doses due this week, or already overdue, are listed on Today under Vaccinations and treatments due. For a booked appointment, tick Email the owner a reminder the day before.
Samples can go to a veterinary laboratory department (medical laboratory guide); the desk's day is in clinic reception software. Reception books and bills but cannot record a dose; finance sees the money, never the clinical record.
Two limits before a farm round
The visit can be written in the yard on a phone or tablet, but OPALEVI plans no route between farms. And there is no ear-tag or herd-register field: write the tags of treated animals in the findings or the dose note.
Questions to ask before choosing exotic and farm animal veterinary software
Ask them of any vendor, OPALEVI included, during the trial.
| Question | A good answer | OPALEVI |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a body figure for each species? | Plans for birds, reptiles and fish, not only mammals. | Yes: twenty plans; “Other” has none. |
| Can a weight be typed in grams? | A unit chosen at each weighing. | Yes: grams or kilograms, from 1 g to 5,000 kg. |
| Can a herd be one patient? | A group file with its own visit section. | Yes: head seen, affected and died. |
| Are sale dates worked out after a withdrawal? | Days typed once, the date calculated. | Yes, on the file and the certificate. |
| Does it know each product's withdrawal period? | A product database kept current. | No: the vet types the days. |
| Are a group's boosters reminded? | A next date for the group. | No: book the next herd visit. |
| Does it plan farm rounds? | A route across the day's visits. | No. |
| How does the price grow? | Known ahead, whatever the herd size. | Per staff member; animals and head are never counted. |
The rest of what OPALEVI does is on the features page.
Your first afternoon
Add the departments
When you register, tick Exotic animals and Horses and farm animals beside general practice, or add them later in Settings.
Set your prices
Under First steps on Today, Add your services and prices and rename the starter lines.
Register your first herd
Open one farm client's main group with its head count, and record its last vaccination with the milk and meat days.
Count the same way every visit
Agree what “affected” means in your practice, so this visit's numbers can be read against the last one's.
Frequently asked questions
What is exotic and farm animal veterinary software?
A practice program for animals beyond cats and dogs, from rabbits and reptiles to horses and herds. It needs a body figure for each species, weights from grams to tonnes, group files for herds and flocks, and withdrawal dates on doses given to food animals.
Can a herd or flock be kept as one patient in OPALEVI?
Yes. Tick Group of animals when registering, and the file holds a head count instead of a microchip or birth date. Its visits record head seen, affected and died, and the feed, water and housing. Doses record the head treated, but a group gets no next-dose date or reminder.
Does OPALEVI calculate withdrawal periods?
Partly. The vet types the milk and meat days from the product's datasheet, and OPALEVI looks no product up. From those days and the date given, it calculates the first sale day, shows it on the animal's file while it runs, and prints the latest one on the vaccination certificate.
Does it work on a phone or tablet during a farm visit?
Yes. Nothing is installed: OPALEVI opens in a browser, and on a phone the menu becomes a bar at the bottom of the screen, so the visit is written beside the animal. It does not plan the route between farms, and the home-visit route is not part of the veterinary product.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. A veterinary clinic that registers gets a free trial of the whole product, with no card. If the trial ends without a plan, nothing is deleted: the records turn read-only until you subscribe, and then the practice carries on from where it stopped.
How is OPALEVI priced for a mixed or farm practice?
Per staff seat: each member of staff with an active account counts once. Animals, groups, head and departments are never counted, so a herd of four hundred costs no more to keep than one rabbit. Paying for a year lowers the monthly rate; see the pricing page.
