Veterinary practice software: the animal, its owner and every dose in one file
Veterinary practice software has to do what a human clinic program never does: keep two records in step, the animal you treat and the owner who books, pays and must be reminded. This guide sets out what that record should hold, follows one consultation in OPALEVI from booking to invoice, and says plainly what OPALEVI does not do yet.
Key takeaways
- The owner and the animal are two records, linked: one owner, several animals, one balance.
- A vaccination is only useful on file with its batch, its expiry and the date the next dose is due; the reminder hangs on that date.
- Weight belongs on a chart across visits, entered once per consultation.
- Ask every vendor what it does not do. OPALEVI has no anaesthesia record, no veterinary dental chart and no spreadsheet import yet.
Why the card box and the vaccination booklet stop being enough
Most practices start with a card per animal, a desk diary and the owner's vaccination booklet. That holds while one vet knows every dog in town; add a second vet and a kennel room, and the gaps show:
- The booster nobody chased. The next date was in the booklet, and the booklet went home with the owner.
- One owner, four cards. A new phone number reaches the dog's card but not the three cats', and the next reminder rings a dead line.
- Kennels on a whiteboard. Which animal is recovering from surgery and which is boarding while the family is away? The whiteboard knows until it is wiped.
- Debts that follow the wrong person. A rehomed animal takes last year's unpaid bill with it.
Each is a missing link, between animal and owner or between one dose and the next. Software for a veterinary practice earns its place by keeping those links.
Your patient cannot pick up the phone. The record has to remember on its behalf, and the owner has to be reachable from it.
What an animal's record has to hold
Whatever you end up using, settle first what a file must answer without anyone ringing the owner:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The owner, with contacts and reminder consent | Who books, who pays, and whether they want reminders. |
| Species, breed, sex and neutering | The basics of every examination. |
| Date of birth, or an honest estimate | Rescued animals rarely come with papers. |
| Microchip and passport numbers | The animal's identity outside your practice. |
| Weight, with the date it was taken | Doses are written against it; a trend says more than one number. |
| Each vaccination: product, batch, expiry, next date | What was given from which vial, and when to remind. |
| Each consultation: complaint, examination, assessment, plan | A story a second vet can pick up without asking. |
| Withdrawal periods for food animals | When milk or meat may be sold again after a treatment. |
One consultation in OPALEVI, from the booking to the bill
Here is a yearly check with a vaccination in OPALEVI for veterinary clinics, in the General veterinary practice department. Bold words are the names on the screen.
Booking
With Accept online bookings on, the owner picks a service, a vet and a free time on your clinic's page, and You and your animal asks the animal's name and species first. The booking waits in Requests unless you chose Confirm bookings automatically.
Linking the file
Reception links the request to the animal, or registers it with its owner (Owner already on file or New owner, then the animal), and on arrival presses Send to the veterinarian.
Weighing and examining
An assistant enters weight, temperature and pulse; the vet completes the Veterinary examination. Saving puts the weight on the animal's chart.
Vaccinating
On the Vaccinations tab, Record vaccination keeps the vaccine, its manufacturer, the Batch number, the expiry and the Next dose, with buttons from three weeks to three years ahead.
Billing
Invoice this visit turns the consultation into an invoice to the owner, its lines naming the animal and the date.
What the examination record holds
Every veterinary department but the laboratory shares one form, in SOAP order:
- Reason for the visit and History: the complaint and since when, background, appetite, drinking, demeanour, diet and medication.
- Clinical parameters: respiratory rate, pulse quality, mucous membranes, capillary refill, hydration, body condition (1–9) and pain (0–10).
- General examination: twelve systems ticked normal or abnormal (unticked means not examined), with findings and a body map.
- Assessment and Plan: diagnosis, differentials, prognosis, treatment given, tests requested and a Recheck on date.
OPALEVI records these values and judges none of them: no species has a reference range built in. The body map is drawn for the species, from twenty body plans, with views such as Left side and Right side; each mark keeps its finding and size in millimetres. For photos across visits, see the dermatology guide.
Vaccinations, parasite treatments and the reminder that brings the animal back
Preventive care slips because the next date lies in the future and nobody owns it. In OPALEVI the dose owns it: the tab marks each next date Overdue, Due soon (within 30 days) or Up to date, and strikes an answered dose through as Given since. Record treatment does the same for parasites, with Weight the dose is for (kg) filled in from the last weighing; the vet writes the dose, and OPALEVI does not calculate it.
Who reminds the owner
Each day OPALEVI looks at the doses due within the next 14 days, and each dose is reminded once. An owner who ticked Agrees to reminders for vaccinations and treatments can be e-mailed the animal, the vaccine and the date. When the owner asked to be phoned under Send reminders by, left no usable address, or the e-mail cannot be sent, the fallback is a task for reception to call. An owner who said no gets nothing. Doses up to 30 days overdue stay on Today under Vaccinations and treatments due, most overdue first.
Print certificate puts the history on your paper: animal, microchip, owner, each vaccination with batch and expiry, and lines for signature and stamp. A dose picked from stock leaves the shelf too. A herd is one Group of animals file with a head count, and its doses can carry milk and meat withdrawal days typed from the datasheet.
Book the next dose before the owner leaves
A reminder is a safety net, not the plan. When a dose has a next date, book that appointment at the desk the same day.
Kennels: hospitalisation and boarding on one board
Animals stay overnight after surgery, for observation or while the family is away, and the board should say which. In OPALEVI it is called Hospitalisation and boarding, and its beds are kennels (Add kennel). Admit an animal to a kennel asks for Hospitalisation, with a reason for admission, or Boarding, which needs no clinical reason. The day's open consultation is linked, and reception can admit and discharge. See the hospitalisation and boarding department.
Two plain limits. A stay puts nothing on the bill by itself: add boarding nights as a service to the consultation or the invoice. And Veterinary surgery records on the same examination form, with no anaesthesia record or procedure section yet: write both under the treatment given, record the owner's consent under Owner consents, and keep the recovery stay on the board.
No dental chart for animals yet
Veterinary dentistry shares the form too. Mouth and teeth are one of the twelve systems, and findings go on the body map, which opens on the head in profile. People's teeth have a tooth chart of their own: see dental practice software.
Owners, bills and who sees what
Under Owners, each owner is one file: contacts, how they want reminders, every animal and every invoice, and Owes for what is unpaid. Search finds an owner by the microchip of any of their animals. New invoice for this owner bills from there, and an invoice for an animal is always made out to its owner; when an animal changes hands, its old debts stay with the previous owner. Outstanding balances lists what owners still owe, oldest first.
Everyone signs in with their own account and a role:
- Veterinarian: examines, treats and keeps the clinical record.
- Nurse / Assistant: prepares and assists, records vaccinations, admits to kennels; handles no money.
- Reception: books, invoices and takes payment; does not read the clinical record or record vaccinations unless you allow it.
- Finance / Accounting: the money, never the clinical record.
A practice with its own laboratory can add the Veterinary laboratory department, with reference ranges you enter yourself; the medical laboratory guide covers that side. For the desk's whole day, read clinic reception software.
Questions to ask before choosing veterinary practice software
Ask these of any program, OPALEVI included, during a trial with your own animals.
| Question | A good answer | OPALEVI |
|---|---|---|
| Is the owner a record of their own? | One file with every animal, invoice and balance. | Yes: Owners. |
| Is weight kept as a trend? | Dated weighings on a chart, typed once. | Yes: the Weight tab, fed by the consultation. |
| Does each dose keep its batch and next date? | Product, batch, expiry, next dose, a certificate. | Yes, with a printable certificate. |
| Are owners reminded before a dose is due? | Only with consent, with a fallback when a message fails. | Yes: an e-mail within 14 days of the date, a call task as the fallback. |
| Can owners book online, naming the animal? | Name and species asked at booking. | Yes, from your clinic's page. |
| Is there an anaesthesia and surgical record? | Agents, monitoring, a procedure note. | No: the shared examination form. |
| Is there a dental chart for animals? | A chart by tooth. | No: findings go on the body map. |
| Can you import your current list? | A spreadsheet import with a report on each row. | No: each animal is registered with its owner. |
| Does a kennel stay reach the bill? | Nights charged from the stay. | No: add the nights as a service by hand. |
| How does the price grow? | Known in advance, however many animals you see. | Per staff member; animals and owners are never counted. |
Everything else OPALEVI does is on the features page.
Your first week
After you register as a veterinary clinic, First steps on Today lists the set-up:
Prices and team
Add your services and prices, your hours and business details, then invite your colleagues.
Your page
Publish your clinic's website and mark the services owners may book as Bookable online.
Your animals
Register your first animal with its owner, then this week's vaccinations with their next dates.
Start with the animals that are due
There is no import: register animals as they come in, those due for vaccination next month first.
Frequently asked questions
What is veterinary practice software?
A program that keeps each animal's file with its owner, consultations, weight and vaccinations, books appointments, reminds owners when a dose is due and bills the owner for the care. It takes over from the card box, the desk diary and the vaccination booklet as the practice's memory.
Does OPALEVI have an anaesthesia record or a dental chart for animals?
Not yet. Veterinary surgery and dentistry record on the shared examination form: mouth and teeth are one of twelve systems, findings go on the species body map, and the anaesthetic and procedure are written under the treatment given. The owner's consent, in the words they were shown, is recorded under Owner consents.
Can reception see clinical notes?
Not unless you allow it. Reception books appointments, links online requests, admits and discharges kennel stays, invoices owners and takes payment. It does not hold the clinicians' permission to record a vaccination, and the clinical record stays closed to it until the practice turns on the setting that lets reception see visit history. Finance never sees the clinical record, and each role can be adjusted permission by permission.
Can the team use it on phones and tablets?
Yes. OPALEVI opens in the browser of any computer, tablet or phone and needs no installation. On a small screen the menu moves to a bar along the bottom, and an animal's photo can be taken with the device's own camera.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. Registering as a veterinary clinic opens a free trial with full access, and no card is asked for. If it ends without a plan, you pay nothing: the records turn read-only, nothing is deleted, and subscribing later lets you carry on where you left off.
How is OPALEVI priced for a veterinary practice?
Per staff member who uses it. Animals, owners and departments are never counted, so a busy vaccination season costs the same as a quiet month. Today's price, and a calculator for the size of your team, are on the pricing page.
