Adopted a Pet With No Vet Records? How to Build a Health History From Day One
Adopted a dog or cat with no medical history? Here's how to handle unknown vaccines, set a health baseline, and build the records your vet and insurer will need.
28 articles on vet records, bloodwork, medications, symptoms and pet insurance, written by the Veta Editorial Team. A veterinarian doesn't review them. How we write them.
Adopted a dog or cat with no medical history? Here's how to handle unknown vaccines, set a health baseline, and build the records your vet and insurer will need.
Apoquel (oclacitinib) controls allergic itch in dogs fast. What the side effects are, what ten years of safety data shows, and what to track between rechecks.
A plain-English guide to feline hyperthyroidism: what a high T4 means, how methimazole works, why treatment can unmask kidney disease, and what to track at home.
Why cats who stop eating for 24 hours risk hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), how to triage at home, and when to call your vet.
What IRIS stages of chronic kidney disease mean in plain English, the bloodwork values vets watch, what to track at home, and how treatment changes by stage.
A plain-English comparison of the five major dog allergy medications: Apoquel, Cytopoint, Zenrelia, Numelvi, and Befrena. How they work and how to talk to your vet about switching.
Dog allergy immunotherapy treats the root cause, not symptoms. Who's a candidate, what testing involves, and how long results take.
Normal resting respiratory rates for dogs by size and age, common harmless causes of fast breathing during sleep, and the signs that mean it’s time to call the vet.
Clear liquid vomit in dogs is usually saliva or gastric fluid. One episode is rarely serious. Here's how to tell what you're seeing and when to call the vet.
A triage guide for dog vomiting: what the color means, when one episode is nothing, when repeated vomiting needs the ER, and what to track for your vet.
Compare gabapentin vs trazodone for dogs with plain-English treatment context, dated observations, side-effect boundaries, and recheck questions.
A denial letter isn't the final word. How to read the reason, gather the right records, write an appeal your insurer has to answer, and escalate if they don't. Includes Lemonade-specific documentation strategies.
A practical vet visit checklist focused on records, observations, and questions to bring so you get the most from those 15 minutes.
A practical guide to tracking pet medications — what to log for each drug, which system works for multi-pet households, and why the tracking log is the record your vet actually reads.
Duplicate vet tests happen when records don't travel between clinics. Here's what to bring and how organized records prevent the repeat.
Compare Librela vs Galliprant for dogs with plain-English treatment context, home observations, side-effect boundaries, and questions for the next recheck.
Numelvi (atinvicitinib) is the second-generation JAK1 inhibitor for dogs with allergic dermatitis. What it does differently than Apoquel, the FDA side-effect data, where to buy it, and what to track at home.
Most pet insurance denials trace back to three gaps in the vet records. What those gaps are, how to prevent them, and what to do if your claim was already denied.
Trupanion, MetLife, Spot, and Embrace all raised rates in 2026. The actual math on whether to keep your policy, lower your rate, or switch to a savings account.
Your dog is eight, nine, twelve. The exclusions are real. The actual math on whether late-life pet insurance makes sense, and what the alternatives look like.
What prednisone does, what to expect in the first week, long-term risks your vet may not have had time to explain, and exactly what to track while your dog is on it.
What the HHHHHMM Quality of Life Scale actually measures, how to score it day by day, and what daily tracking reveals that a single vet visit cannot.
Trazodone vs fluoxetine for dogs: compare situational and longer-term plans, log dated responses, and bring sharper questions to the clinic recheck.
A plain-English guide to your cat's CBC and chemistry panel — what each value tracks, what the kidney and thyroid numbers mean, and when a number matters.
A plain-English walkthrough of your dog's CBC and chemistry panel — what each value tracks, what mildly out-of-range usually means, and when a number is worth a call.
ALT is the liver enzyme on your dog's chemistry panel. What the number means, when a mildly high value is a flag and not a diagnosis, and the questions to ask at the recheck.
A triage framework for cat owners: which signs mean go to the emergency vet now, which can wait until morning, and the cat-specific ones like a blocked bladder.
A triage framework for dog owners: which signs mean go now, which can wait until morning, and how to assess the gray zone at 11 PM.