The PawDesk manual.
How each part of PawDesk works, from the first login to the end-of-day close. Use the contents to jump to what you need.
Getting started
Creating your clinic
Sign up with Google or with your email, name your clinic, and you are in. Every new clinic starts with a 14-day free trial that includes every Pro feature, and you do not need a card to start.
You choose a plan only when the trial ends. Until then, use everything: Ranulfo, the owner portal, Intelligence and the rest.
What you can do
- Create your account and your clinic in a couple of minutes.
- Follow the setup checklist on the dashboard: clinic profile, team, services and reminders.
- Invite your team by email from My PawDesk.
- When the trial ends, pick Starter or Pro in My PawDesk and pay by card.
Bringing your data
Coming from another system or a spreadsheet? The import wizard takes a CSV export of your patients and owners, matches the columns for you and shows every problem before anything is saved.
What you can do
- Upload a CSV from Setup, from onboarding, or by dropping it on the dashboard.
- Check the suggested column mapping and fix anything that does not fit.
- Review the rows with errors before you import; nothing is written until you confirm.
- See your last imports on the dashboard widget.
Patients and people
Pets
Each patient has a chart with species, breed, birth date, weight history, photo, owners and the full medical story: visits, vaccines, tests, conditions, allergies and a health timeline.
Dogs and cats are covered, and so are birds, reptiles, small mammals and other exotics, each with fields that fit the species.
What you can do
- Create and edit patients; PawDesk warns you when a pet with the same name already exists.
- Record allergies and adverse reactions. Prescriptions are checked against them as you type.
- Read the chart at a glance: allergies, weight, due vaccines and Ranulfo's summary up top.
- Mark a pet as deceased or transferred, with an optional condolence email and follow-up task.
- Share a read-only pet portal link or a wallet pass with the owner.
Owners
Owners are the people who look after your patients. An owner record holds contact details and every pet they own; a pet can have a primary and a secondary owner.
What you can do
- Create and edit owners and link them to pets.
- See all of an owner's pets, visits and invoices from their profile.
- Use their email and phone for reminders, receipts and messages.
- Invite them to the owner portal.
Vets and staff
Your clinical team: vets, technicians and groomers. Each person has a role and working hours, so the calendar knows who can take which appointment.
What you can do
- Add staff with a name, role and clinic.
- Assign people to appointments, visits and tasks.
- See schedules and workload per person.
Daily workflow
Dashboard
The dashboard is the first thing you see after signing in. It shows the day: who is coming, who is still in the building, what needs attention and how the till is doing.
What you can do
- Read Ranulfo's morning debrief.
- See today's schedule, the day at a glance and the visits still open.
- Post notices for the team on the notice board, with images, pins, replies and reactions.
- Check today's takings and outstanding balance in the cash flow widget.
- Switch to night mode for late shifts.
Today
Today is the worklist for staff on the floor, built for a phone or tablet. It shows the day's patients in order so you can check them in and move on.
What you can do
- See the day's appointments in time order.
- Check patients in and open their visit.
- Move to the previous or next day, or jump to a date.
Appointments
The calendar for the whole clinic. Each appointment belongs to a pet, can have a vet or groomer, and has its real length, so availability stays accurate.
Owners get confirmations, changes and reminders by email or text, depending on your reminder settings.
What you can do
- Book from the calendar, the list or Today, with suggested free slots.
- Let owners book online through your public booking page, with or without your approval.
- Handle reschedule requests that owners send from their email or portal.
- Tell an owner you are running late with one tap.
Visits
A visit is the clinical record of one consultation. Tap Start and a guided flow walks you through vitals, exam, conditions and notes; you can pause and pick up again at any point without losing anything.
What you can do
- Follow the visit from check-in to check-out with a status bar the whole team can read.
- Write SOAP notes yourself, dictate them, or let Ranulfo draft them from the consultation.
- Add prescriptions, tests, vaccines, consent forms and documents.
- Send the owner a discharge packet in their language when you check out.
Tasks
Tasks are follow-ups: callbacks, results to chase, things to do tomorrow. Each one can have an owner, a due date and a link to a pet or record.
What you can do
- Create tasks from the task list or from a pet, visit or email.
- See what is due on the dashboard.
- Get tasks created for you, for example when a groomer flags a finding or a referral arrives.
Clinical tools
Vaccines
The vaccination radar shows every patient that is overdue, coming due or has never had a dose, across the whole clinic.
What you can do
- Set your vaccine templates and intervals in Setup.
- Record doses on the pet's chart; the next due date is worked out for you.
- Print a vaccination card or certificate PDF, also available to owners in the portal.
- Send monthly vaccine reminders automatically.
Lab tests
Order and record lab work and imaging, and keep the results with the patient's chart and the visit that asked for them.
What you can do
- Create tests from a visit or a pet.
- Attach results and files.
- Record the values: type them in, or let Ranulfo read them off the PDF or photo and check each one before saving. Out-of-range values are flagged against the report's own reference range.
- Follow each value over time: the change since the last result, a trend chart, results side by side in the pet's Health tab, and an IRIS kidney staging aid from creatinine and SDMA.
- Read Ranulfo's summary of a result next to the values.
Pharmacy and stock
Your medicine catalog with stock levels. Prescribe from a visit and the shelf updates itself, so you always know what you hold, what it cost and what runs out next.
What you can do
- Keep a catalog of drugs with presentation, route and price.
- Track stock and set a low-stock threshold per item.
- Prescribe from a visit, with an automatic check against the pet's allergies.
- Filter the catalog by what is low or out of stock.
Hospital stays
The hospital board shows every hospitalised patient on a map of your rooms. Each stay has a treatment sheet with hourly orders and observations.
What you can do
- Admit a patient to a room and move them between rooms.
- Plan treatments on the sheet and tick them off as they are given.
- Read the day grid at a glance during handover.
Referrals
Send a patient to a specialist with a summary of the record, and receive patients from other clinics through your own intake link.
What you can do
- Send a referral as a PDF letter by email, with a secure link where the specialist confirms receipt and replies.
- Share your public intake link so other clinics can refer patients to you.
- Triage incoming referrals from the Referrals inbox; each one creates a task.
Services
Grooming and bathing
Turn on grooming in Setup → Services and PawDesk adds a day board for the grooming team, with services priced by size and their real length on the calendar.
What you can do
- Move each pet through scheduled, checked in, in progress, ready and picked up.
- Take before and after photos and text the owner when the pet is ready.
- Get a warning when a pet's vaccines are overdue before you book a groom.
- Flag a finding (skin, ears, a lump) and the vet gets a task.
- Send rebooking reminders a set number of days after each groom.
Payments
Invoices
Charge for visits, services and medicines. Invoices can be paid at the desk or online through a payment link.
What you can do
- Add lines from your service catalog and pharmacy, or type them.
- Send a card payment link to the owner.
- Record cash, card and transfer payments.
- Export invoices for a period as a CSV for your accountant.
End-of-day close
Close the till at the end of the day: PawDesk adds up what came in by payment method and compares the expected cash with what you count.
What you can do
- See totals for cash, card, transfer and online payments.
- Count the cash and see the difference.
- Keep a history of every close; you can re-close a day if needed.
Communication
Clinic email
Write to owners, keep drafts, see what you sent and read replies to your clinic address, all inside PawDesk.
What you can do
- Compose emails with your templates and clinic footer.
- Read incoming mail, matched to owners when possible.
- Send a notice to every customer at once, for closures or new services.
Reminders and text messages
Automatic emails and texts for appointments, vaccines, birthdays and follow-ups. Texts go by SMS or WhatsApp; if WhatsApp cannot reach someone, PawDesk falls back to SMS.
What you can do
- Turn each automatic message on or off in Setup → Reminders.
- Build reminder workflows, for example a check-up a set number of days after a visit.
- Choose SMS or WhatsApp as your text channel.
- Ask for a review after each visit; good ratings are sent to your Google page.
Owner portal
Pet owners get their own space: their pets, visit summaries, vaccination certificates, appointment requests and a chat with your team. It is included in Pro.
What you can do
- Invite owners from Setup or from their profile.
- Chat with owners from PawDesk.
- Receive appointment requests from the portal.
- Owners can also ask Ranulfo general questions about their pet.
Ranulfo and Intelligence
Ranulfo
Ranulfo is PawDesk's intelligent assistant. He writes the morning debrief, summarises charts and results, drafts visit notes and checks for drug interactions. He is included in Pro.
What you can do
- Read his summaries on the dashboard, pet charts, visits and tests.
- Let him draft SOAP notes from your consultation.
- Turn his features on or off in Setup → Ranulfo.
Intelligence
Reports on how your clinic is running, with a clinic score that sums it up. Included in Pro.
What you can do
- Follow appointment volume, overall and per vet, and see which days will be busy.
- See the most common diagnoses and the most prescribed medicines.
- Check lab turnaround times.
- Read the medicine cost report: units dispensed and what they cost you each month.
Clinic and account
My PawDesk: team and plan
My PawDesk is where admins manage the clinic's team and subscription. Starter covers records, scheduling, notes, tasks and email for up to 5 people. Pro adds Ranulfo, Intelligence, chat and the owner portal for up to 20 people.
What you can do
- Invite people by email and set them as admin or member.
- See your trial status and choose a plan when it ends.
- Pay monthly or yearly by card; yearly gives you two months free.
- Update your card and download receipts from the billing portal.
Setup
Everything that shapes how PawDesk works for your clinic, in one searchable place.
What you can do
- Clinic profile: name, logo, address, timezone and currency, used on documents and emails.
- Language and region: interface language, date format and 12 or 24 hour time.
- Services, vaccine templates, document and consent templates.
- Data health: duplicate checks and records that need attention.
- Audit trail: who changed what, and when.
Exporting your data
Your data is never locked in. Admins can download everything the clinic has in PawDesk as a .zip of spreadsheets, at any time.
What you can do
- Go to Setup → Export data.
- Get one CSV per record type, organised in folders, with a guide in your language.
- Photos and documents are listed with their links.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account from the account menu. If you are a team member, you simply leave the clinic. If you are the admin who pays for the clinic, the subscription is cancelled and the clinic is kept for 30 days before it is deleted.
What you can do
- Billing stops right away and the team loses access.
- Reminders, online booking and referral intake stop.
- Sign up again with the same email within 30 days to restore the clinic as it was.
- Export your data first if you want a copy.