My boyfriend likes to joke that he feels like every time he turns around I’m adding new pets to our family. And he’s a little bit right – we are bringing in new re-homed or rescued animals pretty often. At the time I’m writing this article, our animal count is at fourteen!
With all those animals, it can sometimes be hard to keep on track of everyone’s care. Vet visits, medications, grooming, and even gotcha days are easily forgotten in the rush of everyday life. I’m very much a planner at heart, so I’ve created my own system for tracking all of the different aspects of my pet care. Today I’m going to share my 2023 pet care binder setup with you.
Hopefully, you find some tips and ideas – and you can even get this exact system for yourself!
Why You Need to Track Your Pet Care
Have one place to keep all information about your pets will make keeping track of everything so much easier. No more missed medication doses, falling behind on grooming, or losing the vet’s information.
I created my pet care binder to be the one place I could always go to record anything about my pets and look back for any information I could need. I got tired of never remembering when the last time I had clipped nails was or what medication someone had been on a month ago. You’d be surprised how often you need to look back on information related to your pet’s health and it’s very frustrating when you don’t have it.
It also is a great backup plan for any time someone else needed to take care of your pets for you. What if I was in a car accident and couldn’t get home to take care of the pets? Everything someone would need to know to take care of my animals is located in my pet care binder – even step-by-step instructions for a pet sitter.
My pet care binder holds everything – basic info on all my pets, feeding schedules, what supplies I buy and where I buy from, grooming logs, vet visit notes, and, most importantly, our weekly health check worksheets.
Honestly, the best benefit of using my pet care binder has been healthier pets. I don’t forget yearly checkups, it’s much easier to notice any trends in health over time, and I have notes available to share with the vet when I need them.
How to Organize Pet Paperwork
In addition to my pet care binder, I also keep all my pets’ vet visit paperwork. This makes it really easy to go back and find the exact names and doses of any medications, as well as any notes the vet left for us.
I use a hanging file box with individual folders for each pet. Any vet notes, medical records, and receipts get files away to the correct pet. I only recently started doing this after not being able to find an old x-ray I wanted to show to our new vet, and it’s already been really helpful to look back through.
The things I find this system most useful for are finding old medication doses and remembering what procedures pets had in the past related to certain problems. It’s also helpful to read old vet notes on a certain issue if another pet (or the same pet) is having the same issue.
Get Your Pet Care Binder!
You can grab your own copy of the same pet care binder I use for all my animals! Whether you have guinea pigs, rabbits, or anything else I have an option for you. Click the image below for either the guinea pig care binder, rabbit care binder, or general care binder that works with pretty much any animal!
What to Read Next:
- How to Feed Guinea Pig Veggies (FREE printable list)
- How to Find the Right Vet in 4 Easy Steps
- Essentials You Need in Your Guinea Pig Health Kit
