Creating Your First Patient

In VetOS, every pet belongs to an owner. You create the owner first, then add their pets. Go to Owners in the sidebar (or press Alt+O) and click New Owner (or press Alt+N from anywhere in the system).

The owner form asks for: first and last name, primary phone number, email address, and mailing address. Fill in what you have — you can always add more later. Click Save.

Now you are on the owner's profile page. You will see their contact information and a section for their pets. This is where you add the first patient.

From the owner's profile, click Add Pet. You will see a form with fields for: pet name, species (dog, cat, bird, reptile, etc.), breed, date of birth (or approximate age), sex, color and markings, and microchip number if they have one.

VetOS also has a Nose Print feature for dogs — a biometric identification method that uses the unique pattern of a dog's nose (like a fingerprint for humans). If you have a photo of the dog's nose, you can upload it right from this form. The system checks the image quality automatically: resolution, sharpness, and lighting must meet veterinary biometric standards. If the image is too blurry or too dark, VetOS will tell you and ask for a better photo. This is optional but highly recommended for identification purposes.

Click Save, and the patient is now in the system with their own permanent record.

After saving, you land on the patient detail page. This is the most important screen in VetOS because it is where you will spend most of your time during a visit. At the top you see the pet's name, species, breed, and status (active, archived, etc.) along with the owner's name (which links back to their profile).

Below the header, the page is organized into seven tabs that match the clinical workflow: Overview shows everything at a glance — collapsible cards for vitals, medical records, treatment plans, vaccinations, lab orders, prescriptions, and the nose print biometric. Medical Records shows SOAP notes, discharge summaries, and clinical notes from every visit. Treatment Plans shows active and completed plans. Vitals shows all recorded vitals (weight, temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, pain score) with abnormal flags and critical alerts. Vaccinations shows due and overdue vaccines. Lab Orders shows pending and completed lab results. Rx (Prescriptions) shows all medications with DEA schedule badges (Schedule II through V), dosage, frequency, route, refill counts, and status.

On day one you will mostly use the Overview tab. As you get more comfortable, the dedicated tabs let you drill into specific areas without scrolling.

Every time something happens to this patient — an appointment, a vitals reading, a vaccination, a prescription, a lab result, a surgery, a billing event — it is added to the record as a permanent entry. Over time, this builds a complete, chronological history of everything that has ever happened to this pet at your practice.

Here is the key difference from other systems: nothing on this timeline can be secretly changed or deleted. If someone makes a mistake (wrong weight, wrong medication, wrong date), the fix is added as a correction entry. Both the original and the correction are visible, so there is always an honest, auditable trail.

This might sound strict, but it is actually one of VetOS's biggest advantages. If you ever face a DEA inspection, a malpractice claim, or an insurance dispute, you can prove exactly what happened, who did it, and when — because the history cannot be tampered with.

You can search for any patient or owner from any screen in VetOS. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+K) and start typing a pet name, owner name, or phone number. Results appear as you type and you can jump to the record with one click.

From the Patients list (Alt+P), you can filter by species, status (active, archived, missing), and search by name or microchip number. The list shows each patient's name, species, breed, owner name, and last visit date.

From the Owners list (Alt+O), you can search by name, phone number, or email. Each owner card shows how many pets they have registered and links directly to each pet's record.