A Dog’s Advice for New Pet Owners

So, you might be asking yourself, why is a dog writing a blog about pet ownership on a site for a digital health app for people?

Simple. It’s partly because I want to give an early holiday gift to all the dogs (okay, and cats too) who have new owners. But it’s mostly because my owner Mike seems to need more help than anyone to get his act together. Would it be too harsh to say that somewhere a village is missing its idiot?

Every few months Mike vows to clean-up of all the paper and e-mails in his office related to me.

Vaccinations, vet’s reports, medicine, license information, training handouts, insurance, everything. In the past he’s threatened files, binders, scanning onto Dropbox, and yet the pile of paper is only getting higher and the inbox fuller (1,399 items including 192 unread as of this morning, I just checked).

Yet all day long he’s working hard (we’re not always at the dog park) at a company that has built web and mobile apps to help people ‘be at the center of their health journey.’

You can use the app to record health data, analyze it, set up routines, put in reminders, make notes for future appointments, and easily attach documents and pictures to your notes.

Note to oblivious boy, you’ve made 247 journal entries about your own health this year (yes, I just checked that too), but all my stuff is in a pile? Shouldn’t I be at the center of my health journey too? If only you knew a free digital app where you could store all my information…

Now, this is where all you new pet owners need to pay attention. You’re going to (or already have) be making a lot of decisions and getting a lot of paper and e-mails about your new pet. Later people will ask you lots of questions. What vaccinations does your pet have? Are they spayed or neutered? When? How much does your pet weigh? When was their poo green? How often? And how often do they spit up yellow stuff on the floor? What medication are they taking? When was the last time they took the medication? etc, etc, etc.

Fortunately, Mike’s friend Katherine-Ann just got a cute puppy named Willow, and she figured out in about six seconds that she can put all of Willow’s health information into Zamplo.

The Zamplo team prepared this easy video guide to get started. Click on the link Mike. Then everything will be in one place and you will have it everywhere we go.

CHECK IT OUT!

Then when we start travelling again, we’ll have both of our health records in case something happens. And when something happens to me that you want to ask the vet about (because I will never stop eating strange things in the forest), you can make a quick note and/or take a picture so you don’t forget. You’re almost 55.

Trust me, your memory isn’t getting any better. And if you get organized, you’ll be less stressed, and we’ll have more time for walks and tummy rubs.

Final pro tip. Bacon. I need more bacon.

Happy holidays everyone!