None of them is a schedule imposed on you from outside. All eight already exist in your pet's life — the only question is whether they're written down or living in one person's memory.
Nobody remembers dates. We remember stories.
"It was when we moved house." "Around the rainy season." "Just after my sister's birthday." All of that is real, all of it is precise inside the head of the person saying it, and none of it is any use at all when someone asks you when.
This is the list of dates worth having written down. None of them is a schedule imposed on you from outside: all eight already exist in your pet's life. The only thing that changes is whether they're recorded or living in one person's memory.
A loose date is a number. A date with who and with what is a record.
"12 March" says nothing. "12 March 2026, at this clinic, seen by this person" still works in four years, and works for someone who isn't you. We went into that in what belongs on every line; here it's enough to keep it in mind while you read.
1. The day they arrived at your house. The start date for everything else. If you know nothing else about their history, you know this — and this alone lets you say "they've been with me two years and seven months", which is a sentence that opens a lot of appointments.
2. Date of birth — real or estimated. If you know it, write it. If you don't, write the estimate and mark it as an estimate, with who made it and when. An age estimate ages with time; the name and date attached to it don't.
3. The last veterinary appointment. Date, clinic, who saw them. It's the question you'll be asked at the next one, and almost nobody has the answer.
4. The next date you were given. The one that came out of that appointment, exactly as you were told. Not one you worked out, not one you read somewhere. If you weren't given one, that gets written down too: "still open".
5. The last thing recorded as given. What it was, by its full name, and when. Nothing more. What comes next and how often is decided by your vet, not by a list on the internet — this one included.
6. The date of the last weight. A weight with no date is worth nothing. Two weights with dates are something your vet can read; your job is to record them, not to interpret them.
7. The date something in their life changed. A house move, new food, another pet arriving, a different schedule, someone leaving or joining the household. These are the dates nobody writes down and the ones that most often explain something later. You don't have to draw any conclusions — just make sure the date exists for whoever needs it.
8. The date of the last good photo of them. One a year, full body, in decent light, with the date recorded. Useful for comparison, useful if they're ever lost, and the only one of the eight that's also a pleasure to have.
Of those eight, five are on any vaccination card in one form or another. Numbers 1, 7 and 8 exist nowhere, and they're exactly the ones nobody else can give you later: the clinic doesn't know what day your pet arrived at your house, or when you moved, or what they looked like last summer.
If you only write down three things today, make it those.
Fifteen minutes, once:
It doesn't need to be complete today. It needs the place where it will gradually become complete to exist.
These eight dates fit in a notebook, and a notebook works. The problem is that a notebook doesn't remind you, can't be searched, and stays in the drawer on the day you need it at a clinic counter.
Today in Maskotis you can register your pet and keep these dates there — arrival, birth, appointments, what was given, weight, notes, photos. What we're working on is telling you when the date you were given is coming up; that isn't open yet.
And if you're starting from zero because you adopted recently, that's where to start.
Number 1 you can write down right now. It's a date, and you already know it.
Maskotis does not give medical recommendations and this article is not a substitute for a veterinary consultation. What your pet needs and when is decided by the person who can examine them. Take them to the vet you trust, or to the nearest clinic — they'll help you there.
It sounds like a step backwards and it isn't. There are four specific moments where paper wins, which is why printing is part of the product rather than an accessory.
Feature lists don't help you decide. Seven questions that do — including the three no app answers on its home page. And yes, we're one of them.
You're going to post the photo anyway. These five take exactly as long, and in three years they'll be worth far more than the photo.