Custom Fields: Track What Matters to You

Every shelter tracks something nobody else does. Maybe it's who sponsors an animal, or when the next vet check is due. Custom fields let you add exactly those things to the forms you already use — so let me show you how.

You'll find them in the sidebar, under Forms. The Forms menu opens up into three tools — your custom forms, your custom fields, and your custom printouts.

This is the Custom Fields page. Along the top, pick which form you're adding to — animal intake, adoptions, fosters, or return to owner. Each form keeps its own list.

Adding a field takes seconds. Give it a name, then pick a type — plain text, longer notes, a number, a date, a simple yes or no, or a dropdown of your own choices.

And here's the part that makes it feel built in. Choose where it appears — a medical question can sit right in the Medical step, a behavior note with the other behavior questions. Or leave it on the form's own Custom Fields tab at the end.

Tick Required if staff must fill it in before the form saves. And for anything you want on paper, tick show on the printed cage card — you'll see that pay off in a moment.

Everything you've added is listed here with its type and its place on the form. Rename a field, move it to another section, or reorder it any time — without losing a single answer already recorded.

Now watch where they land. On a new intake, our Sponsor field sits right inside Basic Information, next to everything else — your staff won't even think of it as a custom field.

Fields you didn't pin to a section get a step of their very own — step six, Custom Fields, right after Photos.

One click, and there they are — filled in as part of the intake, and saved with everything else.

The same fields follow the animal afterwards. When you're editing, each one sits on its matching tab — and the unpinned ones get a Custom Fields tab of their own.

On the animal's page, every answer shows up right beside the built-in details. Here's Poppy — her sponsor, her energy level, and when her next vet check is due.

And because Sponsor was flagged for the cage card, it prints there too — right on the card that hangs on Poppy's kennel. Your reports, exports, and even the partner interface pick these fields up as well.