Animal Intake, Step by Step

Let's walk through taking a new animal into your shelter, from start to finish — and I'll show you how the A.I. assistant does most of the typing for you.

This is the New Animal Intake form. Notice it's broken into a few gentle steps across the top, so you're never staring at one giant page.

Step one is just the basics. You'll choose the animal type, and give the animal a name.

Then pick the primary breed — and a secondary breed too, if it's a mix.

Add the sex, and a short description of how they're doing.

And if you'd rather not write that yourself, click Draft with A.I. — Pet Friend will write a warm, adoption-ready description from the details you've entered, for you to review.

Step two is the physical picture — color, size, age, weight, and coat.

Step three is medical. You'll record the microchip number, spay or neuter status, and any known conditions, so the health record starts on day one.

Step four is where the animal came from — a stray, an owner surrender, a transfer, or a seizure — along with the date and place.

Now, step five, photos — and this is where the A.I. really earns its keep. You upload a clear photo, and let Pet Friend do the typing.

Everything sits in one A.I. Assistance panel, right here. And the golden rule is simple — the assistant only suggests. You review and tweak everything before a single thing is saved.

Click Suggest details from photo, and the assistant looks at the picture and fills in the species, the breed, the color, and more.

Got a paper surrender form, or a vet record? Choose Extract from a document, upload the scan, and Pet Friend reads it and fills the fields for you.

Or you can just paste a quick note — something like, three year old spayed female beagle mix — and click Fill from text. Your shorthand becomes clean, structured fields.

Before you finish, click Check for a returning animal. Pet Friend quietly looks for a match, by microchip and by details, so you catch a pet you've seen before, even under a different name — instead of starting a duplicate.

And right from here, you can attach one or more forms for the owner to sign, and send them off by email or text to sign remotely.

When everything looks right, you click Complete Intake — and you land on the animal's brand new profile, ready for care, for photos, and one day, a happy adoption.