A dog medication log for following your veterinarian’s instructions.

Copy the blank medication record

Use one record for each prescribed medicine and keep the three sections together. Copy them into a document or notebook, then repeat the administration section for each entry. The template documents an existing prescription; it does not supply a treatment plan.

Part A: The veterinarian’s instructions

• Dog’s name: ____________________
• Medication name exactly as labeled: ____________________
• Prescribing veterinarian and clinic: ____________________
• Clinic telephone and after-hours contact: ____________________
• Current written instructions copied exactly, or attached here: ____________________
• Date and source of those instructions: ____________________
• Food, handling, and storage instructions supplied by the clinic: ____________________
• Treatment dates or review date, only as supplied: ____________________
• Original instructions and information sheet kept at: ____________________
• Record prepared by and date: ____________________

Part B: An administration entry

• Dog and medication: ____________________
• Date: ____________________
• Scheduled time, if specified in the veterinary instructions: ____________________
• Actual administration time, including a.m. or p.m.: ____________________
• What happened, including anything uncertain: ____________________
• Administered by: ____________________
• Recorded by: ____________________
• Entry written at, if different from administration time: ____________________
• Observations and when they occurred: ____________________
• Question or clinic contact recorded in Part C: ____________________

Part C: Questions and follow-up

• Question for the veterinary team: ____________________
• Relevant observation and date/time: ____________________
• Clinic contacted at: ____________________
• Person who contacted the clinic: ____________________
• Veterinary team member who replied: ____________________
• Reply received at: ____________________
• Instructions received, recorded exactly: ____________________
• Written confirmation kept at: ____________________
• Person responsible for follow-up: ____________________
• Recheck or other follow-up requested by the veterinarian: ____________________
• Follow-up completed on: ____________________

Check the instructions before filling the schedule

The FDA advises reading medication labels and following their directions. Keep the original label and veterinary instructions available rather than relying on a shortened description in the log. If wording is unclear or two documents disagree, ask the prescribing clinic to clarify.

1. Gather the current label, written veterinary instructions, and any supplied information sheet.
2. Fill Part A from those documents, not from memory. Attach the original instructions if copying would make them harder to read.
3. Ask the clinic about unfamiliar abbreviations rather than translating them yourself. FDA guidance identifies misunderstood abbreviations as a source of medication errors.
4. Choose one working record and tell everyone caring for your dog where it is.
5. Keep medicines in their original labeled containers, as the FDA recommends. The log is a separate record, not a replacement label.

Separate the plan from what actually happened

Use the scheduled-time field for the plan and the actual-time field for the event. Leave administration details unfilled until there is something to record. When an entry is written later, keep its writing time separate from the reported administration time.

• You administered it: enter the actual time and your name after the event.
• Another caregiver reports administering it: record their name, your name, and that the entry is based on their report.
• The facts are uncertain: write what is known and what remains uncertain rather than marking the entry complete.
• An entry is blank: treat it as missing documentation, not proof of what happened.

These are recordkeeping categories, not instructions for deciding what to administer next. Keep observations factual: what you saw and when you saw it. A note such as “left breakfast untouched at 8:15 a.m.” records an observation without assigning a cause.

A handover example without a treatment schedule

This fictional example shows documentation only; its times are not a recommended schedule. Alex has cared for Milo during the morning, and Jordan takes over later. The medication’s real name and instructions would appear in Part A.

• Dog: Milo
• Medication: identified in Part A
• Actual administration time reported by Alex: May 11, 2026, 7:40 a.m.
• Administered by: Alex
• Recorded by: Jordan at 8:10 a.m., based on Alex’s report
• Open question: confirm the follow-up appointment date
• Handover: Jordan will contact the clinic about the appointment and enter its reply in Part C
• Current instructions: attached to the shared record

The useful distinction is who performed the care and who wrote the entry. UC Davis recommends that medication information for a veterinary visit come from the person who actually administers it, who may not be the person attending the appointment.

Keep questions connected to follow-up

The FDA recommends asking which side effects to watch for and when a recheck is needed. Record your veterinarian’s answers in Part C, including who will contact whom. For a follow-up visit, bring the log and the current instructions rather than rebuilding the history from memory.

Before sharing the record, check that each entry identifies the dog, medication, date, time, and person involved. Mark unanswered questions clearly and name the person following them up. Keep completed pages with the instructions that applied when those entries were made.