Give your team everything they need before an animal walks through the door. This animal intake form template captures owner contact details, species and breed, sex and age, vaccination status, current medications, behavioral traits, and the reason for the visit — all in one structured form. Whether you run a veterinary clinic, animal shelter, boarding facility, or grooming salon, this template adapts to your intake workflow.
Free for non-commercial projects, with unlimited forms and responses.
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An animal intake form is the foundation of safe, informed animal care. Whether a dog is arriving for a routine grooming appointment or a stray cat is being surrendered to a shelter, having structured information on hand before the animal arrives protects both the staff and the animal. A bite history flag, a note about a known allergy, or a list of current medications can make the difference between a routine visit and a medical emergency.
This template is designed to serve a wide range of animal care contexts. Veterinary clinics use it to gather pre-visit medical history. Boarding facilities rely on it to capture feeding schedules, medication instructions, and behavioral quirks. Shelters use it during surrender intake to document an animal's background and improve rehoming success. The behavioral traits checklist — which flags bite history, reactivity, and resource guarding — helps staff make informed handling decisions the moment an animal arrives.
Deploying this form through formformform means owners can complete intake paperwork before they arrive, reducing front-desk bottlenecks during busy appointment times. Forms are submitted directly to your team's inbox and stored in your dashboard for ongoing reference. For facilities that serve repeat clients, exportable submission data can be used to build and maintain client records without manual data entry.
Use your own copy to change labels, remove questions and add the details you need. Try the preview alongside this guide to see what respondents will be asked.
Review the starting questions and choices. You can change them in your own copy.
Jane Smith
jane@email.com
(555) 123-4567
John Smith — (555) 987-6543
Biscuit
Labrador Retriever / Domestic Shorthair
3 years / 6 months
45
List any medications, supplements, or flea/tick preventatives and dosages.
e.g., seasonal allergies, hip dysplasia, diabetes, heart murmur.
Anything else we should know — handling tips, sensitive areas, feeding quirks, or medical history not covered above.
Suggested uses, and why this starting point can help. Adapt the questions to your own process.
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Species” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Breed” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Sex” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Approximate Age” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Gathers species identification, injury description, location found, finder contact, wildlife permits, and rehabilitation assessment
Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Vaccinations Current For” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Collects horse medical records, farrier schedule, feeding program, turnout preferences, blanketing needs, and emergency veterinary authorization
Ask for the context needed to understand the request before replying. This reduces the back-and-forth needed to establish the basic facts. Review “Known Allergies or Medical Conditions” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.
Click 'Use this template' to load the animal intake form into formformform — all sections and fields are pre-built.
Adjust the species dropdown to focus on the animals your facility serves — a small animal clinic may remove 'Horse / Equine' and 'Farm Animal'; a wildlife rehab center may add specific species categories.
Customize the reason for visit dropdown to match your facility's intake scenarios — remove options that don't apply and add any specialty services you offer.
Update the vaccination checklist to reflect the vaccines most relevant to your species mix — add equine vaccines or remove feline options if you're a dog-only boarding facility.
Set your notification email so staff are alerted immediately when a new intake form is submitted — especially critical for emergency and surrender intakes.
Share the form link in appointment confirmation emails, on your website's 'New Clients' page, or embed it in your online booking system for seamless pre-visit intake.
email the intake form link in the appointment confirmation so owners complete it from home rather than in a busy waiting room, improving data quality and accuracy.
ensure bite history and reactivity options in the behavioral traits checklist are reviewed by staff before handling the animal, not after.
a generic 'medical history' question misses current medications; a dedicated field for medications and dosages ensures staff have the clinical details they need.
spay/neuter status is clinically relevant for dosing, anesthesia, and disease risk; a single 'Male/Female' option loses this information.
even if the owner is reachable, a secondary emergency contact is essential when you can't reach the owner and need to make medical decisions quickly.
inform owners that this is the place to share any information that doesn't fit neatly into the structured fields, such as feeding preferences, anxiety triggers, or previous bad experiences at other facilities.
use formformform's CSV export to build a historical record for repeat clients, making it easy to compare health and behavioral notes across visits over time.
Collects pet name, species, breed, age, weight, vaccination records, medical history, current medications, and reason for visit
Gathers owner contact, surrender reason, animal behavior assessment, medical records, spay/neuter status, and rehoming preferences
Collects emergency contact, dietary restrictions, medication schedule, behavioral quirks, veterinarian info, and special care instructions
Gathers species identification, injury description, location found, finder contact, wildlife permits, and rehabilitation assessment
Collects foster home environment, existing pets, experience level, animal preferences, temporary care commitment, and foster training completion
Gathers pet temperament, coat condition, matting severity, previous grooming issues, sensitive areas, and styling preferences
Collects adopter household, pet ownership history, veterinary references, home environment, lifestyle match, and adoption readiness screening
Gathers presenting symptoms, injury timeline, current vitals, prior treatments attempted, insurance information, and triage priority
Collects specialized species care, habitat requirements, diet specifics, handling experience, permitting compliance, and exotic vet access
Gathers behavioral issues, training goals, socialization history, aggression assessment, handler experience, and program expectations
Collects horse medical records, farrier schedule, feeding program, turnout preferences, blanketing needs, and emergency veterinary authorization
Gathers daily routine, feeding instructions, medication administration, behavior triggers, emergency protocols, and home access details
Collects origin/destination, transport crate requirements, medical holds, quarantine status, and cross-state health certificates
Gathers species, enclosure setup, temperature/humidity needs, feeding schedule, shedding history, and specialized care requirements
Collects socialization level, play style, separation anxiety, vaccination proof, emergency contact, and daily care authorization
Collects research protocol number, species justification, housing requirements, veterinary care plan, and IACUC approval documentation
Yes. The species dropdown, vaccination checklist, and all other fields are designed to accommodate multiple species. The vaccine checklist includes options for both dogs and cats, and owners can check 'Unknown / No records available' if they don't have documentation.
Yes, with minor customization. Add 'Wildlife' as a species category and include fields for 'Location Found' and 'Finder Contact' in the reason for visit section. You may also want to add a field for initial injury assessment or triage notes.
Yes. All formformform forms are fully mobile-responsive and work on any device. You can send the form link in a booking confirmation text or email and owners can complete it from their phone before they arrive.
formformform sends an instant email notification with all submission details to your configured inbox the moment a form is submitted. You can also view all submissions in your dashboard and export them to CSV for record-keeping.
Vaccination records rarely need to travel by a separate email. Add an Upload field and a photo or scan arrives with the intake itself, up to 2 MB per file, which usually skips the back-and-forth entirely. If an owner doesn't have a digital copy on hand, keep the option to bring physical records to the appointment or email them to your clinic ahead of time, and list your clinic's email in the form instructions as a fallback.
Yes. The reason for visit dropdown includes a 'Surrender / rehoming' option, and the behavioral traits checklist, medical history fields, and additional notes give shelter staff the documentation they need to assess and place the animal appropriately.
Collect patient info, medical history, and insurance before the appointment.
Take appointment requests with date, time, service type, and reason.
Register pets with complete owner, medical, and vaccination records.
Collect signed waivers with assumption of risk and emergency contact.
The classic contact form. Simple, clean, and ready to embed.
Collect pet and owner details before the first vet visit.
Report lost or found pets with location, description, and contact info.
Capture drop-off dates, pet details, and care needs for boarding stays.
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