Pet Items and Pet Profiles

Pet items are animal-level intake records inside a surrender case. They let your team review submitted animal details before deciding whether to link an existing pet profile or create a new one.

What a Pet Item Stores

A pet item can store:

• Name, species, breed, color, sex, size, age, weight, and spay/neuter status
• Medical notes
• Behavior notes
• Reason for surrender
• Urgency
• Internal notes
• Custom animal data
• Optional linked pet profile

Pet items keep intake context attached to the surrender even before a pet exists in your main pet population.

Pet Item Statuses

Use item status to track each animal separately:

• Draft: Information has been collected but not reviewed.
• Reviewing: Staff are evaluating the animal details.
• Accepted: Staff intend to bring the animal into care.
• Declined: This animal will not be accepted from the case.
• Linked: The item points to an existing or newly created pet profile.
• Converted: The item was converted into a pet profile by the conversion workflow.

Public vs. Internal Pet Items

Public surrender forms collect freeform animal details only. Submitters cannot link existing pets or create internal pet profiles.

Internal add/edit forms give staff two modes for each pet item:

• Link Pet: Select an existing pet profile.
• New Pet: Complete the normal pet form inline so PawPlacer can create a new pet profile and link it to the surrender item.

Link an Existing Pet

Link a pet item when the animal already has a profile in your account.

From the surrender profile:

1. Find the item in Surrendered Pets.
2. Click Link Pet.
3. Select the existing pet.
4. Save.

From the surrender add/edit form, choose Link Pet on the pet item and select the pet before saving the surrender.

Use linking when:

• The animal was already entered manually.
• The same animal came from another intake process.
• You need to associate a historical surrender case with an existing pet.

Create a New Pet

Create a pet when the animal should become a new pet profile.

From the surrender add/edit form:

1. Open the pet item.
2. Choose New Pet.
3. Complete the embedded pet form.
4. Save the surrender.

The embedded form uses your normal pet template, including custom fields. Quick fields such as name and intake date appear first, with the remaining pet details available below.

From the surrender profile, staff can also use Convert to Pet on an unlinked item. This creates a pet profile from the item through the conversion workflow.

Work With Linked Pet Items

When a pet item is linked or converted:

• The pet name/photo links to the pet profile.
• The card shows View Profile.
• Staff can click Edit Pet to open the normal pet edit form.
• The surrender remains connected as source context.

After linking or conversion, maintain pet-specific details on the pet profile.

Avoid Duplicate Pets

Before creating a pet, search your Pets list. If a matching pet already exists, link the item instead of creating a duplicate.

Related

• Reviewing Surrenders
• Public Surrender Forms
• Pets