Pet Quality of Life Tracker
A gentle 25-question check-in to help you see how your pet is really doing, spot what is changing, and have a clearer conversation with your veterinarian. Higher scores mean better quality of life.
Questions this answers — what you can actually figure out
- Is my dog's quality of life declining, or holding steady?
- Is my cat having more bad days than good days?
- Which is struggling most: comfort, appetite, or mobility?
- How do I track my pet's comfort between vet visits?
- What should I bring to the quality-of-life talk with my vet?
This check-in
Who you are checking in on, and when. Weight and notes are optional but very useful over time.
Each completed survey becomes one dated check-in. Doing the same short check-in every week (or every day, if things are changing fast) is what makes the trend chart meaningful. Weight matters because gradual weight loss is one of the most objective signs your vet will ask about.
My pet...
For each statement, tap how often it is true right now. 1 means never; 5 means all the time — so higher numbers always mean your pet is doing well. There are no wrong answers; answer for how things are today, not how you hope they are.
These questions are adapted from quality-of-life scales used in veterinary medicine, including The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center's "Honoring the Bond" resources. They look at your pet's whole life — mood, comfort, appetite, bathroom habits, movement, and grooming — because quality of life is more than any one symptom. Some symptoms may be expected side effects of treatment, so discuss them with your veterinarian.
1 Never
2 Rarely
3 Sometimes
4 Most of the time
5 All the time
Quality-of-life index
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Answer the questions to see your pet's score.
0 of 25 answered
Good days & bad days
One tap a day. How was today for your pet, overall?
Memory is kind: after a rough month it is easy to forget how many hard days there were, or to fixate on one bad afternoon. A one-tap daily log builds an honest record that you and your veterinarian can trust. Many vets suggest a simple rule of thumb: when bad days consistently outnumber good ones, it is time for a conversation.
No days logged yet. Tap how today went to start the record.
Where life is hardest
The shape of this check-in across six areas of your pet's life. Bigger is better.
Two pets can have the same total score for very different reasons — one struggling with pain, another with appetite. The radar shows which areas are holding up and which are slipping. If you have logged a previous check-in for this pet, it appears as a dashed navy shape so you can see what changed.
The pink shape is this check-in. Log check-ins over time to compare against the previous one.
The trend over time
Each logged check-in becomes a point. The direction matters more than any single score.
A single check-in is a snapshot; the trend is the story. A slow steady decline, a sharp drop after a treatment change, or a rally on new medication all show up here. Points are spaced by real time, so a long gap between check-ins looks like a long gap. The dashed gray line marks the neutral midpoint (50 — every answer a 3, before any pain adjustment). It is a reference point from the survey's own math, not a medical threshold. The amber dashed line is your own overall feeling from each check-in, shown separately because it is a judgment rather than a measurement.
No check-ins logged yet. Answer all 25 questions, then click "Log this check-in" to start the trend line.
Weight watch
Weight change is one of the most objective signs of health decline.
Record a weight with each check-in and this panel tracks the change. The alert thresholds — more than 5% lost in about a month, or more than 10% in about three months — are common veterinary monitoring conventions for unintended weight loss. Crossing one does not diagnose anything; it means the change is big enough that your veterinarian would want to know.
No weights recorded yet. Add a weight to each check-in and the analysis appears here.
Check-in history
Every logged check-in, ready to print or export for your veterinarian.
Check-ins are saved on this device automatically when you log them (sign in to keep them across visits). Export CSV downloads the full history — including every individual answer — which many veterinarians find genuinely useful at a quality-of-life consult.
Frequently asked questions
No, and any tool that gives you one number for that decision is overpromising. There is no published cutoff for this survey. The score exists to make change visible and to structure the conversation with your veterinarian, who knows your pet's diagnosis and what can still be done for comfort. A falling trend, more bad days than good, or persistent pain are the signals worth bringing to that conversation.
Because quality of life is not an average. Even one severe item — especially pain — can mean poor quality of life on its own, even if everything else looks positive. That is built into the survey's design, so the tracker flags any answer of 1 ("never") separately from the total rather than letting the other 24 questions wash it out.
Your 24 observation answers are grouped into six life areas (engagement, comfort, appetite, bathroom habits, mobility, hygiene). Each area is averaged, the six area averages are averaged equally, and the result is scaled to 0-100. Averaging by area means appetite (3 questions) counts just as much as engagement (7 questions) — otherwise the area with the most questions would quietly dominate. The final "overall, my pet seems..." question is excluded from the math entirely: it is your summary feeling, tracked separately so it never double-counts the answers it summarizes.
Probably the pain adjustment. Pain in veterinary quality-of-life assessment carries more weight than an ordinary question, so this tracker subtracts extra points when comfort is missing: 20 points when your pet is never comfortable and free of pain, 10 when only rarely, 5 when only sometimes. The summary card shows the adjustment whenever it applies. The specific point values are this tracker's design choice for emphasis, not a published clinical formula — the underlying principle (uncontrolled pain meaningfully lowers quality of life) is the part that comes from veterinary practice.
Weekly is a good rhythm for a stable chronic condition. Move to every day or two when things are changing quickly — after a new diagnosis, a medication change, or a sudden decline. Consistency matters more than frequency: same person answering, roughly the same time of day, answering for how things actually are.
Because the trend line only means something if every point measures the same thing. A check-in missing the mobility questions would sit artificially high or low next to complete ones, and the chart would mislead you exactly when you need it most. The final "overall" question is required too, even though it does not affect the index — it becomes your sentiment line on the trend chart. The survey takes about two minutes — the provisional score updates as you go.
A lot, deliberately. It does not diagnose anything, does not know your pet's disease or prognosis, does not account for breed or species differences, and does not weigh treatment side effects against the underlying condition. It also sets no euthanasia threshold — that judgment belongs in a conversation between you and a veterinarian who has examined your pet. This is a structured way to observe and remember, nothing more.
The wording is adapted from quality-of-life assessment scales used in veterinary medicine, including The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center's "Honoring the Bond" program (vet.osu.edu/HonoringTheBond), which is also an excellent resource for end-of-life decision support. The 1-to-5 scoring and the principle that one severe item can outweigh the total come directly from how these scales are used in practice.
This tracker is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not veterinary advice, does not diagnose any condition, and is not a substitute for examination by a licensed veterinarian. Question wording is adapted from quality-of-life scales used in veterinary medicine, including The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center's "Honoring the Bond" resources (vet.osu.edu/HonoringTheBond). If your pet appears to be in pain or distress, please contact your veterinarian promptly. Always consult a qualified veterinary professional for decisions involving your pet's health, treatment, or end-of-life care.
Marty Math by MartinGoetzinger.com
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