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· 4 min read
How to Keep a Pet Vaccination Record
Manesh Jayawardhana
CIO & Co-founder
The boarding kennel needs proof of vaccination and you can’t find the card. The vet has records, but you moved practices two years ago, and the practice before that has closed.
A vaccination record is one of those things that costs nothing to maintain and is genuinely difficult to reconstruct.
Core and non-core
Core vaccines protect against diseases that are serious, widespread, or transmissible to humans. They’re recommended for essentially every animal of that species regardless of lifestyle.
Non-core vaccines are recommended based on risk — where the animal lives, whether it boards, whether it meets other animals, whether it swims in standing water, whether it travels.
Which vaccines fall into which category varies by country, because disease prevalence does. Rabies vaccination is core in some countries and not required in others; leptospirosis risk depends heavily on local environment.
That’s why there isn’t a universal schedule, and why “what does my pet need” is a question for a vet who knows your area rather than for a chart.
The genuinely useful thing a record does is capture what was given and when, so whoever is deciding has the history.
Boosters aren’t all annual
The habit of an annual booster for everything is out of date for some vaccines.
Guidance in many countries now recognises that certain core vaccines provide protection for longer than a year, with revaccination recommended at extended intervals. Others — leptospirosis notably — do generally need annual boosting.
So a schedule where everything is renewed annually may be over-vaccinating for some components and correct for others. Your vet knows which products they used and what interval applies to each.
Titre testing — measuring antibody levels to assess whether protection persists — is available for some diseases and is sometimes used as an alternative to automatic revaccination. Whether it’s appropriate is a clinical judgement.
| Record | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Product and date | Determines the interval |
| Core vs non-core | Different reasoning |
| Reason for non-core | Boarding, travel, local risk |
| Any reaction | Affects future decisions |
Where the record gets asked for
Boarding kennels and catteries — nearly always, often with a minimum notice period before the stay.
Groomers and daycare — increasingly.
Travel — international movement has strict requirements, frequently including rabies vaccination with specific timing, microchipping in a particular order, and documentation. Getting the sequence wrong can mean the animal can’t travel, and the timings are unforgiving.
A new vet after moving.
Insurance, in some circumstances.
In each case the request comes with a deadline, and reconstructing a history from three practices takes longer than the notice you’re given.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Relying on the vet’s records without keeping your own copy.
- Losing the card and assuming it can be reconstructed easily.
- Assuming every vaccine needs annual boosting.
- Booking international travel without checking the timing requirements first — some have mandatory waiting periods measured in weeks or months.
- Not recording an adverse reaction, which is exactly the information a future vet needs.
How to do it with Pet Vaccination Schedule
The Pet Vaccination Schedule records what was given and when boosters fall due.
- Record from the vaccination card rather than memory.
- Note which were core and which were given for a specific reason.
- Record any reaction, however minor.
- Take the record to the vet, who decides what’s needed for your animal in your area.
Your national veterinary body publishes vaccination guidance — worth reading once. Other pet tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
Do all pets need the same vaccinations?
No. Core vaccines are recommended broadly, but non-core depend on lifestyle and local disease prevalence — an indoor cat and a farm cat have genuinely different risk profiles.
Are annual boosters always needed?
Not for every vaccine. Some provide multi-year protection and guidance has moved away from automatic annual boosting for those, while others do need yearly renewal. It’s product-specific.
Why keep a record if the vet has one?
Because boarding kennels, groomers, travel authorities and a new vet after moving all ask for it — usually with a deadline shorter than it takes to reconstruct.
Final thought
Photograph the vaccination card every time it’s updated. Thirty seconds, and it’s the difference between a boarding booking that goes through and one that doesn’t.