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Medication sheet
How to write medication instructions for the front desk
A medication instruction is only as good as the stranger who has to follow it at 7 AM. The sheet you write should let a handler who has never met your dog give the right pill, at the right time, in the right cheese, and know who to call if the dog spits it out. It is a writing job, and there is a format that works.
What you need
What you need: the labels, the vet's number and a pen, before you pack anything
Gather every container first and copy from the labels, not from memory. Owners shorten drug names, round doses and remember times as morning and night, and none of that survives a handover. The label has the exact name, the strength per tablet or per milliliter, the prescribed dose and the vet who prescribed it. If a label is worn or a dose has changed since it was printed, call the vet and ask them to confirm the current instruction.
Then collect the numbers: your vet's practice, the after-hours number they use, and your own two phone numbers. On Cape Ann the after-hours answer is often a referral to the 24-hour Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn, and Gloucester's own list of local emergency veterinary offices is worth a look before you write the sheet. Finally, the supplies that go with the drug, pill pockets, cheese, syringe or ear-drop bottle, in a bag with the dog's name on it.
- Every container, with the label readable
- The vet's daytime number and their after-hours instruction
- Your two numbers and a local contact's number
- Whatever the pill hides in, packed with the pills
The method
The method: one line per drug, seven facts per line, then the what-ifs
The sheet has three parts. A header that identifies the dog and the humans. A table with one row per medication and the same columns every time, so a handler can run a finger across a row and have everything. And a short block of what-ifs underneath, because the questions at 7 AM are never about the normal case. Keep it to one side of one page; a sheet that has to be turned over gets half read.
Write the dose as an action, not a quantity. Not 50 mg but one and a half tablets of the 50 mg, crushed into a spoon of wet food. Not twice daily but 7 AM and 6 PM, with breakfast and dinner. The reader should never have to do arithmetic or make a judgment call; the facility's rules about who may do either are theirs, and the sheet should work inside any of them.
- 01
Header: the dog's name, breed, weight and age; your name and two phone numbers; a local contact's name and number; the vet's practice, phone and after-hours instruction.
- 02
One row per medication: drug name as on the label, strength, exact dose as an action, the clock times, with or without food, and how the dog takes it best.
- 03
A column for what it treats and what to watch, in plain words: for the heart, watch for coughing; for the skin, scratching; for pain, stiffness after the walk.
- 04
A what-if block: if refused, try once more in a different food, then call the vet; if vomited within an hour, do not repeat; never double a missed dose unless the vet says so.
- 05
A supplies line: how many tablets are in the container today, how many the stay needs, and the spare included. Send the original pharmacy containers, not a pill organizer.
- 06
A log strip: the dates of the stay across the top, each medication down the side, a box per dose. Ask the facility to tick it and send it home.
- 07
Date it, sign it, and hand it over with the containers at drop-off. At Dogtown, go through it with the front desk, who confirm how medications are handled during the day or the stay.
| Drug (as labelled) | Dose, as an action | When | Food | If refused | Vet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: carprofen 75 mg | One tablet, whole, in a pill pocket | 7 AM with breakfast | Must be with food | Try in cheese once; if still refused, skip and call the vet | Practice name and number |
| Example: ear drops | Five drops in the left ear, massage the base | 6 PM | No | Try after the walk; do not force; note it on the log | Practice name and number |
| Example: eye ointment | A quarter-inch strip in both eyes | 7 AM and 6 PM | No | Wipe the eye first with a damp cloth; try once more | Practice name and number |
Where it goes wrong
Where it goes wrong: the organizer and the dose that lives in your head
The pill organizer is the first mistake, made with the best intentions. A week of doses sorted into little boxes looks foolproof until a handler finds two tablets in Tuesday morning and cannot tell which is which, or whether Monday evening was given at home. Send the pharmacy containers with the labels on and let the sheet do the sorting. If a drug comes in a bottle of a hundred, count what you are sending and write it down.
The second is the dose that lives in your head. You have been giving half a tablet for a year because the vet said so on the phone, the label still says one, and now a stranger has to choose between what you wrote and what the pharmacy printed. Get the label reprinted or a note from the vet; never leave a facility to guess which instruction is current.
- Original containers, counted, never an organizer
- The sheet is the record; the conversation is the summary
- The label and the sheet must agree, or the vet settles it in writing
- A missed dose is a phone call, not a double dose
The Cape Ann version
The Cape Ann version: tick season, the Sunday windows and the after-hours drive to Woburn
Seasonal medications belong on the sheet too. Tick season on Cape Ann runs April to November, and a dog on a monthly preventive that falls due during a ten-day stay needs a line that says the date, the product and whether you want it given here or when the dog is home. The same goes for heartworm prevention, for ear drops after a swim at Wingaersheek and for the anti-itch tablet after a run through the marsh at Essex.
Timing follows our windows. Weekday drop-off and pick-up at 210 Eastern Ave run 6:30 to 9:30 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6:30 PM; Saturday 8 to 10 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6 PM; on Sundays only overnight stays move, 8 to 10 AM and 4 to 6 PM. A 7 AM dose on a Sunday drop-off day is given at home; write down which doses you gave before you arrived and which are the first for us. For emergencies, name your vet first and the 24-hour hospital second, on the North Shore commonly the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn, down Route 128; Gloucester's list of local emergency veterinary offices is linked below.
When to hand it to us
When to hand it to us: the sheet, the containers and a conversation at the desk
Bring the sheet and the containers to the front desk together, whether the dog is here for a daycare day, an Academy day or an overnight stay. Our team confirms at drop-off how medications are handled during the day and overnight, what we need from your vet if anything, and whether the log strip can travel with the dog. If a dose falls in the middle of a daycare day, say so when you book, so the group's handler knows before the dog arrives.
For dogs that are home during the day but need a midday dose, ask the front desk whether an at-home walk can include it; our walkers do 20-, 30- and 60-minute visits, availability depends on your address, and the answer depends on the medication. If the medication is for recovery from surgery, the timeline for daycare and grooming afterward is your vet's to set, not ours; we follow it, and our guide to daycare and grooming after surgery lays out the questions to ask.
- Sheet plus containers, handed over together at drop-off
- The front desk confirms how medications are handled for the day or the stay
- A midday dose at home: ask whether a walk can include it
- Post-surgery: the vet sets the timeline, and we follow it
At Dogtown
Where the sheet gets used
Overnight suites, daycare days and at-home visits, each of them starting with a conversation at the front desk about what your dog takes.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Does Dogtown give medication during daycare or an overnight stay?
Should I pre-sort pills into a weekly organizer?
What if my dog refuses a pill from a stranger?
Do I need a note from my vet?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
One sheet, one line per drug, no guessing.
Book the free evaluation, and bring the medication sheet and the containers to your first drop-off so the front desk can go through it with you.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
