VCH Vitals — Support & Help

VCH Vitals is a home monitoring and record-keeping app for pet owners. It began as a tool for tracking the breathing rate of pets with heart disease, but it has grown into a broader health diary: alongside breathing rates you can record weight and diet, medications and injections, vaccinations, parasite treatments, coughing, activity, fainting episodes and clinical staging — for one pet or a whole household. It is designed to help you keep clear records at home and share them with your vet. It is a tracking aid, not a diagnostic tool, and it does not replace professional veterinary care.

There are five tabs along the bottom of the screen:

• Count — record and interpret your pet's breathing rate.
• Meds — medications, injections and the optional daily dose schedule.
• Wellness — weight and diet, vaccinations, parasite control, cough, activity and fainting logs.
• Trends — charts that bring your records together over time.
• More — settings, backups, reports, care providers, help and the pet manager.

When you first open the app it guides you through a short three-step setup: Registration (name, species, breed and so on), a clinical baseline (the pet's main health concern, and any diagnosis, murmur grade or staging if relevant), and module selection (which tracking tools to switch on). Based on what you enter, the app pre-selects the tools most likely to be useful — you can adjust everything afterwards.

There is no account to create and no sign-in. The app works fully offline. It occasionally downloads an updated reference list (for medications, vaccines and parasite products) from vetcardiohub.com, but this sends us nothing about you or your pet, and the app works normally from its built-in copy if it can't connect.

Open More ▸ Your pets (the pet manager). From here you can add a new pet, edit an existing one by tapping the pencil beside its name, switch between pets, or open Advanced pet management for merging and bulk deletion.

Tap the patient banner at the top of the screen and choose another pet. Everything below — readings, medications, weight, diagnoses and so on — then belongs to the pet you've selected. Each pet keeps a completely separate record.

As many as you like. Each has its own species, breed, weight history, medications, readings, diagnoses and settings, all kept independent of one another.

Name; owner's name; species (dog, cat, or "other" with a free-text description); breed; sex and neuter status; date of birth (used to work out and display age); preferred weight unit; and — for the parasite planner — the region you live in and whether your pet travels abroad. You can also set a custom breathing-rate threshold and add a photo.

On the pet's edit screen, tap the photo area and choose an image. The photo then appears in place of the default species icon throughout the app. Photos are stored only on your device and are deliberately not included in exported backups, to keep backup files small and portable.

In More ▸ Your pets, tap the pencil beside the pet's name (or swipe the row and choose Edit). Change whatever you need and save. Editing details such as breed or date of birth does not affect the readings and records you've already logged.

Each pet has its own set of feature modules — breathing rate (SRR), medications, cough, activity, diagnosis/ACVIM staging, weight & diet, syncope (fainting), vaccinations and parasites — plus an optional monthly-injection tracker. You only see the tools you've enabled, so a healthy pet's dashboard can stay simple while a cardiac patient's shows everything. You choose modules during setup and can change them at any time from the pet's settings. Turning a module off hides it but does not delete anything you've already recorded; turning it back on brings your data straight back.

Yes. The default alarm cut-off is 30 breaths per minute, which suits most dogs and cats. If your vet has advised a different target for your pet, set it on that pet's edit screen and all the interpretations, colours and alerts will use your value.

They tailor the parasite planner. Your region seeds a sensible default set of parasites to protect against for where you live, and the travel option adds cover relevant to pets that go abroad. You can then fine-tune the priorities, or add your own parasites, in the parasite section.

Open More ▸ Your pets ▸ Advanced pet management ▸ Merge pets. Pick the duplicate, then choose the pet to fold it into. All of the duplicate's records move into the pet you keep, duplicate breathing readings are removed automatically, and the spare profile is deleted. This cannot be undone, so export a backup first if you're unsure.

In the pet manager, swipe the pet's row and choose Delete (or use Advanced pet management to select and delete several at once). You'll be asked to confirm.

Everything for that pet — every breathing, medication, weight, diet, vaccine, parasite, cough, activity, fainting and diagnostic record. Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Because your data lives only on your device, there is no server copy to recover from, so always export a backup before deleting anything you might want later.

Open the Count tab, choose whether your pet is asleep or resting, then tap the lungs once for every breath — one full rise and fall of the chest — until the timer ends. The app works out the per-minute rate and interprets it against your pet's threshold. If you already know a rate (for example one your vet counted), use "Enter a rate manually".

A rate counted while your pet is genuinely asleep is the most reliable, because sleep removes the effects of activity, excitement and panting. "Resting" means awake but settled and calm. Both should sit comfortably under 30 breaths per minute; where the two differ, the sleeping rate is the more dependable indicator. Each reading is tagged with a small moon (asleep) or sofa (resting) icon in the log.

For both dogs and cats, a sleeping or resting rate should consistently be under 30 breaths per minute. Rates between 30 and 40 are borderline and worth recounting when your pet is settled; rates consistently over 40 warrant veterinary attention.

The app flags a rate at or just above your pet's threshold (by default 30–39) as borderline. A single borderline reading is not an emergency — recount when your pet is calm or asleep and watch the trend. A rate that stays up, or climbs, warrants a call to your vet.

If your pet is genuinely asleep (not dreaming or overly warm) and the rate is consistently over 40 breaths per minute — especially with a known heart murmur or heart disease — this may be an emergency. Contact your veterinary surgeon straight away.

Alongside the rate you can optionally note how hard your pet is working to breathe, on a simple 1–5 scale. A rising effort score, especially with a rising rate, is useful context for your vet. Leave it blank if you're not sure.

Open the Meds tab and add a medication. You can search the built-in formulary by generic or brand name, or type your own. Record the dose, strength and how often it's given, and optionally the times of day.

If you set the times a medication is given, those doses appear on the Meds ▸ Daily schedule as a checklist to tick off through the day. It's an optional aid for busy multi-dose routines — you don't have to use it to keep a medication record.

No. Any dose, mg/kg figure or medication warning is a convenience calculation based only on what you've entered, and can be wrong if the weight, dose or dates are incomplete or out of date. It is not a prescribing recommendation. Never start, stop or adjust any medication because of the app — always follow your vet's written prescription and the product labelling.

Brand and product names are included only so you can record accurately what your pet has been prescribed. Their presence is not a recommendation, endorsement or advertisement, and does not imply a product is suitable or available for your pet. All trade names belong to their respective owners.

For pets on regular injectable treatments (such as certain monthly antibody injections), you can switch on an injection tracker to log each injection and see when the next one is due. It's off by default and can be enabled per pet.

In the Wellness tab, open Weight & diet and add a weight for the day. There is one record per day, so re-entering a weight on the same day updates that day's figure rather than creating a duplicate. Weight is optional — you can keep a diet note without one.

Yes. Alongside weight you can record a diet note, so changes in food or appetite sit on the same timeline as weight and can be reviewed together.

Whichever you prefer — set kilograms or pounds per pet. Weights display in your chosen unit throughout the app and in reports.

In the Wellness tab, open Vaccinations and add each vaccine with the date it was given. You can set whether a vaccine is due annually or every three years, and the app works out and displays when the next one is due.

Yes, if you allow notifications. The app can remind you before a vaccine is due — by default at 9am, seven days ahead and again on the day. You can turn these reminders on or off in Settings ▸ Notifications.

Based on your region and whether your pet travels, the app suggests the parasites worth protecting against and lets you record each flea, tick and worm treatment. It then shows your current coverage and when the next treatment is due.

Yes. You can add your own parasites and set your coverage priorities, so the planner reflects exactly what your vet has advised for your pet.

Yes, if notifications are allowed — on the same seven-days-ahead-and-on-the-day basis as vaccines, adjustable in Settings ▸ Notifications.

In the Wellness tab, open the cough log and record when a cough happened, along with its frequency, character and severity. Tracking coughing over time — alongside breathing rate — helps your vet tell cardiac from respiratory causes apart. Any new, worsening or persistent cough warrants veterinary assessment.

A cough can come from heart disease, airway disease, or both, and doesn't always go with a raised breathing rate. Logging the cough gives your vet useful detail; have any persistent or worsening cough checked.

You can log walks and exercise, including a timed walk and distance, to keep an eye on exercise tolerance over time.

Use the syncope log to capture what happened, when, and what triggered it. Good detail helps your vet distinguish fainting (a brief drop in blood flow to the brain, with quick, complete recovery) from a seizure (neurological, often with limb paddling or disorientation afterwards).

You can note your pet's cardiac diagnosis, any heart-murmur grade, and their ACVIM stage over time, so changes are easy to see and share.

They describe how heart disease progresses. Stage A: at risk, no detectable disease. Stage B: a murmur or structural change without signs (B1 without, B2 with heart enlargement). Stage C: current or previous signs of heart failure. Stage D: advanced disease that no longer responds well to standard treatment. Recording the stage over time makes the trend clear. These entries are for record-keeping and discussion with your vet — the app does not assign a stage itself.

It brings your records together as charts over time — breathing rate, weight, and other tracked measures — so you can see the direction of travel at a glance rather than reading through individual entries. Each pet's home screen also shows quick charts for its enabled modules.

Open More ▸ Export for your vet. Choose the date range and which sections to include, then share the report as a PDF or CSV, or email it straight to a saved care provider. The report is a clear, sectioned summary of what you've recorded, designed to open in any spreadsheet or PDF app.

A report is a readable summary (PDF or CSV) for your vet. A backup is a complete data file for safekeeping or moving your records to another device — see the next section.

In More ▸ Care providers you can save your vet, cardiologist or emergency clinic for quick calling or emailing, and to send reports straight to them. These contacts are stored only on your device and are not included in pet-data backups.

Everything is stored only on your own device. There is no account, no server and no cloud sync run by us — we cannot see your records and cannot recover them for you. That makes your data private, but it also means keeping your own backups is important.

Use More ▸ Export full backup to save a backup file (for example to Files or iCloud Drive). Do this from time to time, and always before you reset, change or upgrade your phone.

Save a full backup from your old phone, then on the new phone use Import backup and choose that file.

Yes. The backup file is compatible with the VetCardioHub web app, so you can transfer a pet's history between the app and the website in either direction.

Yes — deleting the app, or losing or resetting the device, permanently removes your records unless they're captured in your device's own backups or in a backup file you've exported. Keep an exported backup somewhere safe.

With notifications allowed, the app can remind you before a vaccine or parasite treatment is due, and when a medication is about to run out or expire — by default at 9am, seven days ahead and again on the day. Optional dose-time reminders (off by default) repeat at the times you set on a medication.

Each type can be switched on or off in Settings ▸ Notifications. If you see no reminders at all, check that notifications are enabled for VCH Vitals in your iPhone's Settings ▸ Notifications.

Check that notifications are allowed for VCH Vitals in your iPhone's Settings ▸ Notifications, and that the relevant reminder type is switched on in the app's Settings ▸ Notifications. Reminders are also only scheduled where a due date exists (for example, a vaccine with a next-due date).

Make sure you're selecting the backup file the app exported (not a report/PDF/CSV). If it still won't open, email the file to us and we'll take a look.

Its module is probably switched off for that pet. Open the pet's settings and enable the module — any data you recorded before will reappear.

Email info@vetcardiohub.com with your device model, iOS version and app version (More ▸ Settings), and a short description of the problem.