Health & Symptoms
A Free Printable Breathing Rate Log for Cats and Dogs
A free one-page sheet to record your pet's resting breathing rate, plus how to count it and when to tell your vet.
Health & Symptoms
The One Thing Most Vets Ask You to Track, Whatever Pet You Have
Not every pet needs a diagnosis to need tracking. Why weight is the one number almost every vet checks, and how the method changes by animal.
Health & Symptoms
Why Is My Cat Breathing Fast While Asleep? (And When to Worry)
Often harmless, sometimes an early warning sign. What's normal, how to count it, and when to call your vet.
Care & Travel
Horse Show Day: A Health and Medication Checklist
What to pack and check before you leave the yard, so a busy day away doesn't mean a missed dose.
Medications & Care
Why Some Dogs Refuse Pills (And What Actually Works)
Why the usual tricks stop working, and what to try when a previously easy dog starts refusing.
Medications & Care
Multi-Species Households: Keeping Records for Very Different Pets
A dog, a cat and a rabbit have nothing in common medically. What actually works when one system covers all three.
Health & Symptoms
Weighing a Great Dane vs a Guinea Pig: Why the Method Changes
Bathroom scales, baby scales, weighbridges. The right way to weigh a pet changes completely with size.
Health & Symptoms
Guinea Pig Vitamin C: What Owners Miss
Guinea pigs can't make their own vitamin C. What happens when they don't get enough, and why diet alone often isn't reliable.
Health & Symptoms
Signs Your Bird Is Unwell (They Hide It Even Better Than Cats)
Why birds mask illness so thoroughly, and the subtle changes that come before the obvious ones.
Health & Symptoms
Rabbit Body Language: What Ears, Tail and Posture Actually Tell You
A binky means joy, teeth grinding means pain, and thumping means a warning. The signals worth learning.
Health & Symptoms
Why Rabbits Can't Skip Meals: GI Stasis Explained
A rabbit that hasn't eaten in twelve hours needs a vet, not a wait. Why GI stasis is a genuine emergency.
Medications & Care
Building a Medication Routine for a Horse at Livery
When yard staff, not just you, are giving doses, a routine has to survive handovers and shift changes.
Health & Symptoms
Tracking a Horse's Vital Signs at Home
Heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and gut sounds, and what your own horse's normal range actually is.
Health & Symptoms
Colic in Horses: Why Every Minute Counts
The leading medical cause of death in horses. Early signs, and why waiting to see if it passes is the riskiest choice.
Health & Symptoms
Why Dogs Hide Pain Differently Than Cats
A dog can still wag their tail in genuine discomfort. The subtle signs owners miss, and why.
Health & Symptoms
The Senior Dog Checklist: What Changes After Age 7
What to watch for, and how often, as your dog moves into their senior years.
Health & Symptoms
Dog Body Language: What Tail, Ears and Posture Actually Tell You
A wagging tail doesn't always mean happy. The real signals people misread most often.
Health & Symptoms
Bloat in Dogs: The Emergency That Can't Wait
A dog can go from fine to critical in under an hour. The signs that mean an immediate vet visit.
Health & Symptoms
How to Count Your Cat's Resting Breathing Rate (And Why It Matters)
The 15-second check vets actually want you doing at home, the exact method, and what the numbers mean.
Health & Symptoms
5 Subtle Signs of Heart Disease in Cats
The early changes that are easy to miss, and the ones worth a call to your vet.
Care & Travel
Going Away? Everything Your Cat Sitter Needs to Know
A complete handover checklist, from medication timing to emergency contacts.
Medications & Care
Building a Medication Routine You Won't Forget
What actually works when you're managing multiple doses a day, even on your worst days.
Health & Symptoms
The Senior Cat Checklist: What Changes After Age 10
What to watch for, and how often, as your cat moves into their senior years.
Medications & Care
Two Pets, Six Doses, One Brain: A Multi-Pet Survival Guide
Keeping multiple pets' medications straight without losing your mind.
Health & Symptoms
Normal Resting Breathing Rates: Cats vs Dogs
Why the trend in your own pet matters more than any single published number.
Health & Symptoms
When to Call the Vet Now: The Red Flags That Don't Wait
Most symptoms can wait for a normal appointment. A short list of the ones that can't.
Health & Symptoms
Gradual Weight Loss Is the Illness Sign Everyone Misses
Why monthly weigh-ins catch what a glance at your pet never will.
Health & Symptoms
Why Cats Hide Illness So Well
It isn't stubbornness. It's evolution, and it changes how you need to watch.
Medications & Care
How to Actually Give a Cat a Pill
The honest version, failures included. What actually works.
Medications & Care
Pill Pockets vs Syringe vs Crushed in Food
Three common methods, tried repeatedly. What each one is actually good for.
Medications & Care
Emergency Prep: The 6 Things You Need to Know Instantly
In a real emergency you won't have time to search. Know these cold.
Care & Travel
Questions Worth Asking at Every Vet Appointment
A short, save-and-take-with-you list for the ones easy to forget.
Care & Travel
What Chronic Illness Actually Costs
Managing a long-term condition is a real, ongoing cost. What it looks like, and how to budget for it.
Behind Halo
No Account, No Ads, No Data Collection
Where your pet's records actually live when an app doesn't need your email address.
Behind Halo
Why Halo Is Cream and Rose, Not Clinical Blue
The design decision behind why Halo looks nothing like clinical health software.
Behind Halo
What's in Halo Plus, and Why Free Is Genuinely Enough
Halo's free tier isn't a stripped-down trial. What's free, what Plus adds, and who actually needs it.
Behind Halo
Your Data Follows You: iCloud Sync Explained
How Halo keeps your records the same across every device, with no server reading any of it.
Behind Halo
Built by One Person and Her Cat
No team, no investors, no roadmap meetings. Just an actual need, and a cat.
Behind Halo
Why There's a Halo Over the Paw
The logo wasn't the last thing decided, it was one of the first.
Medications & Care
3 Things You Might Have Missed in Halo
A few smaller features that are easy to overlook, and genuinely useful.
Medications & Care
How to Read a Vet's Prescription Label
BID, PRN, q12h: veterinary shorthand that looks like a different language until explained once.
Health & Symptoms
A Symptom Diary and a Daily Log Aren't the Same Thing
One tells a vet what's wrong. The other tells them what's normal. Most people only keep one.
Care & Travel
What to Actually Pack in a Pet Emergency Kit
Not a generic list copied from a human first-aid kit. What's genuinely worth having ready.
Health & Symptoms
Why Vets Ask About Water Intake
It sounds like a throwaway question. It's usually one of the more revealing ones.
Care & Travel
The First Vet Visit After a Diagnosis
The appointment where everything changes. What to actually expect.
Health & Symptoms
Cat Body Language: What Tail, Ears and Posture Tell You
Cats communicate constantly through posture. Most of it is easy to read once you know what to look for.
Health & Symptoms
How Often Should You Really Weigh Your Cat?
More often than most people do, and less precisely than most people think it needs to be.
Health & Symptoms
Signs Your Cat Is in Pain, Beyond Crying Out
Cats rarely vocalise pain the way people expect. The quieter signs that show up first.
Health & Symptoms
What a Vet Actually Means by "Wait and See"
It can feel dismissive in the moment. It usually comes with an implicit job for you to do.
Health & Symptoms
Cat Vomiting: When It's Normal, and When It Isn't
Occasional vomiting gets dismissed as a cat thing. Here's how to actually tell the difference.
Health & Symptoms
What Your Cat's Litter Box Habits Are Actually Telling You
Frequency, straining, and location changes are all real signals worth noticing.
Health & Symptoms
Why Cats Go Quiet at the Vet, and Why That Skews the Reading
A stressed cat in a carrier isn't showing a vet their normal baseline.
Health & Symptoms
Dental Disease in Cats: The Symptom Nobody Checks For
Extremely common, rarely obvious, and quietly affects appetite and comfort.
Health & Symptoms
What Counts as "Old" for a Cat, and Why the Number Barely Matters
Age bands are useful shorthand, but two cats the same age can be in very different places.
Medications & Care
What Actually Happens If You Miss a Dose
It feels like a crisis in the moment. The right response depends on the medication.
Medications & Care
Storing Pet Medication Properly
Most medications have a specific storage requirement nobody reads.
Medications & Care
Switching Vets Without Losing the Medical History
Records don't always transfer as completely as you'd hope.
Medications & Care
How to Tell If a Medication Is Actually Working
For a lot of long-term medications, there's no dramatic before-and-after moment.
Medications & Care
Compounded Medications: What They Are, and When They Help
A flavoured liquid version of a pill a cat refuses to take.
Medications & Care
The Real Cost of Skipping a Follow-Up Blood Test
It feels optional when a pet seems fine. It's usually the entire point of monitoring.
Care & Travel
Flying With a Pet on Medication
Time zones, cabin rules, and storage all complicate a routine that normally runs itself.
Care & Travel
Boarding vs a Sitter: Which Is Actually Better?
Neither option is automatically right. It depends more on the routine than you'd think.
Care & Travel
Moving House With a Pet Mid-Treatment
A house move is disruptive enough. Layering a medical routine on top needs planning.
Care & Travel
What to Actually Tell a New Vet, First Visit
A first appointment works best with a specific structure, not a general history dump.
Care & Travel
Preparing for a Power Outage With a Pet on a Fixed Routine
A dead phone shouldn't mean a missed reminder or a lost medical record.
Behind Halo
Why Halo Doesn't Have a Community Feed
A common feature to add. Left out on purpose, not as an oversight.
Behind Halo
How Halo Decides What Not to Build
Most product decisions are actually decisions not to build something.
Behind Halo
Why Halo Started as an iPhone App, Not a Website
The reminder needed to actually reach someone at 7am. A website tab wasn't going to do that.