Weight tracking
Weight is one of the best indicators of your pet's health. A loss or gain of a few hundred grams goes unnoticed to the eye, but shows up straight away on a curve.
The app keeps every weigh-in for each animal, with its date, and can attach a body condition score and tracking photos to it.
Where to see your pet's weight
Open the animal's profile (Animals button in the bottom bar, then the animal). In the Identity card, a box shows its latest weight and the date of the weigh-in.
- If no weight has been entered yet, the box offers the Add weight button.
- The History link under the weight opens the Weights history screen: the curve, the latest weight and the list of all weigh-ins.
Recording a weigh-in
- Open the animal's profile.
- In the weight box, tap History (or Add weight if there is no weigh-in yet).
- Tap Add in the action bar at the bottom of the screen.
- In the Entry tab, check the Weigh-in date (today by default) and enter the Weight. The field is prefilled with the last known weight: just correct it.
- If you wish, choose a Body condition score and add Tracking photos (see below).
- Tap Save.
The Help tab on the same screen explains how to weigh your pet, how to assess its body condition score and how to take the photos.
Editing or deleting a weigh-in
- Open the animal's Weights history.
- In the list, tap the pencil icon to the right of the weigh-in to correct.
- Change the date, weight, score or photos, then tap Save.
- To delete it, tap Delete in the action bar and confirm.
Only people allowed to edit the animal see these buttons. An animal shared with you as read-only shows its curve without letting you change it.
The body condition score
The body condition score rates your pet's figure on a scale of 1 to 9. It complements the weight: two animals of the same weight can be in very different physical condition.
| Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 à 3 | Underweight: ribs, vertebrae and pelvic bones visible, little or no fat. |
| 4 and 5 | Ideal: ribs can be felt without pressing, waist visible from above, tummy tucked up seen from the side. |
| 6 and 7 | Overweight: ribs hard to feel under the fat, no visible waist, round belly. |
| 8 and 9 | Obese: ribs cannot be felt, fat deposits on the back and at the base of the tail. |
The chosen score appears next to each weigh-in in the history, with its label (for example "5/9 — Ideal").
Tracking photos
Each weigh-in can have two photos: a Profile photo (the animal standing, seen from the side) and a Top photo (the animal standing, seen from above, ideally against a plain background).
Taken again every 3 months, they let you compare how the figure changes, which happens too slowly to notice from day to day. The photos are shown under the weigh-in in the history; tap one to enlarge it.
Reading the weight curve
At the top of the Weights history, the curve shows how the weight changes over time.
- Choose the period displayed: 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or All time.
- Outside "All time" mode, the arrows (or swiping on the curve) let you go back in time.
- Under the curve, four figures summarise the period: the average, standard deviation, minimum and maximum, with the number of measurements.
- If you have entered body condition scores, they appear as a second, dotted curve.
A sudden drop or a steady rise is worth mentioning to your vet, especially if it comes with a change in appetite or behaviour.
Choosing the weight unit
Weights can be shown in kilograms (kg) or pounds (lb).
- Son Espace Santé: menu, Account section, Profile, Preferences tab, Weight unit field.
- Pro spaces: Settings, then Preferences, Weight unit field.
See also the Settings page.
Breeders: a litter's weight curves
In the Breeder app, a litter's profile (see Litters) brings together the weight tracking of all the young.
- In the Young tab, each young animal's Weight button opens its weight history so you can add a weigh-in.
- The Weight curves tab overlays each young animal's curve on a single chart.
- The Weight evolution (kg) table lists each young animal's weigh-ins with the percentage change since the previous weigh-in (green for an increase, red for a decrease).
Weight gain alerts
When at least two young have several weigh-ins, the app compares their average daily weight gain with that of the litter. A Weight gain alerts box flags:
- in orange, a young animal whose weight gain is at least 20% below the litter average;
- in red, a young animal that is more than 30% below the average, or that has lost weight between its last two weigh-ins.
Giving each young animal the colour of its collar
By default, each young animal gets a colour based on its order in the litter. To spot your young at a glance, give each one the colour of its collar:
- In the Weight curves tab, tap the colour dot in front of the young animal's name in the Weight evolution (kg) table.
- Choose one of the 15 colours offered under Collar colour (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, grey, black, white…).
- The chart updates immediately. To go back to the automatic colour, choose Default colour.
The dot can only be changed by people allowed to edit the young animal; on the litter's public page, the chosen colours are shown but cannot be changed.
How often should you weigh?
Adult animal
Once a month is enough: a drift of 200 g a month is invisible to the eye, but obvious on a year's curve.
Growing young
Frequent weigh-ins, at a set time and on the same scales, make the litter's curves comparable from one young animal to another.