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Clients & Patients

Patient Owners and Relationships

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A patient in viggoVet can have more than one owner. A family dog might belong to two clients (each spouse), or a shelter animal might be fostered by one person and owned by the shelter itself. The Owners tab lets you add, edit, and prioritize these relationships so you always know who to call and what role they play in the patient’s care.

Opening the Owners Tab

  1. From the main side bar, open “patients”, under “accounts”
  2. Search for the patient in the global search
  3. Open the patient’s row
  4. Open the “owners” tab between “appointments” and “reminders”

The Owners tab displays all people and businesses connected to this patient as individual cards. At the top you’ll find a Sort By dropdown and a Search field.

Owner Card Layout

Each owner card displays:

Element

Description

Avatar

Profile photo or default placeholder

Type Badge

“Client” (purple) for individual people, “Entity” (blue) for organizations

Name

The client’s or entity’s name

Relation to patient

The relationship type (e.g., “is owner of”, “is fostered by”, “is previously fostered by”)

Added at

Date and time when this owner was linked to the patient

Crown icon

Appears next to the primary contact

Pencil icon

Opens the edit modal for this relationship

Telephone icon

To call the client directly with their listed number

Adding an Owner:

  1. On the Owners tab, click the button to add a new owner.
  2. The Owner modal opens.
  3. Select the Type: Client or Entity.
  4. In the Client dropdown (or Entity dropdown if you chose Entity), search for the person or organization. Entries display in “ID-Name (phone)” format (e.g., “176-Micaela Wolff (50-856-99234827)”).
  5. Choose a Relation from the dropdown. Options include “is owner of,” “is fostered by,” “is previously fostered by,” and others.
  6. Check Is the primary Contact? if this should be the main person your clinic contacts about the patient.
  7. Click Save.

Setting a Client as the Primary Contact:

The primary contact is marked with a crown icon on their card. Their name, location, email, and phone number also appear in the patient’s left sidebar under the OWNER section for quick access.

To change the primary contact:

  1. Click the pencil icon on the card of the owner you want to make primary.
  2. In the Owner modal, check Is the primary Contact?
  3. Click Save.

The crown icon moves to the new primary owner, and the patient sidebar updates to show their contact details.

Relationship Types

Relationship types describe how the owner is connected to the patient. Common options include:

Relationship to Patient

When to Use

Is Owner of

The standard ownership relationship

Referred

The person or entity that referred this patient to your clinic

Is Fostered by

A person or business currently fostering the animal temporarily

Is Prior Owner of

A previous owner who no longer has the animal but you want to keep on record

Is Previously Fostered by

A past foster relationship you want to keep on record

Is Adopted by

The person or business that adopted the animal

Is Emergency Contact for

A person designated as the emergency contact for this patient

Your clinic may have additional relation types configured by the administrator.

Entities as Owners

Entities (shelters, rescue organizations, referral clinics) can own or foster patients. When you select Entity as the type in the Owner modal, the dropdown switches to show registered businesses instead of individual clients. Everything else works the same: you pick the business, set the relation, and optionally mark it as the primary contact.

The Alerts Box

This box appears permanently under the patient’s information card, it shows clinical alerts, dietary instructions, and notes. This gives anyone reviewing the Owners tab immediate visibility into important clinical reminders without switching tabs.

Section

What it shows

Alerts

Clinical alerts (e.g., “Very sensitive”)

Diet

Dietary instructions (e.g., “Eating Kidney Friendly food, dry food”)

Notes

Notes from the patient record (e.g., “Sample Note”)

Patient’s Owner Clickable Section:

The patient’s left sidebar includes an OWNER section that shows the primary owner’s details:

  • Name
  • Photo
  • Email
  • Phone Number
  • Location
  • Client number with status (active, inactive)
  • Quick access buttons to call, message or add a new appointment
  • Three-dot dropdown menu to edit, merge, export or delete client

This information updates automatically when you change the primary contact.

What to do if something goes wrong?

You can’t find the client or business in the dropdown. The person or organization must already exist as a record in viggoVet. Go to the Clients section and create their profile first, then return to the Owners tab to link them.

Two owners both show a crown icon. Only one owner should be primary. Edit one of them, uncheck Is the primary Contact?, and save. Refresh the page if the display doesn’t update immediately.

You linked the wrong client to the patient. Click the pencil icon on that owner’s card, then remove the relationship. Add the correct client using the modal.

The OWNER section in the sidebar shows outdated contact info. The sidebar pulls from the primary owner’s client profile. Update the client’s profile directly (email, phone, address) and the sidebar will reflect the changes.

Note: Contact the viggoVet help if any of these problems persist after following the instructions.