A quality-of-life record for your dog
Seven things to look at, scored the same way each day, so you can see the shape of a trend instead of the weight of a single hard afternoon.
This tool does not decide anything. It records what you are already seeing, in a form you and your veterinarian can read together. Scoring is based on the HHHHHMM scale developed by Dr. Alice Villalobos for her Pawspice program.
Score at the same time each day. Evenings work well for most people. A dog who is bright at 9am and exhausted by 6pm gets scored very differently depending on when you look, and consistency is what makes the trend readable.
Score what you saw, not what you hope. This is the hardest part, and it is the entire value of the tool. If you soften the numbers, the record tells you nothing you did not already tell yourself.
Watch the direction, not the daily number. One bad day is a bad day. Two weeks of falling scores is information. The strip above is there so you can see which one you are looking at.
Bring it to your vet. Print it and put it in front of them. A dated record of seven specific measures is a far better starting point for a hard conversation than trying to summarise three weeks from memory in an exam room.
Dr. Alice Villalobos, a veterinary oncologist, developed this scale for Pawspice, her end-of-life care program. It scores seven measures — Hurt, Hunger, Hydration, Hygiene, Happiness, Mobility, and More good days than bad — from 0 to 10 each, for a maximum of 70. Her published guidance is that a total above 35 generally represents an acceptable quality of life.
Treat 35 as a reference line, not a verdict. It is a rounded midpoint, not a clinical threshold, and it cannot account for your particular dog, their diagnosis, or what treatment might still change. A dog scoring 40 with a collapsing trend and a dog scoring 32 the week after starting a new pain protocol are in very different situations. The number opens the conversation. Your veterinarian, who can examine your dog, is the one who should help you finish it.
Everything you enter stays in this browser on this device. Nothing is uploaded, and no one else can see it — including us. That also means clearing your browser data, or opening this on a different device, will start you from an empty record. If this record matters to you, download the CSV or print it.