Describe how animals arrive. Makeform builds an intake form for identity, source, condition, behavior, belongings, history, and immediate care needs.
Route intake records to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a starting point, revise it, or send it to the builder. Adapt each example to your shelter.
Audience
Staff interviewing a surrendering owner
Format
Guided history with uploads
Prompt size
223 chars
Example form structure
Guided history with uploads
Owner contact
Identity and microchip
Reason for surrender
Health and behavior history
Photos and records
Suggested routing tags
Owner surrender
Stray hold
Immediate care
Separate staff observations from information reported by the person presenting the animal.
Step 1
Identify
source, markings, chip, and photos
Step 2
Observe
condition, behavior, and immediate needs
Step 3
Assign
hold status, kennel, and care route
Step 4
Follow up
records, owner search, and staff tasks
A clearer first record
Give every arrival a structured record with room for staff observations.
Keep description, microchip result, collar details, and photos together for identification.
Route condition, medication, feeding, isolation, and handling needs without burying them in notes.
Record the source, property, documents, assignment, and next follow-up together.
Adapt to each arrival path
Choose an arrival type, then change its fields and routing.
Ask about ownership, veterinary history, behavior, surrender circumstances, records, and belongings.
Document found location, finder, case number, chip scan, markings, hold, and owner-search clues.
Receive identifiers, records, transport contacts, handling notes, current care, and pending tasks.
Capture shared details once, then an individual photo, description, weight, condition, and identifier.
Build the intake workflow
Describe required intake details, review the fields, and publish for staff.
Name your intake paths, roles, and required details.
Require identifiers and show arrival-specific sections only when relevant.
Include staff assignment, kennel or foster destination, hold category, immediate-care flags, property received, and a dated follow-up field.
Share the live form with authorized intake staff, then direct submissions to the inbox, a spreadsheet, Slack, Zapier, or the workflow your shelter uses.
Form vs notes vs static file
Loose notes may capture the story but miss repeatable identifiers. A generated online form combines structured fields, conditional paths, uploads, and narrative space.
Field guide
Use these six sections as a practical starting point. Adjust terminology, required fields, choices, and review steps to match your shelter's policies and record system.
Source & arrival
The arrival path controls the interview. Capture when, where, how, and from whom the animal arrived.
Identity
Structure visible identity details while allowing estimates. Connect a photo and shelter identifier to the record.
Condition & care
Separate reported history from observations. Combine condition choices with notes and immediate-care routing.
Behavior
Behavior varies with context. Record who observed it, the setting, and whether it is historical or current.
History & property
Itemize records, medication, food, carriers, and personal items received with the animal.
Assignment & next step
Finish with the destination, person responsible, next action, and due date.
Related tools
Connect intake with surrender, welfare checks, lost-animal reports, care requests, veterinary appointments, and adoption applications.
Collect owner history, surrender context, care information, records, and belongings before arrival.
Open toolCreate repeatable observation checklists for welfare rounds and follow-up reviews.
Open toolGather descriptions, last-seen details, photos, and contact information for matching reports.
Open toolRoute feeding, handling, supply, enclosure, and animal-care requests to the right team.
Open toolCollect scheduling needs and relevant animal details before a veterinary appointment.
Open toolBuild an application for prospective adopters after an animal is ready for placement.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for shelter and rescue teams planning a more consistent intake record.
It is the arrival record for a surrendered, stray, seized, or transferred animal. It gathers source, identity, condition, history, behavior context, belongings, assignment, status, and next steps.
Include date, staff member, source, animal description, photo, chip scan, observed condition, immediate needs, property, placement, status, and next action. Add conditional fields for each arrival type.
Use an arrival-type choice. Show ownership, history, routines, behavior, surrender reason, and records for surrenders; show found location, finder, case number, identifiers, hold, and owner-search clues for strays.
Yes. Add clearly labeled uploads for identification photos, veterinary records, medication instructions, and transfer documents. For a group, request a separately labeled image for each animal.
Record whether information was reported or observed, who observed it, the setting, timing, and what occurred around it. Pair structured choices with a narrative field.
Yes. Begin with species and show species-specific identity, housing, diet, handling, and care questions. Keep source, arrival, photo, condition, staff, and next-action fields shared.
Yes. Makeform supports unlimited free forms and responses, including generating, editing, and publishing the intake form. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge. You can revise the generated draft, test each conditional path, and change the form as your shelter's intake process evolves.
Responses can reach the Makeform inbox and connect with Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier. Limit access appropriately and define how staff reconcile required details with any primary shelter record system.
Give every arrival a consistent starting record.
