Pet Care Service Design Case Study
Pet Symptom Tracker
From prescription confusion to proactive care — a UX case study
Role: UX Designer | Duration: 12 weeks | Tools: Figma
The Problem
Pet owners often feel unsure whether a pet’s symptoms warrant a vet visit, leading to costly or unnecessary appointments. Managing prescriptions adds even more complexity.
Original Focus: Simplify pet prescription management.
What We Learned: The real issue starts earlier — during symptom recognition.
Interviews Conducted
We conducted 6 interviews with pet owners and veterinary professionals to understand pain points in managing pet medications.
Key Findings:
Symptom Uncertainty: Owners feel anxious deciding if symptoms warrant a vet visit.
Medication Confusion: Managing multiple meds is complex; tracking relies on memory or scattered tools.
Cost Concerns: Price influences prescription decisions; some owners abandon medications.
Communication Gaps: Challenges relaying instructions to other caregivers or understanding vet directions.
Participant Quotes
“I had to go through the answering system, and there's a couple different prompts you have to answer, because they're an emergency vet. Like, are you having an emergency… Are so there's, six or eight different prompts that you had to go through… finally, I got to the discharged patient one, and then it took me to somebody that answered my questions… they didn't have all the answers…” Participant 2 (24, Female)
“Oh it’s not affordable at all. I actually just had a mental breakdown the other day when they told me that it was going to be $298 for two antibiotics. Yeah, it’s pretty bad.” Participant 4 (24, Male)
“In this past I’ve had multiple customers of mine refuse to buy medicine because of two main factors. The saw absolutely no change in their pets, and the cost was too much for them to handle.” Participant 3 (33, Male)
Journey Mapping
How Might We…
Help owners collect information about symptoms so that they can better explain the what they have observed.
Give pet owners the choice to fill prescriptions based on what matters most to them —whether that’s cost, convenience, or other personal factors.
Support seamless and consistent communication between pet owners and vets?
Top 3 Ideas
Create an app to log symptoms and it gives you a list of at home methods to try first before contacting vet
Create a searchable database of symptom testimonials by users that have experienced and resolved similar problems.
Vet Checkout Experience: List of vetted online options with estimated prices, Could use a decision support tool (cost vs. convenience slider)
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Top Idea Chosen: Symptom Tracker
Service Blueprint
Final Thoughts
As a team, we shifted focus from just prescriptions to holistic care, helping owners act sooner and spend smarter. The app supports lower-cost decisions and more confident vet visits. Using interview data to influence our journey map allowed us to create informed problem statements. Once we decided on the best solution we created our final service blueprint.