Navigate to: Admin > Client Communication > Pet Portal

Appointment Requests and Direct Booking cannot both be enabled at the same time.

Choose one scheduling mode based on your clinic's workflow.

Enabling Direct Booking is not enough for appointment times to appear.

Provider Direct Booking hours, appointment types, scheduling templates, and booking windows must all be configured separately. Having availability on the regular Shepherd schedule does not automatically make it available through the portal.

Online Payments and Deposits requires Shepherd Pay.

If your clinic does not use Shepherd Pay, this feature cannot be enabled.

Deposits paid through the portal create a credit balance — they do not automatically apply to an open invoice.

Staff must manually apply the credit to the correct invoice after a deposit is received.

The portal reflects Shepherd data only.

Records imported from a previous practice management system will not appear. SOAP notes and full lab results are not part of the client-facing history view.

New client requests and bookings do not automatically create a Shepherd client or patient record.

Staff must create those records after reviewing the request.

The Pet Portal gives clients online access to manage their pet's care. Clients reach it through a unique URL that you share with them — on your website, social media, printed materials, or as a QR code.

Pet Portal settings are organized across five tabs. Configure these before sharing the portal link with clients.

The Overview tab displays your portal URL and a summary of which features are currently enabled or disabled. Use this tab to confirm the portal is active and all settings are correct before sharing the link with clients.

The Customization tab is where you personalize the portal's appearance and landing page.

The Client Settings tab is where you enable or disable each client-facing feature.

The Announcements tab is where you create notices that appear on the portal after clients log in. Each announcement requires a Title and Announcement Type, which determines whether the announcement is visible publicly (before login) or to logged-in clients only. An optional cover photo can be added (recommended size: 1920x1080). Select Save and publish to make it live immediately, or Save as draft to review before publishing.

The ability to create and publish announcements is controlled by user role settings — only users with the appropriate permission will have access.

Announcements are separate from the Default Landing Page Message in Customization. The landing page message appears before login; announcements appear after.

The Insurance & Wellness Marketplace tab lets you enable a pet insurance and wellness marketplace within the portal. When enabled, clients can browse and compare plans from participating providers directly in the Pet Portal. You can customize which providers are displayed and generate a direct access link to the marketplace.

Enabling Direct Booking in Client Settings is the first step, but appointment times will not appear for clients until several other settings are configured. The portal draws availability from multiple places — having time open on the regular Shepherd schedule is not enough on its own.

To configure your schedule settings so they align with your portal, click the Modify scheduling settings link on the Pet Portal > Client Settings tab to quickly navigate there.

Each provider needs Direct Booking hours configured separately from their regular schedule hours. These define the window of time clients can see and book through the portal. A single time block per day is sufficient — you do not need to enter individual appointment slots.

Configure Direct Booking breaks separately. Breaks on the provider's regular schedule do not carry over to Direct Booking. Lunch breaks, meetings, surgery blocks, and any other recurring unavailable periods must be added under the provider's Direct Booking hours as well. If a break is missing, the portal may offer appointments during that time.

One-time schedule changes do not carry over. If you add availability to a provider's regular schedule for a specific day, that change does not automatically extend their Direct Booking hours in the portal. The portal reflects only what is configured in the Direct Booking hours settings.

Each appointment type offered through Direct Booking must have Direct Booking enabled individually. The provider must also offer that appointment type. An appointment type with Direct Booking enabled but not assigned to the provider will not appear for clients.

If your clinic uses scheduling templates, they must align with your Direct Booking window. If a provider's Direct Booking hours are broader than the templated appointment blocks, gaps between blocks may appear as bookable time.

To avoid unexpected available slots, do one of the following:

Scheduling templates must also be active for the dates being tested. A template that begins the following week will not affect today's availability.

The minimum and maximum booking windows control how soon and how far in advance clients can book. Both are found in Admin > Client Communication > Pet Portal > Client Settings.

Before sharing Direct Booking with clients, test the portal using an actual client account and confirm the available times match what you expect. After making any configuration changes, refresh the portal and test again. If times still don't look right after reviewing all of the above, contact Shepherd support with screenshots of the provider's Direct Booking hours, appointment type settings, and the times that are appearing.

Before distributing the portal link to clients, confirm:

The Pet Portal is included in your Shepherd subscription at no additional cost.

Turn off the Active toggle in the Overview tab and click Save. Deactivating the portal makes it inaccessible to clients immediately.

Start with the provider's Direct Booking hours — if none are configured, nothing will appear in the portal. Then confirm the appointment type has Direct Booking enabled and is offered by that provider, the maximum booking window is not set to 0, and the dates you are testing fall within any active scheduling templates. If all of those check out, look for gaps in the scheduling template that may be appearing as unexpected availability. Contact Shepherd support if times still don't match after reviewing each setting.