Frequently asked questions

Over 30 million dog blood panels are processed in the US every year by labs like IDEXX and Antech. The results are delivered to pet owners as PDFs with no breed-specific context, no interpretation, and no trend tracking. Vets rarely have time to explain every biomarker. Pawnel fills that gap — putting the insight directly in the hands of pet owners, working alongside vets rather than replacing them.

Absolutely not. Pawnel is designed to work alongside your vet, not around them. We help you understand your dog's results between visits and come to appointments better prepared. Every Pawnel report is formatted for veterinary review — many of our members share their Pawnel reports directly with their vets, who find them useful context for conversations. Pawnel does not provide diagnosis, treatment, or medical advice.

Yes. Pawnel is available on iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play). You can also use Pawnel fully through our web app at app.mypawnel.com on any device.

Wearables track physical activity, sleep, heart rate, and respiratory rate — all external behavioral signals. Pawnel analyzes bloodwork — the internal metabolic picture. They're complementary. A wearable tells you how your dog is acting; Pawnel tells you what's happening inside their organs. Many of our members use both.

The Metabolic Score is a 0–100 composite number that synthesizes 60+ biomarkers from your dog's bloodwork into a single, readable health indicator. Think of it like a credit score — but for your dog's metabolic health. A score of 78 is "good," a score of 55 is "fair," and a score below 40 triggers an urgent flag. Each upload produces a new score, so you can track it over time and see if interventions are working.

The score uses a weighted composite model developed with veterinary internists. Each biomarker is scored relative to your dog's breed-specific reference range, not a population average. Clinically significant biomarkers (like kidney function markers and glucose) carry more weight than minor electrolytes. The model also factors in age-adjusted norms and known breed predispositions — for example, Labradors' glucose thresholds are monitored more closely than lower-obesity-risk breeds.

Standard lab reference ranges are based on population averages across all dog breeds. But dogs vary dramatically. Greyhounds naturally have lower platelet counts and higher red blood cell counts than most breeds — flagging them as "abnormal" would be incorrect. Labradors are metabolically predisposed to obesity and glucose dysregulation. French Bulldogs have broader ALT ranges. Pawnel loads 380+ breed-specific profiles so your dog is always measured against the right baseline.

Our scoring model was developed in collaboration with board-certified veterinary internists and validated against clinical case data. The breed-specific reference ranges are sourced from published veterinary literature and refined through ongoing clinical partnerships. However, Pawnel is an informational tool — not a diagnostic device. Flagged biomarkers should always be discussed with your vet before taking action.

After every scored upload, Pawnel generates a plain-English action protocol that includes:

• A summary of flagged biomarkers and what they mean for your breed
• Dietary and lifestyle adjustments your vet may recommend
• Suggested follow-up testing timelines
• Questions to bring to your next vet appointment
• A formatted summary report you can share directly with your vet

The protocol is informational and should be reviewed with your vet — it is not a treatment plan.

Standard scoring takes under 24 hours after upload. Most results are processed within 2–4 hours. You'll receive a push notification and email as soon as your dog's score is ready. Rush processing is available for Member and Family plan subscribers at no extra cost.

No. Pawnel works with bloodwork your vet has already ordered. Just upload your existing PDF — even results from years ago count toward your dog's timeline. If you don't have recent results, we recommend asking your vet for a routine wellness panel at the next check-up. Most vets run these annually as standard of care.

We support results from all major veterinary reference labs including IDEXX Laboratories, Antech Diagnostics, Zoetis Reference Labs, Heska, Banfield, and VCA Labs. We also accept manually typed values for labs not on our auto-detection list. Supported file formats include PDF (most common), JPG/PNG photos of lab printouts, and CSV exports from in-house analyzers.

Pawnel scores what it has. If your results include only a CBC (no chemistry panel), we'll produce a partial score covering the blood cell biomarkers and clearly indicate which organ systems weren't evaluated. Partial scores are still useful — particularly for trend tracking over time. We'll also flag which additional tests would improve the completeness of the next upload.

Yes — and we encourage it. Historical uploads add data points to your dog's longitudinal health profile. If you have three years of annual bloodwork sitting in a filing cabinet, uploading all of them gives Pawnel much more context to identify trends. Older results will be labeled with their date and integrated into the timeline view.

For a full Metabolic Score, we ideally need:

• Complete Blood Count (CBC) — 10–14 markers
• Chemistry panel — 12–18 markers including ALT, BUN, creatinine, glucose, albumin
• Thyroid (T4) — optional but improves score completeness significantly

A standard "wellness panel" from most vets covers all of the above. Urinalysis, if included, further enriches kidney and metabolic scoring.

Pawnel currently supports 380+ AKC-recognized breeds and breed variants, plus a robust mixed-breed profile that uses the dominant breed characteristics where known. We add new breed profiles regularly as our veterinary team validates additional data. If your dog's breed isn't listed, contact us — we may have it in our pipeline.

Mixed breeds are fully supported. You can enter your dog as a generic mixed breed, or if you have a DNA test result (Embark, Wisdom Panel, etc.) that shows a primary breed composition, you can select up to two dominant breeds. Pawnel will blend their reference profiles proportionally for a more personalized score.

Yes. Age is a key variable in every score. Reference ranges differ meaningfully between puppies (under 1 year), adults (1–7 years), and seniors (7+ years), and also vary by breed since large breeds age differently than small breeds. Pawnel re-evaluates the appropriate age tier every time you upload, so a 10-year-old Golden Retriever is scored with senior-appropriate benchmarks automatically.

Yes. The Family Pack plan supports up to 4 individual dog profiles, each with their own independent breed, age, sex, and health history. You can view a household summary dashboard comparing all dogs side by side. The Member plan supports one dog profile. Need more than 4 dogs? Contact us at [email protected] for a custom plan.

Yes, and many members do. Pawnel generates a vet-ready annotated PDF summary that's formatted for veterinary review — including flagged biomarkers, trend context, and the breed-specific reference ranges used. Most vets find this context useful, and several veterinary practices have begun recommending Pawnel to their clients as a supplement to routine care.

Not directly — but you can share any report via a secure download link or PDF. A vet-sharing portal with read-only access is on our roadmap for later in 2026. In the meantime, the one-click "Share with vet" button in the app generates a formatted PDF you can email or print.

Contact your vet. Pawnel clearly distinguishes between "watch" flags (trending toward a threshold) and "urgent" flags (values outside safe range). For urgent flags, we recommend contacting your vet within 48 hours. Pawnel will provide context on what the flag means and suggested questions to ask your vet — but we are not a diagnostic service and cannot advise on treatment.

Pawnel is not a regulated medical device and has not sought FDA approval, as we are an informational analytics platform rather than a diagnostic tool. Our scoring model and breed reference profiles were developed with and reviewed by board-certified veterinary internists from Cornell, UC Davis, Tufts, and Colorado State. We are also in active discussions with the AVMA regarding industry alignment on AI-powered pet health analytics.

Visit our pricing page and click "Get started free" to create an account with no credit card. You can upload one set of bloodwork and receive a Basic Metabolic Score immediately. To unlock unlimited uploads, trend tracking, and AI protocols, upgrade to Member or Family plan from inside the app at any time.

Yes. If you're not satisfied within 30 days of your first paid subscription, contact [email protected] for a full refund. No questions asked, no documentation required. This applies to both annual and monthly plans.

We accept all major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) and Apple Pay / Google Pay. Annual plans are charged as a single payment. Monthly plans are billed on your subscription anniversary each month. All payments are processed securely through Stripe.

You can cancel anytime from Account Settings → Subscription → Cancel Plan. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. Your data, history, and downloaded reports remain accessible after cancellation. We don't do dark patterns — cancellation takes under 30 seconds.

Your dog's data and all generated reports remain in your account and are downloadable indefinitely. We will never delete your dog's health history without explicit written request. If you choose to permanently delete your account, all data is purged within 30 days of your request in accordance with our privacy policy.

Yes. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). We are HIPAA-compliant by design, applying the same data security standards used for human health data. Our infrastructure runs on AWS with regular third-party security audits. We have never had a data breach.

No, and we never will. Your dog's health data is yours. We do not sell, license, or share identifiable data with any third party for any purpose, including advertising, insurance, or pharmaceutical research. This is a founding principle of Pawnel, not just a policy that could change.

We use anonymized, aggregated data (never identifiable to you or your dog) to improve our scoring models over time — this is what makes Pawnel's longitudinal dataset increasingly valuable and accurate. Individual data is never used in a way that could identify your dog. You can opt out of contributing to aggregate modeling in your account privacy settings.

Yes. Email [email protected] with a deletion request and we'll purge all personally identifiable data within 30 days and confirm in writing. Note that anonymized aggregate contributions to our scoring model (with no connection to your identity) cannot be retroactively removed from the trained model.