Last updated: 2026-07-16
Agreement
By using paw-charts.com you agree to these terms. If you don't, please don't use the site.
Not veterinary advice
This is the important one, so it goes near the top rather than buried at clause 14.
Paw Charts publishes educational tools and reference material. It does not provide veterinary advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Using this site does not create a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. The site is written by a Certified Veterinary Technician, who is not a veterinarian and does not diagnose or prescribe.
Always consult your veterinarian about your pet's health, diet, weight, growth, or anything they have eaten. Where your vet's judgement differs from a number on this site, follow your vet. They can examine your animal. We cannot.
Our disclaimer sets out the specific limits of each tool and forms part of these terms.
Emergencies
In an emergency, stop reading and call someone. Your veterinarian, an emergency clinic, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661. Both poison services charge a fee. No calculator on this site is an appropriate substitute for any of them.
Use of the site
You may use these tools for yourself, your pets, and your clients if you work in the field. You may print any result and take it to your vet — that's what the print button is for. You may link to any page here freely.
You may quote our material with attribution to Paw Charts and a link to the page. If you're quoting a threshold or a formula, please carry its source and its caveat with it. On this subject the caveat frequently is the substance, and a number stripped of its range is a worse number.
Please don't: scrape the site at a volume that degrades it for others, republish substantial portions as your own, remove attribution or safety warnings from anything you reproduce, misrepresent our output as veterinary advice or as a diagnosis, or use the site in any unlawful way.
Third-party material
We cite veterinary sources throughout — Merck, AAHA, WSAVA, the ASPCA, the AKC, International Cat Care, and named peer-reviewed papers. Those works belong to their authors and publishers, we quote them briefly with attribution as sources, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
The HHHHHMM Quality of Life Scale is the work of Dr. Alice Villalobos and is reproduced elsewhere only by permission of Dr. Villalobos and Wiley-Blackwell. We name the scale and state its factual elements — the factor names, the 0–10 range, the >35 threshold — as facts, and we credit her. The scoring guidance on our page is our own writing. We have not reproduced her copyrighted descriptive text, and if you're building something similar, that distinction is worth attending to.
Our growth figures are our own measurements, digitized from the published WALTHAM growth charts. The underlying charts are WALTHAM's; the digitization and the error in it are ours.
Accuracy
We verify every formula, multiplier and threshold against named veterinary sources and re-check the whole data file twice a year, logging changes on how we calculate. We take that seriously and we think it's the best-sourced set of pet calculators on the web.
It still comes with no warranty. Veterinary guidance changes. Sources contradict each other — we show you where. Individual animals vary from any calculation by up to 50%. Errors are possible despite reasonable care. The site is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind, express or implied.
Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Paw Charts and its author accept no liability for any loss, injury, death, or damage — direct or indirect — arising from your use of this site or from reliance on anything published here. You use these tools at your own discretion and risk.
Nothing in these terms excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Availability
We make no promise the site will be available, uninterrupted, or error-free, and we may change or remove any tool or page at any time.
Advertising
The site may carry advertising. Ads are never shown beside an emergency or "call your vet" result, and never on the quality of life results view — that's enforced in the code. An advertisement is not an endorsement, and we don't control what appears.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms; the date at the top will change when we do. Continuing to use the site means you accept the current version.
Contact
Questions, or a correction with a source attached, via the contact page. Corrections are genuinely welcome and get logged with a date.