iCarePets: Pet Crossing Animal Clinic System with Breed Recognition App

Abstract

Pet Crossing Animal Clinic in Malasiqui, Pangasinan relied on paper-based records for customer, pet, service, and appointment information, which created difficulties in record tracking, duplicate entries, retrieval, and data organization. This study designed and developed iCarePets, consisting of a web-based clinic management system and a mobile application with dog and cat breed recognition. The study used descriptive and developmental research methods, while Rapid Application Development (RAD) guided requirements planning, user design, construction, and cutover. Structured interviews were used to document the clinic's manual process and problems, prototypes supported feature design, and a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)-based questionnaire evaluated usefulness, ease of use, and behavioral intention to use. Ten clinic-side testers composed of the owner and staff evaluated the management system, while 60 customers evaluated the mobile application. The management system obtained mean scores of 4.07 for usefulness, 4.17 for ease of use, and 4.05 for behavioral intention, with an overall mean of 4.09, interpreted as acceptable. The mobile application obtained 4.45 for usefulness, 4.40 for ease of use, and 4.38 for behavioral intention, with an overall mean of 4.39, also interpreted as acceptable. The developed system centralized clinic records, supported appointments, service, product, employee, customer, and pet record management, and enabled pet owners to access records and use breed recognition. The results indicate that iCarePets addressed major limitations of the previous manual process and was positively accepted by its intended users.