60 Pet Journal Prompts: What to Write About Your Dog or Cat

You don’t need to be a writer to keep a pet journal. You need a good question. Here are sixty, grouped so you can open the list on any evening and find one that fits.

The five-line method

On days when you don’t want to think, answer these five and you’re done:

1. Date and place
2. Who joined us
3. What happened?
4. Funniest moment
5. What I want to remember

Everyday life

1. What does your pet do first every morning?
2. Where is their favorite resting place right now?
3. What does the welcome-home routine look like?
4. What sound do you associate with them?
5. Describe an ordinary Tuesday together.
6. What do they watch from the window?
7. What’s their evening ritual?
8. Which room do they choose when the house is busy?
9. What do they do when you’re sad?
10. What’s one small thing you never want to forget about today?

Personality

11. Describe them in five words.
12. What’s their funniest habit?
13. What are they afraid of, and how do you help?
14. What makes them proud?
15. Who is their favorite person, and how can you tell?
16. What would they order at a restaurant?
17. What’s their “face” — the expression only you know?
18. How do they ask for something?
19. What’s their favorite toy, and what’s its story?
20. How have they changed this year?

Firsts

21. The day you met.
22. Why you chose each other.
23. The story behind their name.
24. Their first day home.
25. The first week.
26. The first time they made you laugh.
27. The first trip.
28. The first holiday together.
29. The first birthday or Gotcha Day.
30. The first family photograph.

Adventures

31. The best walk you’ve ever had together.
32. A new place you discovered.
33. The trip you’ll talk about for years.
34. A time something went wonderfully wrong.
35. Their reaction to snow, sand or rain.
36. A favorite café, park or trail.
37. Who you met along the way.
38. What you’d do differently next time.
39. Where you want to go next.
40. The view you shared.

Seasons and celebrations

41. The first sign of spring this year.
42. Their summer cool spot.
43. The autumn walk.
44. How they handled Halloween.
45. Your holiday morning.
46. The family portrait.
47. A tradition you started.
48. Their birthday this year.
49. Gotcha Day reflections.
50. The year in review.

Letters and reflections

51. A letter to them today.
52. What they’ve taught you.
53. How they changed your days.
54. The story you always tell about them.
55. Five things you love about them.
56. What you’re grateful for this month.
57. A promise for the year ahead.
58. What home feels like with them in it.
59. The ordinary moment you’d choose to relive.
60. What you hope they know.

Make it effortless

Prompts work best when they’re waiting for you on the page. That’s why every page of Your Pet Memory comes with a photo frame and its own guided spaces — plus letters, milestones, a timeline and a year-in-review. New to this? Start with how to make a pet memory book.