Pawdena documentation

A WordPress theme for veterinary clinics, animal hospitals, cat clinics, exotic pet vets, grooming salons and mobile vets. Six demos, an appointment request form with surgery time slots and usual fees, a pet age & care planner, wellness plans with a monthly / yearly switch, an emergency banner with warning signs, new-client FAQ, care team profiles and a pet-care blog.

Thank you for choosing Pawdena. This guide takes you from a fresh WordPress site to a copy of the demo with your own details. If something is not covered here, write to support@codememory.com — we answer within one working day.

• Version1.0.0
• WordPress6.5 or later
• PHP7.4 or later
• Live demoOpen the demo

Highlights

• Six vet and pet-care demos imported in one click
• Booking bar in the hero: pick the pet and a day, land on the appointment form
• Appointment requests with pet, species, service, preferred vet, visit type and time slots from your surgery hours
• Usual fee shown on the form for the chosen service and number of pets
• Pet age & care planner: dog or cat age in human years, life stage and the care due now
• Wellness plans with a monthly / yearly switch and a featured plan
• Emergency banner with warning signs, a call button and a pulsing 24/7 label
• Fees list grouped by care category with a species filter (dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, reptiles)
• Service pages with price, duration, who does it, what is included and an at-a-glance list
• Care team profiles with role, qualifications, special interest and consult days
• Classes and events (puppy school, first aid evenings) with places and a session timeline
• Photo gallery with category filters and a full-size viewer
• Opening hours with two surgeries a day and an "Open now" badge
• Reviews, new-client FAQ, steps, numbers, trust strip and a pet-care blog
• 21 Elementor widgets (free Elementor)
• Every section also works as a shortcode
• Call / book-a-visit bar on phones
• Light and dark mode
• Colours and fonts from the Customizer
• Block patterns and every core block styled
• Self-hosted fonts, nothing loaded from Google
• Translation ready, right-to-left support
• Child theme included

What is in the download

themeforest-pawdena-wordpress-theme/
├── pawdena.zip               ← the theme: upload this in WordPress
├── pawdena-child.zip         ← child theme, for your own code changes (optional)
├── plugins/pawdena-core.zip  ← the theme's plugin (also installed from inside the theme)
├── demo-content/             ← demo files for a manual import
├── documentation/            ← this guide, as HTML and PDF
└── licensing/                ← GPL licence, font licences and credits

Requirements

• WordPress 6.5 or later (tested up to 7.1).
• PHP 7.4 or later (8.2 or later recommended).
• For the demo import: PHP memory_limit 256M, max_execution_time 300, upload size 32M. Most hosts already allow this; if an import stops half-way, ask your host to raise these values.

Every plugin the theme uses is free from wordpress.org. Nothing needs a paid licence.

Installing the theme

1. In your dashboard, go to Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme.
2. Choose pawdena.zip and click Install Now, then Activate.
3. Optional: install and activate pawdena-child.zip the same way (see Child theme).

Upload by FTP instead: unzip pawdena.zip and copy the pawdena folder to wp-content/themes/, then activate it under Appearance → Themes.

Plugins

After activation, a notice at the top of the dashboard lists the plugins the theme uses. Click Begin installing plugins (or go to Appearance → Install Plugins), select them all, choose Install, then activate them.

The theme works without any plugin: posts, pages, menus, widgets and search are styled the same. The plugin is needed for the vet features (services, fees list, care team, appointment requests, pet age planner, wellness plans, emergency banner…).

Importing a demo

The import gives you the demo site: pages, services, care categories, care team, classes & events, reviews, posts, menus, widgets and the Customizer settings. Use it on a new site: it adds content next to what you already have.

1. Install the plugins above.
2. Go to Appearance → Import Demo Data.
3. Pick a demo and click Import. It takes one to three minutes; keep the page open.
4. Done: visit your site. The home page, menus and blog page are already set.

All six home pages are imported with every demo; the demo you pick decides which one is the front page and which colours and header the Customizer uses. To switch later, go to Settings → Reading and choose another home page.

Manual import

If the one-click import is blocked by your host, use the files in demo-content/:

1. Tools → Import → WordPress (install the importer when asked) → upload content.xml.
2. Install Widget Importer & Exporter → Tools → Widget Importer & Exporter → upload widgets.wie.
3. Install Customizer Export/Import → Appearance → Customize → Export/Import → upload customizer-<demo>.dat.
4. Appearance → Menus → Manage Locations: set the main, top bar and footer menus. Settings → Reading: choose the home and blog pages.

After the import: your details

The demo uses a made-up phone number, address, surgery hours, services and fees. Replace them with yours, in this order:

1. Phone number and top bar: Appearance → Customize → Pawdena options → Header and top bar. Set Phone number, Top bar text (a short line such as "Mon – Fri 8 am – 7 pm · Sat 9 am – 1 pm") and the Label next to the phone (the demo says "24/7 emergency line"). Every "Call" button on the site uses this number.
2. Logo and site icon: Appearance → Customize → Site Identity.
3. Colours: Appearance → Customize → Colors. The six demo home pages each have their own accent colour (see Page options); clear it there to use the Customizer colour.
4. Surgery hours and appointments: Settings → Pawdena Core (see Opening hours and Appointment requests).
5. Footer widgets: Appearance → Widgets → Footer column 1–4: edit the Contact details widget (address, phone, email).
6. Your services and team: edit the services, care team, classes & events and reviews in the dashboard menus of the same names, and replace the placeholder photos with your own.

Services, care team, events and reviews

The Pawdena Core plugin adds four content types, a Care categories list (for services) and an Event types list (for classes and events) to the dashboard. Each content type has a Details box under the editor.

Care categories (under Services) group services, for example Wellness & prevention, Surgery & dental or Exotics. Each category has its own page at /care/<name>/, and the Care categories widget shows each one as a photo tile with its number of services. The order of the categories follows the order you created them in. Event types (under Events) group events; turn on Show filter buttons by event type in the Events & classes widget to add a button per type.

The featured image of a service, event or post is used on its card and at the top of its page. Use landscape photos at least 1600 × 900 px.

Fees list and service cards

The Fees list widget (or [pawdena_fees]) prints your services like a price list: grouped by care category, with a dotted line to the price, the description, the pets it is for and the price note. It reads your services, so it is always up to date.

• Show tabs to pick one category adds a button per care category above the list (and "All services" to see everything).
• Show the filter by kind of pet adds Dogs, Cats, Rabbits & small pets, Birds and Reptiles buttons: owners press one to see only those services, and press it again to see everything. Only the pets your services use are shown.
• Only these care categories limits the list, for example menu="wellness,surgery-dental".
• Your note (for example "Fees include the exam; medicines are charged separately") is printed under the list.
• Services are listed in their Order (Page attributes in the editor), then by name.

The Service cards widget (or [pawdena_services]) shows a few services as cards with the photo, badge, pets, duration and price (card or compact icon style); the Care categories widget (or [pawdena_care]) shows your categories as photo tiles.

Appointment requests

The Appointment request widget (or the [pawdena_appointment] shortcode) asks for the pet's name, the kind of pet, the number of pets, first visit or registered client, the service, a preferred vet, the visit type, the day, a time, the owner's name, phone and email, how to confirm (text message, phone call or email) and the symptoms or reason for the visit. Pet, day, time, name and a phone number or email are required. Spam protection is built in (a hidden field and a limit on repeated sends) and no other plugin is needed.

• Times from your surgeries: once a day is picked, the time list only shows start times inside that day's morning and afternoon surgeries, up to your last appointment before closing. Closed days say so. The same check runs again on the server when the form is sent.
• Usual fee: when the owner picks a service with a price, the form shows "Usual fee for … about $…", times the number of pets, and says that treatment is quoted after the exam. The saved request gets its own estimate, worked out from your prices on the server.
• Preferred vet: only team members with Owners can ask for this person set to Yes are listed.
• Emergency warning: a short line above the form tells owners to call, not book, when a pet is in danger. Change or clear it in the widget.
• Every request is saved under Appointments in the dashboard, with a counter of new ones. Open a request to see the details and set its status: New, Confirmed, Call the owner back, Seen, No-show, Cancelled.
• Settings → Pawdena Core → Appointment requests: choose the Appointments page (the page with the Appointment request widget), the minutes between times, the last appointment before the end of a surgery, the most pets in one online request, your visit types (for example "At the clinic", "House call", "Video call"), the currency symbol, email alerts and their address (empty = the site admin email), the thank-you message and the privacy note.
• Requests are not confirmed appointments: your reception team confirms each one the way the owner chose.
• Emails are sent by WordPress. If they do not arrive, install an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP; requests are saved in the dashboard either way.

The booking bar

Turn on Show the booking bar in the Hero widget. Visitors pick the kind of pet and a day and press See times: the appointments page opens with both filled in, ready to choose a time. The Book buttons on services, events and the pet age planner open the same form with the service or the day chosen.

Pet age & care planner

The Pet age & care planner widget (or [pawdena_planner]) lets owners pick dog or cat, the age and (for dogs) the size. It shows the age in human years, the life stage (puppy or kitten, young adult, adult, senior, golden years), how often to come in and the care due now, with a button that opens the appointment form with the right service chosen.

• Pet shown first picks the pet: species="dog" or species="cat".
• Choose which of your services the button books for young pets, adults and seniors (for example the puppy & kitten course, the yearly health check and the senior health check).
• The figures are a rough guide and the planner says so; your vet tailors the plan at the first check.

Wellness plans and the emergency banner

The Wellness plans & prices widget (or [pawdena_pricing]) shows one card per plan: one plan per line as Name|Price|Note|Feature; Feature; Feature|yes (to highlight)|Button text|Button link|Yearly price|Yearly note. Turn on Show the Monthly / Yearly switch (it needs yearly prices) and add a badge such as "2 months free". The demo has plans for dogs, cats and small pets.

The Emergency banner widget (or [pawdena_emergency]) shows a pulsing badge, a title, a short text, the warning signs (one per line, for example "Is struggling to breathe"), a big call button with your phone number and an optional second button. Use the dark or accent background to make it stand out.

Opening hours

Settings → Pawdena Core → Opening hours: set up to two surgeries a day (for example 8:00–12:30 and 14:00–19:00). Leave the second pair empty for one session, and every time empty on days you are closed. Add an optional note (for example "Emergencies: call us any time, day or night").

• The Opening hours widget (Elementor) or [pawdena_hours] shortcode shows the hours beside your address and phone number. The Pawdena: Opening hours widget shows them in the sidebar or footer.
• Today's row is highlighted, and a badge says Open now · until …, Closed now · opens at … or Closed. The badge uses the time zone in Settings → General, and it is worked out in the visitor's browser, so it stays right even when your pages are cached.
• The same hours decide which times the appointment form offers.
• The week starts on the day set in Settings → General → Week Starts On; times use the time format set there.

Photo gallery

The Photo gallery widget (or [pawdena_gallery]) shows your photos in a grid, the first one large. Add one photo per line as Image|Caption|Category, where Image is the media library ID or the image address (Media → the photo → Copy URL). With Show filter buttons by category on, a button per category (for example Patients, Clinic, Grooming) appears above the grid. Clicking a photo opens it full size; Esc, the close button or a click outside closes it.

Page options

Each page has a Page options box in the editor sidebar:

• Accent colour for this page: overrides the Customizer accent on this page only. The demo uses it to give each demo home page its own colour.
• Colour scheme: light or dark for this page only (the 24/7 emergency demo is dark).
• Header layout: classic, centered or contact, for this page only.

Leave them empty to follow the Customizer.

Page templates

Customizer settings

Appearance → Customize. Colours are in the Colors section; everything else is in the Pawdena options panel. Changes show in the preview before you publish them.

The site title, tagline, logo, site icon, background and homepage settings are WordPress's own, in Site Identity, Background image and Homepage Settings.

Menus

Appearance → Menus. Create a menu, add pages, services or custom links, then tick a Display location:

• Primary menu — the header. Drag items under another to make a drop-down.
• Top bar menu — the small links in the top bar.
• Footer menu — the links in the footer's bottom row.
• Social links menu — links to your profiles (Facebook, Instagram…), shown in the footer. Add them as Custom Links.

Widgets

Appearance → Widgets. Areas: Blog sidebar and Footer column 1 to Footer column 4 (set the number of footer columns in the Customizer). The plugin adds three widgets, named Pawdena: … in the widget list:

• Contact details — phone, email, address, each with a link.
• Opening hours — your surgery hours from Settings → Pawdena Core, with an "Open now" badge.
• Services list — links to your services; the current service is highlighted.

Building pages with Elementor

All demo pages are built with the free Elementor plugin and the theme's widgets.

1. Create a page, set its Template to Full width, no title, and click Edit with Elementor.
2. Search for the widget or open the Pawdena group in the left panel and drag a widget onto the page.
3. Edit its text and options in the left panel. Every widget has a Background option (light, paper, dark or accent colour) so sections alternate like the demo.

The widgets fill themselves from your content: Fees list, Service cards, Care categories, Events & classes, Care team, Reviews and Latest posts show the items you add in the dashboard. List fields (prices, steps, questions…) take one item per line, with the parts separated by |, as the help text under each field shows.

Elementor's own Google Fonts loading is switched off by the demo import, so the site keeps using the theme's self-hosted fonts.

Without Elementor: shortcodes

Every widget is also a shortcode, so you can build the same sections in the block editor: add a Shortcode block and type, for example:

[pawdena_fees tabs="yes" species_filter="yes"]
[pawdena_planner species="cat"]
[pawdena_appointment title="Book a visit"]

Options are the same as in Elementor. In list options, separate items with || and parts with |. Images take an attachment ID (Media → Library → the number in the address) or a full URL.

Shortcodes: [pawdena_hero], [pawdena_fees], [pawdena_services], [pawdena_care], [pawdena_planner], [pawdena_events], [pawdena_gallery], [pawdena_reviews], [pawdena_team], [pawdena_stats], [pawdena_features], [pawdena_steps], [pawdena_pricing], [pawdena_faq], [pawdena_cta], [pawdena_trust], [pawdena_posts], [pawdena_emergency], [pawdena_about], [pawdena_appointment], [pawdena_hours].

Block editor and patterns

Posts and simple pages use the WordPress block editor. Every core block is styled to match the theme, and the editor shows the theme's fonts and colours. Click + → Patterns → Pawdena for ready-made sections: hero with call button, three services, call to action, questions and answers, three reviews, price table and contact details. The theme also adds block styles: Card (Group), Check marks (List), Eyebrow (Paragraph) and Framed (Image).

Blog

Settings → Reading → Posts page sets the page that lists your posts (the demo uses "Blog"). Choose a grid or list layout and the sidebar position in Customize → Pawdena options → Blog. Posts show the author, date, category, share links (turn them off in Settings → Pawdena Core) and related posts.

Light and dark mode

Customize → Pawdena options → Style and fonts → Colour scheme: Light, Dark or Follow the visitor's device. With Show a light/dark switch on, visitors can switch with the moon button in the header; their choice is remembered on that device. A single page can be forced to light or dark in its Page options.

Child theme

If you want to change the theme's code, install pawdena-child.zip and activate Pawdena Child. Put your CSS in the child theme's style.css and your PHP in its functions.php; copy a template file from pawdena into the child theme to override it. Theme updates replace the parent theme only, so your changes are kept.

Small style changes do not need a child theme: use Customize → Additional CSS.

Translation and right-to-left

Every text in the theme and the plugin can be translated. The templates are pawdena/languages/pawdena.pot and pawdena-core/languages/pawdena-core.pot.

1. Easiest: install Loco Translate → Loco Translate → Themes → Pawdena → New language, and translate in your browser. Do the same under Plugins for Pawdena Core.
2. Or use Poedit: open the .pot file, translate, and save the files as pawdena-fr_FR.po/.mo in wp-content/languages/themes/.

Right-to-left languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian…) are supported: when WordPress runs in such a language, the layout mirrors automatically.

Updating

When a new version is released, download it from your ThemeForest Downloads page. Then either:

• Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme → choose the new pawdena.zip → Replace current with uploaded; or
• replace the wp-content/themes/pawdena folder by FTP.

When the theme comes with a newer Pawdena Core, the dashboard notice offers to update the plugin. Your content, menus, widgets and Customizer settings are kept. Changes you made to the parent theme's files are lost: keep them in the child theme.

Questions

Support

Support is included with your purchase and covers questions about the theme's features and fixing bugs. It does not cover custom changes or problems caused by other plugins.

Email support@codememory.com with your purchase code and your site address. See the changelog for what changed in each version and third-party materials for credits.