Merlin 3.4 includes additional patient monitoring with the introduction of BCS recording. It also includes increased visibility of VetXML submissions as well as a multitude of fixes to improve your Merlin experience.
Enhancements
Body Condition Score (BCS)
We have added Body Condition Score (BCS) recording and monitoring to Merlin. Practices can now record a patient's BCS (a value between 1.0 and 9.0) directly from the Patient Details screen, capturing the value, date and surgeon against the patient record. Historical BCS records are maintained in the same manner as patient weight.
BCS can also be recorded during a consultation via the Weight toolbar in the Treatment screen using the new 'Add BC Score' option. Each entry automatically generates a clinical note in the treatment history, recording the date, time, BCS value and surgeon.
The patient sidebar now displays the patient's current BCS alongside their weight for at-a-glance health monitoring. These fields are only shown when a value has been recorded against the patient.
BCS data is fully available in reporting: practices can filter patients by BCS range in the Report Wizard, view BCS and BCS Date in report output, and export these fields to CSV. BCS fields are also available as merge fields in SMS and Document Templates for use in client communications.


VetXML in Treatment History
Submissions made via VetXML — including Microchip Registrations, Insurance Claims, and Lab Reports — are now automatically logged as notes in the patient's Treatment History. This means you no longer need to switch to VetXML to confirm a submission was sent.
Each note includes the date, time, service type, and description of the submission.
Note: Only the initial submission is recorded. Subsequent updates remain viewable within VetXML Integrations.
We have fixed:
Internals Messages;
- Ability to select descending order in sent messages.
- Adding new display name not saving if currently blank
Clinical Notes;
- Short text functionality not working if beneath manual text.
Appointment Reasons;
- Follow up appointment reasons when un-hiding in libraries.
- Free typing of appointment reasons is allowed when configured to not allow and editing an existing appointment
Reminders;
- First name merge field now included in SMS messages
Labels;
- Quantities being pluralised by the presence of a double space.
- Extra s is added to dispensing note under certain scenarios.
Diary;
- No warning shown when booking multiple concurrent appointments for the same daylist practitioner.
- Deleting appointments with multiple slots does not clear properly for other concurrent users.
- Appointment refreshes not acting correctly when appointments are set to cancelled.
- Appointment duration automatically updating incorrectly when editing an appointment
Patient History;
- Consent form's don't display without navigating away or refreshing
Accounts;
- Return payments button disabled when no payments selected.
- Unable to delete opening balance entry.
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