Animal Hospital Anomalies: The Complete Database
Every Animal Hospital Anomaly explained: in-person visual signs, camera tells and photo anomalies, plus the exact action to reject each Skinwalker.
Last updated: June 19, 2026
Anomalies are the reason Animal Hospital is a horror game and not a pet clinic simulator. Most patients at your check-in desk are ordinary animals that need treatment, but a portion of them are Anomalies — monsters wearing the shape of a patient. Admit one by mistake and it awakens into a Skinwalker that hunts you and your patients. This hub is your master index for identifying every one of them.
The three detection layers
The single most useful idea in the whole game is that Anomalies reveal themselves through three independent checks. You run them in order, and the moment any layer flags a problem, you reject the patient.
- In-person visual signs — what you can see with your own eyes at the desk, like three eyes, hollow sockets, sharp or realistic teeth, an unnaturally wide grin, or twitching. These are the fastest rejections; you do not even need a photo.
- Camera anomalies — tells that only appear on the lobby and check-in CCTV feeds: a black box over the eyes, stretched and distorted limbs, a body blacked out into a void, or a figure that stares directly into the lens. Some camera anomalies, like the zoom toward a dark figure, also damage your Sanity.
- Photo anomalies — the most elusive class. After you photograph a patient at check-in, the photo may not match the animal in front of you, may come out as static, or may be a cursed photo with bloodshot eyes and a grin. Cursed photos hurt your Sanity just by looking at them.
The full step-by-step routine that ties these together lives in our How to Spot Anomalies guide. If you only read one page on this site, make it that one.
Why you check in a fixed order
New players make two mistakes: they either reject on a hunch (losing score on real patients) or they admit too quickly (letting Skinwalkers inside). The order — eyes first, then camera, then photo — fixes both. Visual signs are free and instant, so you catch the obvious monsters without spending a photo. The camera catches the ones that look normal up close but break on the feed. The photo is your last line of defense for the patients that pass both earlier checks.
This staged approach also protects your Sanity. Because cursed photos drain Sanity, you only ever take a photo when the first two checks come up clean — and if you already saw a visual sign, you skip the photo entirely and just reject.
What happens when one gets through
Mistakes happen, and the game expects it. If you admit an Anomaly, it will awaken into a Skinwalker at a random moment — sometimes in the lobby, sometimes deep in a treatment room. When that happens, you switch from detective to defender: use a taser or gun from the shop, or interact from behind to take it down. There is even a clever trick: because Anomalies do not lose you points when they die during treatment, deliberately giving a missed Anomaly the wrong treatment item is a quick, safe way to remove it. Full details are in the Skinwalkers guide.
Build the baseline first
Every detection skill rests on knowing what normal looks like. Spend your first couple of shifts simply observing healthy patients: the natural eye count and color, the way limbs sit, the ordinary sounds they make, and how their check-in paperwork matches their appearance. Once the baseline is automatic, anomalies pop out instantly. From there, drill into each detection layer:
Pair this hub with the Tier List to learn which Anomalies are most dangerous if missed, and the Enemies section for everything that is already loose inside the hospital.
Frequently asked questions
How many types of Anomaly are there in Animal Hospital?
Anomalies fall into three detection categories rather than a fixed count: in-person visual anomalies, camera-only anomalies and photo-only anomalies. The developer adds new specific patients over time, but they almost always reuse these three categories of tells, which is why learning the categories matters more than memorizing every individual monster.
What is the difference between an Anomaly and a Skinwalker?
They are the same threat at different stages. An Anomaly is a disguised patient at the check-in desk. If you admit it by mistake, it eventually 'awakens' into a Skinwalker that roams the hospital and attacks you or other patients. Reject it at the desk and you never have to fight it.
How do I reject an Anomaly?
Press the red Shutter button on the left side of the reception desk. The shutter lowers and the disguised patient leaves, adding to your rejected-anomaly counter for a better score.
What happens if I reject a normal patient?
Rejecting a genuine patient costs you score and potential cash, so do not panic-reject. Run all three checks first; if nothing is wrong, admit them. A confident admit is always better than a guess.