Editorial policy

Pet health information can affect real animals, so we hold ourselves to clear rules. This page explains them.

Sources we rely on

We build pages from authoritative, published sources: veterinary references such as the Merck Veterinary Manual; poison-control organizations such as the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center and Pet Poison Helpline; professional bodies such as the AVMA, AAHA and WSAVA; veterinary schools and hospitals; peer-reviewed research; health registries such as OFA; and breed standards from kennel clubs and breed parent clubs. Each page lists the sources it draws on at the bottom.

How content is produced

Pages are drafted by our editorial team with the help of AI writing tools, following a written brief: answer first, plain language, US units with metric alongside, and a source for every health, toxicity or nutrition statement. Drafts are checked against the cited sources before publishing. We never copy text from other websites; facts are reported in our own words.

Veterinary review

Our health, food-safety and nutrition pages are not yet reviewed by a veterinarian, and each one says so. When a named, licensed veterinarian reviews a page, we will show their name and the review date on it.

Hard rules

• No medication doses. Drug choice and dosing depend on your dog and must come from your vet.
• No home remedies for poisoning. We never tell readers to make a dog vomit at home; we point to your vet, an emergency clinic, or a poison helpline.
• No made-up numbers. If a figure isn’t supported by a source, we leave it out.
• No fake experience. We don’t claim to have tested products, met dogs or interviewed experts unless we actually did.
• Commercial links never decide content. Verdicts and recommendations are set before any product suggestion is added.

Corrections

If you find an error, please contact us. We check the claim against sources, fix it if needed, and update the page date.

Photos

Breed photos come from Wikimedia Commons and other photos from Openverse, using only images whose licences allow reuse. Each photo is credited with its author and licence.