Pet Health Care Guide

    How We Research

    Last updated: October 14, 2026

    This page explains how the guides on Pet Health Care Guide are made: who is behind them, which sources they rely on, where AI fits in, how to report a mistake, and where the money comes from. If something on another page doesn't match what is written here, this page is the standard, and we'd like to hear about the mismatch.

    Who runs this site

    Pet Health Care Guide is run by one person, Justin Manuel Lantigua Germosen, a computer science student and web developer in Almería, Spain. He is not a veterinarian and has no veterinary training. He started the site as a hobby because he is interested in animals and in building websites, and because he wanted to learn how to look after his family's dog, Bruno, better.

    No veterinarian currently reviews the guides. If that changes, the reviewer's name and license will appear on each page they actually reviewed, and nowhere else.

    Where the information comes from

    Every medical or numeric claim (a dose, a toxic amount, a symptom that means "go to the vet now", a calorie figure) should link to its source in the same sentence or the next one. We use the highest source on this list that supports the claim:

    Level Examples Used for
    1. Primary Peer-reviewed studies (PubMed, JAVMA, JVIM, JFMS, VetCompass), consensus guidelines (WSAVA, AAHA, AAFP, ISFM, ACVIM), the Merck Veterinary Manual, AVMA, the Cornell Feline Health Center, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, AAFCO, OFA Any medical fact, dose, threshold, prevalence or number
    2. Institutional Veterinary schools (UC Davis, Tufts, Cornell, Purdue and others) and specialist societies Clinical explanations and when to see a vet
    3. Supporting AKC, VCA, PetMD, RSPCA, Blue Cross, breed clubs Background only, never the only source for a medical number

    We don't treat other pet blogs, product pages or answers from AI chatbots as sources. If a claim can't be checked against a source we can link to, it doesn't go on the page.

    How a guide is written

    1. A real question. Each guide starts from something an owner needs to decide, such as whether a symptom can wait until tomorrow.
    2. Research. The answer is worked out from the sources above, and each claim is matched to the page that supports it.
    3. Drafting. The text is drafted with the help of an AI writing assistant (see below).
    4. Fact check and review. Every medical and numeric claim in the draft is checked against its source and linked inline. Justin reads and edits the whole page and decides whether it is published.
    5. Safety section. Health guides include a "when to see a vet" section that separates emergencies, problems for the next day or two, and things to watch at home.

    How we use AI

    The guides on this site were first drafted with an AI writing assistant, Claude, made by Anthropic. The pages published before October 2026 were drafted that way without yet linking each claim to its source, and they are being reviewed and rewritten one at a time, starting with the most-read guides.

    From October 2026, AI is used under these rules:

    • AI helps with drafting and editing. It is never treated as a source of facts.
    • Every medical or numeric claim is checked by a person against a primary source and linked on the page.
    • AI is never used to invent experience. Anything written in the first person comes from Justin and his family's dog, and nothing else.
    • A person reviews and approves every page before it is published.
    • Some article images are generated with AI. They are labeled "AI-generated image" under the picture and are there to illustrate the topic, not to show a real case.

    Dates

    Each guide shows the date it was first published. The "Updated" date changes only when the content changes in a way that matters to a reader, such as new information, a corrected fact or a rewrite. Fixing a typo or changing the site's design doesn't count as an update.

    Corrections

    If you find a mistake, email hello@pethealthcareguide.com with the page address and what you think is wrong, with a source if you have one. Reports about health or safety information are handled first. When a correction changes medical information, the page's "Updated" date changes and a short note at the end of the page says what was corrected.

    How this site is funded

    Pet Health Care Guide is paid for by its owner. It is set up to show display ads from Google AdSense, which is how it is meant to cover its hosting costs. The ads are chosen and served by Google, are kept visually separate from the articles, and advertisers have no say in what we write about or what we recommend. How ad cookies work, and how to refuse them, is explained in the Privacy Policy.

    The site has no affiliate links, publishes no sponsored content, and doesn't accept free products or payment for coverage. If that ever changes, every affected page will say so at the top, before any link, and this section will be updated first.

    More about our standards

    The Editorial Policy covers what this site is and isn't, and the Disclaimer covers the limits of online health information. For anything else, get in touch.