Pet owners have never had more information at their fingertips. Knowing which information deserves our trust is becoming the harder skill.
A strange symptom at 11pm. A question about what your dog can eat. A supplement you keep seeing online. A behaviour your cat has suddenly developed.
For many pet owners, the first response is now to reach for a phone.
The answer might come from Google, TikTok, Reddit, Instagram or, increasingly, AI. Vets remain the most widely used source of pet-care advice in the UK, but they now sit within a much wider information ecosystem. (Source:Β RSPCA)
Pet owners are increasingly moving between professional advice, lived experience, social content and AI before deciding what to do next. Each source offers something different, which makes understanding where its authority comes from increasingly important.
1. Authority in pet care is becoming more distributed
For a long time, the information hierarchy around pet care was relatively simple. Your vet sat at the top, supported by breeders, pet shops, books and recommendations from other owners.
The internet expanded that world. Social media and AI have expanded it again.
The RSPCA's 2026 Animal Kindness Index found that 64% of UK pet owners use vets as a primary source of pet-care advice, while 10% are already using AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. (Source:Β RSPCA)
Research by Johnson's Veterinary Products found that 29% of UK pet owners regularly use social media or AI for pet information, rising to 54% among 25β34-year-olds.Β (Source: Johnsons Veterinary Products)
Cats Protection found a similar pattern. Among cat owners aged 18β34, 47% use YouTube for information about cats and 40% use TikTok. (Source:Β Cats Protection)
What is changing is the range of voices that now carry influence. Professional expertise sits alongside lived experience, creator recommendations, specialist organisations, brands and AI-generated answers.
A question can move between several of these sources in minutes. Someone might discover an issue through TikTok, ask AI to explain it and eventually speak to their vet.
Authority has become more distributed, even while vets continue to hold an important position within it.
2. Different sources are playing different roles in the decision
Digital sources are useful because they are immediate, accessible and often easier to understand.
Sometimes the question is simple: Can cats eat this? Why does my dog do that? What does this ingredient mean?
Sometimes owners are trying to understand something more complicated before deciding whether they need professional help.
Research across pet owners in the UK, Austria and Denmark found that 65.9% felt online information enabled them to have a more informed discussion with their vet, while 64.9% believed it helped them make the right decision for their animal. (Source:Β PubMed Central (PMC)).
Only around 12% said they had disagreed with veterinary advice because of information they found online, suggesting digital research often complements professional advice rather than simply replacing it. (Source: PubMed Central (PMC)).
Johnson's 2026 research also found that 71% of owners always or often read product packaging before treating their pet. (Source: Johnsons Veterinary Products)
Better access to information can help owners understand their pets, recognise potential problems and ask better questions.
Social media can offer lived experience and discovery. AI can help explain and organise information. Specialist organisations and brands can offer knowledge within particular areas. Veterinary professionals can provide individual clinical judgement.
Understanding what a source is useful for is becoming just as important as choosing the source itself.
3. More information makes judging credibility more important
Anyone can publish pet advice online. A video can accumulate millions of views without its creator having veterinary qualifications. A confident recommendation can be based on personal experience rather than evidence. Commercial interests are not always obvious.
And popularity can easily look like authority.
In June 2026, veterinary charity PDSA warned owners about pet-health advice circulating on TikTok and other social platforms, including videos encouraging owners to give ibuprofen to dogs for limping or minor injuries, despite the drug potentially being toxic to pets. (Source:Β PDSA).
This matters because pet care is highly individual.
Two animals displaying similar symptoms may require completely different treatment. Even broadly accurate advice may not suit a particular animal because of its age, breed, health history or medication.
AI adds another consideration. Its ability to synthesise information into one clear response is useful, but that clarity can make an answer feel more definitive than the underlying evidence warrants.
As access to information grows, responsible pet ownership increasingly includes understanding its provenance.
Who produced it? What expertise sits behind it? Is there evidence supporting the claim? Is someone trying to sell something? Does this question require general information or advice specific to your animal?
A useful question may therefore be less about whether a source can be trusted in absolute terms, and more about what that source should be trusted for.
So, who should you trust with your pet?
There probably isn't one answer.
Social media can be useful for discovery, shared experience and introducing owners to subjects they may never have considered.
AI can help explain unfamiliar terminology, organise information and provide a starting point for further research.
Specialist brands, retailers and animal organisations can provide deeper information about particular areas of care.
Qualified veterinary professionals remain essential when an animal needs diagnosis, treatment or advice based on its individual medical circumstances.
Pet owners are unlikely to become less digital from here. The opportunity is to become better at navigating the information available to us.
Pet owners have never had more information at their fingertips. Knowing which information deserves our trust is becoming the harder skill.
At Reva, we believe thoughtful curation should extend beyond the products we choose. It also means understanding the information, expertise and choices surrounding them, and helping pet owners make those decisions with greater confidence.
FAQs
Is it safe to use AI for pet-care advice?
AI can be useful for explaining general pet-care information, researching a topic or helping you understand questions to explore further. It should not replace veterinary diagnosis or individual medical advice, particularly when a pet is unwell, injured, taking medication or experiencing an emergency. In 2026, the RSPCA found that 10% of UK pet owners were already using AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini for pet-care advice. (Source:Β RSPCA)
Do pet owners use TikTok for pet advice?
Yes, particularly younger owners. Cats Protection's 2025 research found that 40% of cat owners aged 18β34 used TikTok as a source of information about cats, while 47% used YouTube. (Source: Cats Protection)
Do pet owners still trust vets?
Vets remain the leading source of pet-care advice in the UK. The RSPCA's 2026 Animal Kindness Index found that 64% of pet owners use vets as a primary source of advice, considerably higher than the proportion currently using AI. (Source:Β RSPCA)
How can I tell if pet advice online is reliable?
Look for the qualifications and expertise of the person or organisation providing the information, whether claims are supported by evidence, when the information was published and whether there is a commercial interest behind the recommendation. Medical advice should be particularly carefully assessed because treatment appropriate for one animal may not be appropriate for another.
Can social media pet advice be dangerous?
It can be. In 2026, PDSA warned about viral social-media content recommending potentially harmful home treatments. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has also urged owners to be cautious about health claims for pet products promoted by influencers when those claims lack appropriate evidence. (Source:Β PDSA)
What should I use TikTok or AI for when researching my pet?
They can be useful starting points for learning about pet behaviour, understanding terminology, discovering questions to research further and finding experiences from other owners. Questions involving symptoms, diagnosis, medication or treatment should be discussed with an appropriately qualified veterinary professional.