New research from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), published in PLOS ONE, suggests that while UK dog owners can often correctly recognise common health problems, they frequently underestimate how urgently veterinary care is needed — a finding with clear implications for everyday practice.
The study explored how owners decide when to seek veterinary help, using realistic clinical scenarios (“vignettes”) based on VetCompass data. A total of 1,772 UK dog owners each assessed three vignettes describing common canine conditions, identifying the likely problem and judging how urgently veterinary care was required. Their responses were compared with consensus opinions from experienced veterinary surgeons.
Owners were generally good at identifying common conditions with clear or visible signs, such as epilepsy, kennel cough, flea infestation, anal gland disease and osteoarthritis. However, they were much less accurate when signs were subtle or variable, including mast cell tumours, glaucoma, diabetes, and gastrointestinal foreign bodies.
More concerning from a welfare perspective, owners rated conditions as less urgent than vets recommended in 28.4% of responses. Conditions commonly underestimated included otitis externa, corneal ulcers and heatstroke — all problems where delayed treatment can significantly worsen outcomes.
The study also examined where owners seek information. Most relied on their own knowledge or experience, their veterinary practice, or internet searches. Owners who routinely contacted their veterinary practice for advice were more likely to judge urgency in line with veterinary recommendations.
In contrast, habitual use of online dog health groups was associated with poorer performance. Owners who regularly used these groups were less accurate at identifying conditions and were 30% more likely to underestimate urgency. Interestingly, when used specifically to assess the vignette scenarios, online groups sometimes improved urgency assessment — highlighting how variable and user-dependent these sources can be.
For veterinary teams, the findings reinforce several familiar but important points:
"Understandably, health problems without obvious external clinical signs are most at risk of having the need for urgent treatment underestimated," said Dr Rowena Packer, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science at RVC and senior author of the paper. "However, with better triage support, including telemedicine and carefully designed AI decision-support tools, there is an opportunity to help improve this awareness. Used responsibly, these tools could help support owner decision-making, reduce delays, support veterinary teams and ultimately improve welfare outcomes for dogs."