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AI use replacing vets as consumers feel the squeeze of rising vet prices

ended 15. July 2026

An RSPCA report published recently found that a significant 10% of pet owners now use AI agents like ChatGPT and Gemini for pet care advice rather than go to the vet.

The AI findings come at the same time as news that 75% of pet owners say  the cost of pet care has increased over the past 12 months.

  • If you're a pet owner, would you use (or have you used) AI to support or replace veterinary care, even if for simple issues?
  • AI experts: how viable is it to get pet care advice from AI agents? What are the risks?
  • Vets: what's your advice to people considering doing this?

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Editor
David Stirling
Independent Financial Adviser at Mint Wealth
The fact that one in ten pet owners is now turning to ChatGPT before calling the vet tells you everything about where household budgets are right now. This is not technophobia in reverse or misplaced trust in artificial intelligence. It is people doing the maths and concluding that a £60 consultation fee for a cat with a dodgy ear is a luxury they cannot currently justify.

It is filling a gap that rising costs have opened up. The risk, of course, is that a missed diagnosis or delayed treatment turns a manageable problem into a much more expensive one. False economy has a habit of compounding, but telling people to simply pay the vet bill without acknowledging why they are hesitating is advice that belongs in a different economic climate to the one we are actually living in.