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How we write and check our pet guides

Be Pet Wise gives general information about caring for pets and the law in the UK. It is not veterinary or legal advice, and every animal is different.

Who prepares the guides

Be Wise Apps is prepared by a retired solicitor qualified in England and Wales, with over 30 years' international commercial law experience. The guides are not written or reviewed by a vet, which is why each one lists its sources and tells you when to see a vet. Read more about Be Wise.

Pet law guides

Our law guides are written from the legislation itself and from official and established sources, including legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, the Competition and Markets Authority, local councils, the European Commission and national animal charities. Where the law differs between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the guide says so.

Care and breed guides

Breed profiles give typical size, lifespan, exercise, grooming and common health problems. They are general: individual animals vary, and a vet is the right person to advise on your pet.

Dates and changes

Each guide shows the date it was last reviewed. When the law changes, we update the affected guides and record the change on our recent changes page. The full list of sources is on our sources page.

Automatic checks

Since October 2026 the official pages behind the law and welfare guides are also checked automatically. Every night a small program re-reads a few of the 24 pages we rely on, on a rota: GOV.UK’s pages on controlling your dog, taking pets abroad and the CMA’s rules for vets about once a week, and the legislation (the Animal Welfare Act, Dangerous Dogs Act, Pet Abduction Act, the microchipping and Lucy’s Law regulations, the Consumer Rights Act) together with the nidirect, mygov.scot, BSAVA, BVA, RSPCA, Blue Cross, Dogs Trust, Royal Kennel Club and NRLA pages about once a month. If a page has changed in a way that affects a guide’s answer, a suggested rewrite is put in front of the editor. Nothing is published automatically: only wording the editor has approved appears on a guide, marked “Updated” with the date. Breed profiles are not part of the automatic check.

Report an error

If you spot something wrong or out of date, use our contact form with the page and what should change.

Reviewed 2026-09-23. General information for the UK, not veterinary or legal advice. See how we check.