Methodology

How we source this, and where it falls short

If you're the kind of dog owner who double-checks what you read online — good. Here's exactly how this site is put together, so you can decide how much to trust it yourself.

What we use as sources

• Primary veterinary references — the Merck Veterinary Manual, Cornell's Riney Canine Health Center, and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's published toxicology pages.
• Peer-reviewed journals — mainly the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (JVECC) and JAVMA, when a mechanism or dose threshold has actual published research behind it.
• Named authorship — where a source is a DVM or board-certified veterinary toxicologist writing under their own name, we treat that as stronger than an uncredited blog post, even on a reputable-looking site.

We do not use SEO content farms, AI-generated pet blogs, or forum posts as sources, even when they rank highly on Google.

Where the science is genuinely unsettled, we say so

Some entries on this site look confident because the research is settled — grape toxicity's mechanism, for instance, has real 2022–2025 lab and clinical research behind it. Others aren't settled at all. Our avocado page, for example, presents both the traditional "toxic" warning and a 2024 University of Illinois feeding study that found no detectable persin in avocado meal fed to dogs at high inclusion rates. We'd rather show you that disagreement than pretend it doesn't exist.

What we are not

We are not veterinarians, toxicologists, or a veterinary practice. This site is written and maintained by two dog owners who research each entry carefully and cite what we find — that's a meaningfully different thing from a clinical diagnosis of your specific dog. Body weight, breed, existing conditions, and how much was actually eaten all change real risk, and only a vet examining your dog can weigh those together.

How often this is updated

Each page carries a "last reviewed" date. When new research changes established guidance — as happened with grape toxicity's mechanism, and is currently happening with avocado — we update the page and note what changed, rather than quietly editing it.

If you think we've got something wrong

Tell us: info@candogseat.co.za. If you can point to a source, we'll review it and correct the page if warranted — this site is only as good as its willingness to be corrected.