AI in the Vet's Office: What Pet Owners in Chile and Latin America Can Expect

You may have seen collars that count your dog's steps, or apps that promise to read a photo of your cat's skin. Behind many of these tools is artificial intelligence (AI). A recent survey in a veterinary journal looks at how AI is being used in animal health and concludes it has considerable potential.

For families in Chile and across Latin America, this is worth knowing about, but with calm expectations. Promising does not mean proven for every pet, every breed or every clinic.

What does the evidence say?

The article is a systematic survey published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science (the DOI in the link below points to 2026). It reviews AI applications in veterinary digital health, including diagnostic imaging, clinical decision support and wearable monitoring. Its overall conclusion is that the potential is considerable.

It also notes a limitation: the studies it included were too different from one another to be judged with a single validated risk-of-bias tool. In plain words, the research is varied, and it is hard to compare how reliable each tool really is.

We could not read the full text of the paper, so we cannot verify its details, such as which tools performed best or which species were studied. Please treat this article as a general reading of the summary, and check the original if you want specifics.

What this may mean for you

• Imaging: software may one day help your vet review X-rays or ultrasounds. The vet still makes the decision.
• Decision support: tools that suggest possibilities from symptoms and test results, useful where specialists are far away. This could matter outside big cities like Santiago, where access to specialists is uneven.
• Wearables: collars and trackers can show changes in activity or sleep. Those can be a reason to ask a question, not a diagnosis.

Many tools were likely developed with data from other countries, and we cannot confirm how well they fit local breeds, mixed-breed dogs (very common here) or our climate. Ask whether a product has been tested on pets like yours.

Practical tips for owners

1. Use apps and trackers to observe, note changes and share them with your vet, not to replace a visit.
2. Be careful with apps that diagnose from a photo. A confident answer from a phone is not a clinical exam.
3. Check privacy: who stores your pet's and your family's data?
4. Ask your vet whether their clinic uses AI-assisted tools, and how they double-check results.
5. Call your vet promptly if your pet stops eating, struggles to breathe, vomits repeatedly, seems in pain or has sudden behavior changes, even if a device says everything is normal.

As always, consult your veterinarian before changing your pet's care based on any app or device.