Equine Specialist Lays Out a Working Model for AI in Veterinary Practice

A horse received two medications that routine internet searches flagged as dangerous — and the panic that followed shows exactly why veterinarians, not search engines, need to control how AI enters pet health care, according to Kate Echeverria, DVM, MS, DACVIM-LAIM.

Dr. Echeverria, an equine internal medicine specialist who runs the ambulatory practice KE Equine in Norton, Mass., described the case in a first-person essay published by Veterinary Practice News. The mare needed both drugs because she carried two different diagnoses. Echeverria counseled the owner at length, reviewed the plan with the regular veterinarian, and started treatment.

The morning of the first dose, both veterinarians received panicked messages. The owner had given the medications, then "Googled it," and read that the combination could cause serious adverse reactions and long-term consequences.

The search result was wrong. "This was an instance when Dr. Google was not correct, contained misinformation, did not keep the vet in the loop, and the answer was not necessarily grounded in that horse's health," Echeverria wrote. After the conversation, the owner agreed the guidance she received in person was sound.

Who builds the tools matters

Echeverria's central argument is about control, not convenience. If veterinarians sit out the development of AI tools and client resources, consumer technology companies will define that experience instead, she warns.

She admits she started as a skeptic. Advisors walked her through what the technology can do for the profession and where caution is still warranted. The tools already in practices include transcription software, scribe systems, and radiographic reading aids. Each clinician, she writes, must decide individually which tools fit their comfort level.

Two professional bodies are already organized on the question. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) both run AI task forces that investigate these tools and educate members on their use in practice.

The September 2026 edition of Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice devotes itself to Artificial Intelligence in Small Animal Veterinary Medicine, with articles on how veterinary professionals can evaluate, adopt, and contribute to AI-based tools. Echeverria flags one word as decisive: "contribute." Veterinarians must help build the tools, she argues, so the profession can trust how they are constructed and deployed.

What changes at the exam table?

Echeverria identifies two practice-level shifts she already sees.

Informed, anxious clients. Pet owners increasingly research symptoms and medications on ChatGPT and "Dr. Google," and what they find is often incorrect. Echeverria says she regularly fields frightened calls after an owner's online search. Her response: steer clients toward resources built with veterinary input, designed with guardrails and monitored for accuracy. After the mare incident, she recommended a veterinarian-informed pet health resource the owner could turn to in the future.

She welcomes the underlying trend. Owners who want to learn more and engage more deeply with their pet's health are, in her view, an asset — provided they use a trusted source.

Medical records that follow the patient. Veterinary medicine has no equivalent of "My Chart," the human-health portal that consolidates one patient's records in one place. Owners often cannot remember pertinent details of their pet's history. Pet technology tools now let owners or veterinarians organize health records, lab results, vaccine records, and more, and share them with any veterinarian examining the animal.

That matters most, she writes, in two scenarios: an urgent care or emergency hospital visit, where the attending veterinarian needs a snapshot of the patient's health fast, and competition horses that travel, compete, and change care teams. Some new AI offerings let a new veterinarian pull the horse's record directly. AI can also organize the history so the clinician does not read through years of charting.

Several pet AI apps also let owners log observations and changes over time. That documentation gives veterinarians better data, prompts owners to ask sharper questions at appointments, and — Echeverria suggests — may make owners more willing to pursue bloodwork and further testing once they understand what the information is worth.

The stance she recommends

Echeverria lays out a concrete role for colleagues:

• Learn which AI tools and resources exist, and set your own comfort level before adopting any
• Provide feedback and help shape the tools as they evolve
• Support professional bodies like AVMA in establishing best practices
• Educate clients on which resources are veterinarian-backed and which are not

The goal, she writes, is not to replace veterinarians but to empower owners, strengthen the connection between what happens at home and what happens in the clinic, and produce happier, healthier patients.

She closes with the frame that drives the whole essay: a future where veterinarians, clients, and AI work efficiently and cohesively to deliver the best possible care — a future that arrives only if the profession stays at the table while the tools are still being built.

Dr. Echeverria serves as equine medical director at CompanAIn, a pet wellness platform, is president-elect of RIVMA, sits as large animal representative and past chair on the ACVIM Certification Council, and is a member of the AAEP Scientific Review and Editorial Committee.