Tips for Jedi-Level Pet Owners (the final chapter)

This is it, folks, the final challenge you must face in order to reach the pinnacle of pet owner expertise. In this exercise, you will learn to ignore the internet.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are a billion useful pieces of information accessible through the web. I use it regularly to gather absolute gems which enhance my perspective, broaden my horizons, and save me hundreds of dollars in handyman fees. The internet has been a great source of support in some times of need. However, for every nugget of useful information you find, there will be countless pieces of (sometimes shiny) debris that are harmful, misleading, or simply worthless. The internet is not going anywhere, so we must learn to be meticulous in sifting through what we find.

You can explore the internet along a thousand paths, but never forget that it is simultaneously exploring you. Many of the items we type into a search engine betray our motives and preconceived notions to some degree. The Algorithm will take advantage of that, directing us toward destinations that support and amplify what we already suspected, even if that is itself erroneous. Examine the motivations of the person who is flagging you down. Likes? Paid endorsements? Self aggrandizement? Almost all the levers of power out there are being pulled by advertisers, so try to ensure that you are not being “educated” with loyalty to their company. Click the links in your article and see if they lead to more detailed publications or some variation of a purchase portal.

Surely you already know that web sites ending in .org, .gov, and .edu will tend to contain less garbage. It’s good if you can find the name of the author responsible for the article you are reading and even better if you can confirm that person’s credentials elsewhere. Pause for a moment when you see the words “freelance writer”, since the bar for this career is set somewhat lower than, for example, “Professor of Veterinary Nutrition at Cornell University”.

Especially with regard to health care, it’s essential to seek confirmation of your online findings from an independent source—either from unrelated, equally respected web sites, or else from a person who is paid directly by you. Your veterinarian is a perfect example of someone whose loyalty lies with you and you alone. If you don’t trust that individual to set you straight, I’d highly suggest that you find a new doctor.

Obviously, there’s a massive amount of junk on the web. There are a lot of people whose reliability index ranges from silly to stupid to nefarious, and some of those people are looking specifically for you. Were you thinking there’s a discernible line between the guy who wants to raise his infant on the “sunshine diet” (yes, that really happened) and the guy who wants to share his homemade dog food recipe?

There is no line. Always double check everything, and never, ever let your justification for anything be simply “I found it on the internet.”

Dr M.S. Regan