Consumer health information for pet owners.
OBJECTIVE
The author studied health information available for veterinary consumers both in print and online.


METHODS
WorldCat was searched using a list of fifty-three Library of Congress subject headings relevant to veterinary consumer health to identify print resources for review. Identified items were then collected and assessed for authority, comprehensiveness of coverage, validity, and other criteria outlined by Rees. An in-depth assessment of the information available for feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) and canine congestive heart failure (CHF) was then conducted to examine the availability and quality of information available for specific diseases and disorders. A reading grade level was assigned for each passage using the Flesch-Kincaid formula in the Readability Statistics feature in Microsoft Word.


CONCLUSIONS
A total of 187 books and 7 Websites were identified and evaluated. More than half of the passages relating to FLUTD and CHF were written above an 11th-grade reading level. A limited quantity of quality, in-depth resources that address specific diseases and disorders and are written at an appropriate reading level for consumers is available.


CONCLUSIONS
The library's role is to facilitate access to the limited number of quality consumer health resources that are available to veterinary consumers.
Murphy
Sarah Anne
SA
The Ohio State University, 225 Veterinary Medicine Academic Building, 1900 Coffey Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. murphy.465@osu.edu
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D003256:Community Participation; D004522:Educational Status; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011642:Publications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014730:Veterinary Medicine