Editorial standards

Bertie exists because pet care advice online is mostly written to sell you something. These are the rules we write to instead.

Who writes and who checks

Every guide carries a named author, accountable for every fact, price and recommendation in it. Where a guide has been checked by a qualified professional, a hydrotherapist, a vet, a behaviourist, it says so on the page, with their name and credentials, and a link to who they are. We never invent reviewers, quotes or first-hand experience. If a quote appears on this site, a real owner said it and gave permission.

What we check against

• NARCH (National Association of Registered Canine Hydrotherapists) — registration standards and the vet-referral requirement
• IRVAP (Institute of Registered Veterinary and Animal Physiotherapists): practitioner standards
• Published veterinary research, for claims about what treatments do
• Real quotes from real centres, for prices, collected by ringing them, not scraping brochures

Money

Centre listings are seeded from public registers and are not ranked. Nobody pays for placement. If that ever changes, the page will say so plainly. Where a page earns commission, on products or referrals, it will be marked. We'd rather lose the commission than the reader.

Mistakes

Prices drift and centres close. When we update a guide, the date changes; when we get something wrong, we correct it and say so. If you spot an error, email us and we'll fix it.