Campus & Beyond These AI Chatbots Have Four (Virtual) Paws and a (Digital) Tail Stories You May Like ‘A Place of Low Walls and High Ambitions’ A Staple of Upstate BBQs, ‘Cornell Chicken’ is a Grilling Tradition The Engineering Quad’s Iconic Sundial Marries Art and Science Created by the Vet College, Big Red Bark Chat and CatGPT offer free, 24/7 access to information on pet health and behavior By Melissa Newcomb You’re probably familiar with ChatGPT—but have you heard of CatGPT? The feline-centered artificial intelligence chatbot was created by experts at the College of Veterinary Medicine. And fear not, dog lovers: there’s also a canine version, dubbed Big Red Bark Chat. Both offer a way for pet parents to access information about animal health and behavior, 24/7 and free of charge. And while the platforms’ creators stress that they’re in no way intended to replace a visit to your vet—and are geared toward non-emergency situations—their content is drawn from the scientific and clinical expertise of professionals at CVM and elsewhere. "Dear CatGPT: Why do cats like to sit in boxes? Are some plants toxic to felines?" “AI has the potential to do a lot of good—and a big way to do that is education,” says Bruce Kornreich, DVM ’92, PhD ’05, director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, which created CatGPT. “There is so much information available both to healthcare professionals and to the general public that it can get overwhelming. We asked: how could we better integrate it, to help people understand what’s going on in this realm?” Launched in March 2024, CatGPT uses data and info from the Feline Health Center, in combination with the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed, an archive of peer-reviewed journals in the biomedical and life sciences. Bruce Kornreich, DVM ’92, PhD ’05. The most frequently queried topics, Kornreich says, are hyperthyroidism, vomiting, hairballs and tummy troubles, urinary problems, feeding and nutrition, and preventive health and vaccines. CatGPT also has more lighthearted uses, like educational games and feline trivia. “The tone and information are geared more toward the lay, cat-loving public,” says Kornreich, adding that the chatbot can be modified to be more useful to veterinary professionals. There is so much information available both to healthcare professionals and to the general public that it can get overwhelming. Bruce Kornreich, DVM ’92, PhD ’05 Stories You May Like ‘A Place of Low Walls and High Ambitions’ A Staple of Upstate BBQs, ‘Cornell Chicken’ is a Grilling Tradition Its dog-oriented counterpart—Big Red Bark Chat, launched in May 2025—is a collaboration by CVM’s Riney Canine Health Center, college IT staff, and Amazon's generative AI team. Bark Chat was programmed with info from the Riney website as well as lectures, PowerPoints, and other materials by CVM faculty that are not publicly available anywhere else. It also pulls info from eClinPath, CVM’s online textbook on clinical pathology, and its Consultant diagnostic database. "Dear Big Red Bark Chat: How do I keep my dog safe at the beach? Do all dogs need to wear booties in the snow?" “We want to reach as many people as we possibly can and help educate the public,” says Rory Todhunter, PhD ’92, the center’s director. “This lets us do that by providing current information in a digestible form.” The top canine queries? Gastrointestinal problems like vomiting and diarrhea, allergies, behavioral issues, nutrition, and ingestion of potentially toxic substances. The chatbot—which runs on Bedrock, Amazon’s generative AI platform—also allows users to upload veterinary documents and have them analyzed. Rory Todhunter, PhD ’92. “You may have a PDF of your dog’s medical history that’s 40 pages long,” says Scott Ross, MILR ’13, a member of CVM's IT group, who developed Bark Chat along with colleague Daniel Sheehan. “You could give that to AI and ask for a nice little summary, or ask it to interpret it, if it's difficult to understand.” Bark Chat isn’t just targeted toward a lay audience, its creators say. Some 15% of queries come from DVMs or licensed veterinary technicians—on such topics as protocols for infection outbreaks in hospitals and ways to handle procedure complications. We want to reach as many people as we possibly can and help educate the public. This lets us do that by providing current information in a digestible form. Rory Todhunter, PhD ’92 “The first four or five years after graduation, there’s a steep learning curve—and obviously, we can’t teach everything in a four-year veterinary course,” Todhunter explains. “This is a way to use AI to reduce errors in those first years of practice and to continue learning, because new knowledge is always being created.” (Top: Illustration by Ashley Osburn / Cornell University. All photos provided; special thanks to pet parents Alexandra Bond ’12, Lindsay France, Melissa Newcomb, and Beth Saulnier for sharing images of their furry friends.) Published November 6, 2025 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. 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