Methodology & Data Sources

Data Source

All data on PlainBreed comes from the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Animal Drug Adverse Event (ADE) reporting system, maintained by the United States Food and Drug Administration. This is the official FDA database where veterinarians, pet owners, and drug manufacturers voluntarily report suspected adverse reactions to veterinary drugs, medical devices, and other products.

Source URL: fda.gov/animal-veterinary

Regulatory framework: The FDA CVM operates the post-market adverse-event surveillance program under 21 CFR Part 514 (administered jointly with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for biologics under the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act). Cross-reference reporting requirements at the FDA Form 1932a reporting portal.

Data Coverage

The database covers reports from 2010 through 2025 and includes over 1 million individual adverse event reports across:

  • 506 animal breeds
  • 53 species
  • 2,558 drugs/products
  • 2,471 reaction types classified by clinical presentation and severity
  • Geographic and temporal patterns across the full reporting period

How We Process the Data

  1. Download raw adverse event reports from the FDA CVM public database via the openFDA Animal & Veterinary API
  2. Normalize breed names (multiple spellings are mapped to canonical breed names)
  3. Normalize species, drug names, and reaction type classifications
  4. Aggregate report counts at the breed level, drug level, and reaction level
  5. Build comprehensive breed profiles showing the most frequently reported drugs and reaction types across the full 15-year dataset, organized by severity and outcome categories
  6. Load into our search-optimized database

Understanding Reporting Bias

Popular breeds have more reports simply because more animals of that breed receive treatment. A Golden Retriever having 10,000 adverse event reports does not mean Golden Retrievers are more susceptible than a breed with 500 reports, it reflects population size and treatment rates, not inherent risk.

We display report counts with this context on every relevant page and do not rank breeds by "danger" or "risk" based on raw report volume alone. Interpreting adverse event data requires understanding that the number of reports for any given breed-drug combination reflects both the actual frequency of adverse events and the reporting behavior of veterinarians and pet owners in that population.

Limitations

  • Correlation, not causation: An adverse event report does not prove a drug caused the reaction, the animal may have had a pre-existing condition or received multiple treatments
  • Voluntary reporting: Not all adverse events are reported; this dataset is a sample, not a complete record of all reactions
  • Reporting bias: Popular breeds and widely-used drugs generate more reports by volume
  • This site is for informational and educational purposes only, not veterinary medical advice
  • Some breed names have multiple common spellings or informal names that may affect how reports are categorized despite our normalization efforts

How the Source Agency Collects Data

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine operates a voluntary adverse event reporting system where veterinarians, pet owners, and product manufacturers can submit reports of suspected adverse reactions to veterinary drugs, devices, and other animal health products. Reports are submitted through FDA Form 1932a or electronically through the FDA Safety Reporting Portal. Each report includes the animal species and breed, the suspected product, clinical signs observed, outcome, and other relevant details. The FDA reviews these reports as part of its post-market surveillance program to identify potential safety signals.

Data Accuracy Commitment

PlainBreed presents FDA adverse event data without modification or editorialization. Report counts, breed associations, and drug/reaction linkages are displayed exactly as reported to the FDA. We do not compute our own risk scores or make causal claims about drug safety. If you find any data that appears incorrect, please contact us and we will verify against the source records.

Contact

Questions about our methodology or found a data error? Reach us at hello@plainbreed.com or through our contact page.