The Pet Industry Federation (PIF) has launched a new tool designed to help businesses assess the advertising risk of pet supplements and other non-medicinal veterinary products.
The GARD (Guidance for Advertising, Review and Drafting) tool is intended to support responsible marketing by helping users identify wording that may risk presenting a product as a veterinary medicine, based on the core principle that non-medicinal veterinary products should be presented only as supporting or maintaining health in healthy animals and should not be presented as treating, preventing, curing, restoring, correcting or modifying disease or physiological functions in a medicinal way. The framework has been developed against the current regulatory backdrop, including Veterinary Medicines Directorate guidance on advertising non-medicinal veterinary products published on 14 January 2026.
GARD is aimed at manufacturers, brand owners, marketers, technical teams and regulatory reviewers involved in developing packaging, leaflets, websites, testimonials and other promotional materials for non-medicinal veterinary products in the pet sector. Using a Green, Amber, Amber-Red and Red structure, it helps users to review wording individually and in combination across channels including packaging, leaflets, websites and testimonials.
PIF chief executive Nigel Baker said: “GARD has been developed to help businesses navigate an area that can often feel unclear in practice. By giving companies a more structured way to review wording and presentation, we hope it will support better decision-making and encourage high standards in the marketing of non-medicinal veterinary products across the pet sector.”
The tool can be accessed through PIF and is free to PIF members. The cost to non-members is £150 + VAT.
