Researchers are training AI to recognize distress in animal vocalizations. A cat's yowl from hyperthyroidism has a different acoustic signature than a yowl from loneliness. In the future, an owner might point a smartphone microphone at their pet, and the app will say: "This vocalization pattern is consistent with pain. Please schedule a veterinary exam."

Veterinary behaviorists (Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists – DACVB) handle complex cases: severe aggression, poor response to first-line treatment, polydipsia from chronic psychotropic drugs.

Mapping how behavioral stress alters cytokine profiles, vaccine efficacy, and cancer progression in companion animals. Early studies show that anxious dogs have poorer immune responses to vaccines.