Wagga cat and dog owners are being asked to take part in Charles Sturt University research into the rate and prevalence of disease in pets across Australia. 

Known as VetCompass, the voluntary project will collect data on animal health from veterinary practices, which can be done by asking your vet to opt your pet’s data into the collection. 

Shane Raidal and Martin Combs from the CSU School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences are two of the project's chief investigators.

"Each animal is given a unique code to allow researchers to follow an animal or treatment over time, but the animal owner and the pet cannot be identified,” Dr Combs said.

“The only owner information collected is a postcode."

CSU will also be involved in research into the use of antibiotics and the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in companion animals.