Privacy policy

Who runs this site

isitpetfood.com is operated by Lotuzen Tech LLC. If you have a question about anything on this page, email isitpetfood@gmail.com.

Search terms

When you search on this site we record what you typed, whether you filtered by dogs or cats, how many results came back, and the date and time. Those records go to a Google spreadsheet through Google Apps Script.

We do this for one reason. A search that returns nothing is somebody asking for a page we have not written, and that is the most useful thing we can know about what to work on next.

Nothing in that particular record identifies you. It holds no account, no cookie, no device ID, and no IP address, so we cannot connect a search to a person or tell that two searches came from the same visitor.

The search box is free text, so please do not type anything personal into it. There is no reason to, and we would rather not have it.

Analytics and usage measurement

We use analytics and measurement tools to understand how the site is used: which pages are read, how people arrive, and what is not working. These include Google Analytics, and may include product analytics, heatmap, or session replay tools such as Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity.

Tools of this kind collect:

• Pages you view, how long you stay, and which links you follow
• The site or search engine you arrived from
• Approximate location, usually at city level, worked out from your IP address
• Your device, browser, operating system, and screen size
• A random identifier stored in a cookie, so repeat visits can be recognized as one visitor

Google Analytics shortens IP addresses before storing them, so we never see a full one, and we do not enable its advertising or demographic reporting features.

Heatmap and session replay tools go further, recording how you move through a page: mouse movement, scrolling, taps, and clicks. Where we use one it is configured to mask text you type, and we do not use it to capture anything you enter into a form.

None of this is used to work out who you are. It is used to understand how the site is being used in aggregate.

Advertising and affiliate links

We may display advertising and use affiliate links. Ad networks generally set their own cookies and may use them to build an interest profile and show you personalized ads, including on other websites. Affiliate links mean we may earn a commission if you buy something after following one.

Money will never decide a verdict. A food is safe or it is not, and no advertiser gets to change that. Where we earn a commission, we say so on the page it appears on.

Cookies and similar technology

A cookie is a small file a site stores on your device. The ones relevant here fall into three groups.

Strictly necessary

Needed to deliver the site securely, for example so our host can tell a real visitor from an attack. These do not follow you across websites and cannot be switched off without breaking the site.

Analytics

Used to count visits and understand how pages are used, as described above. Not essential. You can refuse these.

Advertising

Set by advertising partners to select and measure ads, often across different websites. Not essential. You can refuse these.

Rules including the EU and UK ePrivacy regime require consent before anything beyond strictly necessary is placed on your device. This site is written for readers in the United States and does not currently show a consent banner. If you are outside that audience, or would simply rather not be measured, the controls in the next paragraph switch analytics off, and they work whether or not a banner is shown.

You can control cookies in your browser settings and block or delete them at any time. Google publishes a browser add-on that opts you out of Google Analytics across every site you visit. We also honor the Global Privacy Control signal where the law requires it. Blocking any of this will not stop you reading anything here.

Companies that handle data for us

Cloudflare

Hosts and delivers the site. Like any web host it processes the IP address of every request in order to send a page back and to defend against attacks. We do not receive or store those addresses.

Google

Two separate things. Search terms are written to a Google spreadsheet through Google Apps Script. Google Analytics runs on the site's pages and receives data directly from your browser. Both operate under Google's own privacy terms as well as ours.

Other analytics and advertising providers

Heatmap and session replay tools such as Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity, and any advertising partners, receive data directly from your browser when their code runs on a page. Each operates under its own privacy policy as well as ours.

Where your data goes

We are based in the United States and the services above are largely US based, so data about your visit may be transferred to and processed in the United States and other countries. Where that involves personal data of people in the EU or UK, our providers rely on transfer mechanisms such as the EU and UK data privacy frameworks or standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

Search records are kept while they remain useful for planning what to write, and reviewed at least once a year. Analytics and advertising data are kept for the retention period set in each tool, which we keep to the shortest period that is still useful.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live you may have rights to access, correct, delete, port, or object to the use of personal information about you, including under the EU and UK GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended. We will honor those requests wherever you live. Email isitpetfood@gmail.com and we will not make you create an account or prove anything unreasonable.

Beyond writing to us, you can block cookies in your browser, use the Google Analytics opt-out linked above, and use your browser's Global Privacy Control setting, which we treat as a valid opt-out where the law requires it.

Do not sell or share. We do not sell personal information for money. Advertising that uses cookies to show you ads across other websites can count as "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising under California law. You can opt out through the controls above or by emailing us, and we will not treat you differently for doing so.

One limitation worth stating plainly. Search records contain nothing that identifies anyone, so we cannot find yours among them, hand you your own search history, or delete only your rows. Analytics data is different, because it does carry an identifier, so a request about that can be acted on.

Our legal basis under the GDPR is our legitimate interest in understanding which pages to write and how the site is used. Where consent is the required basis for cookies that are not strictly necessary, and you have not been asked for it, use the opt-out above or write to us and we will deal with it.

Children

This site is written for adults looking after their pets. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has given us something that should not be in our records, email us and we will remove it.

Changes to this page

If we change what we collect or add a tool that does something this page does not describe, we will update it and change the date at the top.

Contact

Questions, requests, or corrections: isitpetfood@gmail.com. If you are in the EU or UK and think we have handled your data badly, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.