The Pet Treatment Index

PRIVACY

Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2026-08-17
Last reviewed: 2026-08-17

This Privacy Policy explains how The Pet Treatment Index collects, uses, stores, and shares information when you visit https://pettreatmentindex.com, subscribe to Treatment Alerts, submit a correction, contact the publication, or change analytics preferences.

“The Pet Treatment Index,” “we,” and “us” mean the online publication at https://pettreatmentindex.com and its operator.

The short version

  • You can read the site without creating an account.
  • We do not ask for your pet’s diagnosis, symptoms, medication list, or medical records.
  • Treatment Alerts use double opt-in.
  • Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity stay off unless you affirmatively accept analytics.
  • We use essential storage for security, forms, alert confirmation, unsubscribe, and remembering your privacy choice.
  • We do not sell personal information for money or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
  • We use a limited number of service providers to host the site, store submissions, and send email.
  • You can ask about, correct, or delete personal information by contacting editorial@pettreatmentindex.com.

Information you provide

Treatment Alerts

When you subscribe, we collect:

  • email address;
  • dog, cat, or both preference;
  • broad alert-topic preferences;
  • consent version;
  • source page;
  • subscription status;
  • and confirmation, update, or unsubscribe timestamps.

We do not ask for a pet name, breed, age, diagnosis, symptoms, medication, treatment plan, veterinarian, insurer, or medical record.

Contact messages

When you contact us, we collect:

  • inquiry category;
  • name, if you provide it;
  • email address;
  • message;
  • and submission time.

Please do not include medical records, account numbers, payment information, passwords, or other sensitive information.

Correction submissions

When you report a possible error, we collect:

  • affected page URL;
  • issue type;
  • description;
  • supporting source URL, if provided;
  • email address, if you want follow-up;
  • and submission time.

Privacy and accessibility requests

We collect the information needed to understand and respond to the request. We may ask for reasonable verification before providing, correcting, or deleting information when necessary to protect the requester and other users.

Information collected automatically

Essential technical and security data

The site and its hosting providers receive ordinary request information needed to deliver and protect the service. This may include IP address, request time, requested path, referrer, browser or user-agent information, device or network characteristics, and error or security events.

The application uses a rotating one-way value derived with a secret to rate-limit public forms. The application database does not intentionally store the full IP address for that purpose. Replit and other infrastructure providers may maintain their own operational logs under their policies.

Essential cookies or local storage

We use essential storage to:

  • remember analytics acceptance or rejection;
  • protect forms and limit abuse;
  • support alert confirmation and unsubscribe flows;
  • preserve necessary form state;
  • and maintain site security.

Essential storage is not used to build an advertising profile.

If you choose Accept analytics, the site may load:

  • Google Analytics 4; and
  • Microsoft Clarity.

These services may process information such as page path, approximate location derived from network information, browser and device characteristics, interactions, navigation, performance, and a service-generated identifier. Clarity may produce interaction recordings or heatmaps subject to our configuration and Microsoft’s controls.

We configure analytics not to receive names, email addresses, contact messages, correction descriptions, medical information, or other form contents. We strip or avoid query strings that could contain user-entered information.

If you choose Reject nonessential, we do not intentionally load GA4 or Clarity. You can change the choice through Analytics preferences in the footer.

How we use information

We use information to:

  • provide and secure the website;
  • store and deliver requested Treatment Alerts;
  • confirm subscriptions and process unsubscribes;
  • respond to contact, privacy, and accessibility requests;
  • investigate and correct possible errors;
  • prevent spam, fraud, and abuse;
  • understand site use when analytics consent is given;
  • maintain records of consent and publication operations;
  • comply with law and protect rights or safety;
  • and improve the publication, methods, forms, and accessibility.

We do not use contact or correction text to make an automated medical decision about a pet.

How we share information

We may share information with service providers that process it for the purposes above. Current categories include:

Replit

Replit hosts the application and production infrastructure. Replit PostgreSQL stores alert, contact, correction, and limited rate-limit records.

Resend

Resend sends Treatment Alerts confirmation and operational subscription email. Email content and delivery data are processed to provide that service.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics processes analytics data only after consent and only when configured.

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity processes analytics and interaction data only after consent and only when configured.

We may share information with professional advisers, security specialists, auditors, or authorities when reasonably necessary to obtain advice, protect the service, investigate abuse, comply with law, or defend legal rights.

Business changes

If the publication or its assets are reorganized, financed, sold, or transferred, information may be included subject to appropriate confidentiality and the promises in this policy.

We do not authorize service providers to use form submissions for their own treatment recommendations or advertising profiles.

No sale for money or behavioral advertising

We do not sell personal information for money. We do not use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Some privacy laws define “sale” or “sharing” more broadly than an exchange for money. In this version, nonessential analytics remain disabled until you consent. The site does not run display advertising or affiliate click redirects. We will update this policy and the privacy controls before introducing a materially different practice.

Retention

We keep information only as long as reasonably necessary for the stated purpose, security, legal obligations, and dispute resolution. Our current operating targets are:

  • Pending Treatment Alerts: up to 30 days if not confirmed.
  • Confirmed Treatment Alerts: until you unsubscribe or request deletion.
  • Unsubscribed records: a minimal suppression record may be retained as reasonably necessary to honor the opt-out and prevent accidental reactivation.
  • Contact and correction submissions: generally up to 24 months after the matter is closed, unless a longer period is needed for a continuing correction history, legal obligation, security issue, or dispute.
  • Application rate-limit records: generally no more than 30 days.
  • Analytics data: according to the configured retention period and the provider’s controls; we aim not to retain user-level analytics longer than reasonably needed to understand publication performance.

Backups may retain deleted information for a limited period before rotation. We may retain de-identified or aggregated information that can no longer reasonably identify you.

Your choices and requests

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to ask whether we hold personal information about you and to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or another legally available choice.

You can also:

  • unsubscribe from Treatment Alerts through the link in any alert email;
  • reject or later change analytics consent;
  • avoid optional form fields;
  • and contact us with a privacy question.

Send requests to editorial@pettreatmentindex.com or use Contact and choose Privacy request.

We may need to verify the request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right. Some information may be retained when required or permitted for security, legal compliance, corrections integrity, or establishing or defending claims.

Children

The site is directed to adults making decisions for pets. It is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If you believe a child submitted personal information, contact editorial@pettreatmentindex.com.

Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, including limited data collection, server-side validation, access controls, encryption in transit, secret management, hashed confirmation tokens, and rate limiting.

No website, database, or email system can guarantee absolute security. Do not send sensitive information the site does not request.

International use

The site is operated for a primarily United States audience, but it may be accessible elsewhere. Information may be processed in the United States or another location used by our service providers. Local rights may vary.

The site links to regulators, studies, policy documents, providers, and other third parties. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies. A link does not make us responsible for the third party’s handling of information.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the site, vendors, law, or business model changes. A material update will receive a new last-reviewed date and, when appropriate, a notice on the site or to affected subscribers.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests: editorial@pettreatmentindex.com
General contact: editorial@pettreatmentindex.com