This site is owned and operated by Verantis (herein referred to ‘Verantis,’ ‘we,’ or ‘us.’) Your privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us and we want to make your online experience satisfying and safe. By using or accessing this website, you signify your acknowledgment and agreement to this Privacy Policy. Do not use this website if you do not agree to this policy.
Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we feel you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather and how we use it.
Information Verantis Gathers and Tracks
Verantis gathers two types of information about users:
1) Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions.
These are voluntary submissions to register your warranty, receive our electronic newsletters and coupons, to participate in our message boards or forums, to email a friend, and from participation in polls and surveys. Information requested may include your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, etc., as well as demographic information. This data is aggregated and analyzed so we can learn more about our customers, their purchasing behavior and habits, and product needs.
2) Information Verantis gathers through aggregated tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our sites.
This information allows us to better tailor our content to readers' needs and to help us better understand the demographics of our audience. Under no circumstances does Verantis divulge any information about an individual user to a third party.
Our website also allows you to contact us directly with questions or comments regarding our products. This process requires you to give us certain personal information so that we may answer your questions. All opinions, ideas, suggestions, and other feedback submitted via email or our website may be used by Verantis without any restriction and free of charge.
Verantis Gathers User Information in the Following Processes:
Optional Voluntary Information
We offer, or may offer in the future, the following free services, which require some type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:
1) Electronic newsletters and coupon dispatches
We may offer our site users a free electronic newsletter. Verantis gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link provided in every newsletter that points users to the subscription management page. Users can also subscribe to the newsletters at the time of registration.
2) Message boards/forums
We may offer our site users Message Boards and Forums. Users must register separately for these services (both are free of charge) in order to post messages, although they needn't register to visit the site. During registration the user is required to supply a username, password, and email address.
3)"E-mail this to a friend" Service
We may offer our site users the ability to electronically forward a link, page, or documents to someone else by clicking "e-mail this to a friend." The user must provide his/her email address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to let the recipient know who sent the email. The information is not used for any other purpose.
4) Polling
We may offer interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with other users and see what our audience thinks about important issues. Opinions or other responses to polls are aggregated and are not identifiable to any particular user. Verantis may use a system to "tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.
5) Surveys
Verantis may occasionally conduct user surveys to better target our content to our audience. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with our sponsors, advertisers, and partners. We never share any of this information about specific individuals with any third party.
Children
Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.
Usage Tracking
Verantis tracks user traffic patterns throughout all of our sites. However, we do not correlate this information with data about individual users. Verantis does break down overall usage statistics according to a user's domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user's browser).
Verantis sometimes tracks and catalogs the search terms that users enter in our Search function, but this tracking is never associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you.
Cookies
We may place a text file called a "cookie" in the browser files of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal Information although it will enable us to relate your use of this site to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided. But the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Verantis uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above).
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use this site. However, you do need cookies to participate actively in message boards, forums, polling, and surveys.
Use of Information
Verantis uses any information voluntarily given by our users to enhance their experience in our network of sites, whether to provide interactive or personalized elements on the sites or to better prepare future content based on the interests of our users.
As stated above, we use information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and coupons and to enable users to participate in polls, surveys, message boards, and forums. We may send out newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (depending on the newsletter), and occasionally send out special editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in something we are doing. Verantis never shares newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers, sponsors, or partners.
When we use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas, we do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you. We track search terms entered in Search function as one of many measures of what interests our users. But we don't track which terms a particular user enters.
Verantis creates aggregate reports on user demographics and traffic patterns for advertisers, sponsors, and partners. This allows our advertisers to advertise more effectively, and allows our users to receive advertisements that are pertinent to their needs. Because we don't track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser or sponsor will never know that a specific user clicked their ad. We will not disclose any information about any individual user except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
Sharing of Information
Verantis uses the above-described information to tailor our content to suit your needs and help our advertisers and ourselves better understand our audience's demographics. This is essential to keeping our service free. We may disclose personal information that we collect or that you provide as described in this privacy policy to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, direct or indirect sale of equity interests of one or more Verantis entities, or sale or transfer of some or all of the assets of one or more Verantis entities, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, or otherwise, in which personal information held by us about our web site users or otherwise is transferred. Subject to the prior sentence, we will not share information about individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
Security
Verantis has taken precautions to prevent unauthorized access to the site and data collected therein, but no server is completely secure, and we cannot be responsible for loss, corruption, or unauthorized acquisition of personal information gained through the site.
Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our customers.
Links to Affiliate Sites
This site contains links to retailers, business partners, and sites that offer valuable pet information. Because such linked sites are not under our control, we are not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any information or content contained on these sites. Use of these sites is at your own risk, and if you choose to provide any personal information directly to any of these sites, the privacy policy of that site will govern use of your provided information. We make no guarantees, explicit or implied, regarding any linked sites.
OPT-IN / OPT-OUT POLICY
We give users options wherever necessary and practical.
Such choices include:
*Opting not to register to receive our electronic newsletters. We ask customers that wish to receive special offers from us, such as coupons, pet-related tips, special offers, and new product information to Opt-in when they register their product warranty or ask to be placed on our email list.
*Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable information from our users.
YOUR CONSENT
By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of this information by Verantis. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.
