Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective Date: February 18, 2025
1. Who We Are
Pocket Pet Care (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website pocketpetcare.com and provides in-home pet care services in the Seattle, Washington area. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, retain, and protect your personal information when you use our website and services.
By accessing or using our website, creating an account, or booking a service, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
Contact: contact@pocketpetcare.com
Seattle, Washington, United States
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of personal information:
- Account information: your name, email address, and password (stored in hashed form using bcrypt). If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile image URL from Google.
- Contact and address information: phone number, street address, apartment or unit number, city, state, and ZIP code, if you choose to provide them.
- Pet information: pet names, species, and free-text care notes you provide, which may include dietary needs, medical conditions, temperament, and other care instructions.
- Veterinarian information: veterinarian name, phone number, and any notes you provide about your pet's veterinary care.
- Booking information: requested service dates, visit frequency, preferred time windows, scheduling notes, total price, booking status, and timestamps. When a booking is created, we store a snapshot of your contact, pet, and veterinarian information as it existed at the time of booking.
- Authentication and session data: session tokens, email verification tokens, and—if you sign in with Google—OAuth tokens (access token, refresh token, and ID token) used to maintain your authenticated session.
- Automatically collected data: we use Google Analytics (GA4) to collect anonymized data about how visitors interact with our website, including pages visited and general traffic patterns. GA4 does not store your IP address.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use each category of data only for the purposes listed below:
- Account information: to create and manage your account, authenticate your identity, and communicate with you about your account.
- Contact and address information: to provide pet care services at your location and to contact you about bookings.
- Pet and veterinarian information: to deliver safe and appropriate care to your pets and to contact your veterinarian in case of emergency.
- Booking information: to schedule services, process transactions, maintain records for tax and dispute resolution purposes, and send booking confirmations.
- Authentication data: to maintain secure login sessions and verify your email address.
- Automatically collected data: to understand website usage patterns and improve our website.
4. Third-Party Services
We use the following third-party services that process your data as described below. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Google Sign-In (OAuth)
If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile image URL from Google to create or access your account. This data is used solely for authentication and account personalization. We do not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or transfer it to data brokers. Pocket Pet Care's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics (GA4) to collect anonymized website usage data. Google Analytics uses cookies to distinguish unique users and track sessions. GA4 does not store IP addresses. To learn more about how Google processes data when you use our website, visit How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps. You may opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
SendGrid (Twilio)
We use Twilio SendGrid to deliver transactional emails such as account verification and booking confirmations. Your email address and message content are shared with SendGrid for delivery purposes. Emails may contain tracking pixels for delivery confirmation. See Twilio's Privacy Notice for details on how they handle data.
5. Cookies
Our website uses cookies for authentication and analytics. You may control cookies through your browser settings, though disabling cookies may prevent you from signing in.
| Cookie | Purpose | Expiry |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Distinguishes unique visitors (Google Analytics) | 2 years |
| _ga_* | Maintains session state (Google Analytics) | 2 years |
| Session cookie | Maintains your authenticated login session | Session / 30 days |
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. The specific retention periods are:
| Data | Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Active account information | Duration of your active account |
| Inactive accounts | Deleted after 3 years of inactivity |
| Pet and veterinarian information | Duration of your active account, plus 6 months |
| Completed booking records | 3 years after completion (for tax and dispute resolution) |
| Authentication and session tokens | Revoked on logout; expire after 6 months if idle |
| Email verification tokens | 72 hours |
| Google Analytics data | 14 months (configured in GA4) |
| Deletion request records | 3 years after deletion (to document compliance) |
When a retention period expires, data is permanently deleted from our systems.
7. Data Security
We implement reasonable measures to protect your personal information, including:
- Passwords are hashed using bcrypt and are never stored in plaintext.
- All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS.
- Access to the database is restricted to authorized personnel.
No method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we are committed to promptly addressing any vulnerabilities or incidents that arise.
8. Data Breach Notification
In the event of a data breach that compromises your personal information, we will notify affected users and the Washington State Attorney General as required by Washington law (RCW 19.255.010). Notification will be provided within 30 days of discovering the breach.
9. Your Rights
You have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Access: you may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: you may update your account information at any time through your account settings, or contact us to correct inaccuracies.
- Deletion: you may request deletion of your account and associated personal data by contacting us at the email address below.
We will respond to all rights requests within 30 days. Booking records may be retained after account deletion for the periods described in Section 6, as required for tax compliance and dispute resolution.
10. Children's Privacy
Our website and services are not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child under 13, we will promptly delete that information. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at the email address below.
11. Age Requirement
You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or use our services. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years of age.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice on our website. Your continued use of our website and services after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your rights regarding your personal data, or have concerns about our data practices, please contact us at:
contact@pocketpetcare.com