Privacy Policy
The short version. We use Google Analytics to count visits, and Google Ads and the Meta Pixel to measure the ads we run for the site, with ad personalization switched off. There are no ads on this site, and we do not sell personal information. Beyond that we only hold what you choose to give us: a message, an email address for recall alerts, a My Dogs account, a Gift a Bag request or comment, or, in the In The Kibble app, a log of your dog’s day that stays on your phone unless you sign in to sync it. To block spam, the site also loads Google’s reCAPTCHA.
1. Who we are
This policy covers inthekibble.com (the “site”), run by In The Kibble (“we”, “us”). It explains what personal information the site collects, why, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. Questions go to info@inthekibble.com.
2. What we collect, and why
You can read every page on the site without giving us anything. We collect personal information only in these cases:
| When | What we keep | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| You send the contact form, or report a problem with a food | Contact form: your name, email address, the topic, an optional link and your message. Problem report: the food, what is wrong, what you found, and a link and email address only if you give them | To read it, check what you reported and reply | Until we delete it. Ask and we will delete it right away |
| You sign up for our emails (the newsletter or recall alerts) | Your email address, which of the two you chose, anything you tell us about your dog when you sign up (name, age group, size, and allergies if your My Dogs profile fills them in) so the newsletter can be tailored to them, where on the site you signed up (for example the quiz), the brands you chose for recall alerts (if any), when you signed up, when we last emailed you, and a random code for your unsubscribe link | To send you only the emails you asked for | Until you unsubscribe. Unsubscribed addresses are deleted within a day. Older sign-ups that were never confirmed are deleted after 30 days |
| You use My Dogs without an account | Nothing. Your dogs’ profiles stay in your own browser | To show allergy warnings on foods | Until you clear your browser storage |
| You ask a question in the chat | What you type, the page you were on, your device type (phone, tablet or desktop) and your browser’s timezone, plus your name and email address only if you choose to give them. We do not store your IP address. A person reads and answers; nothing is automated | To answer your question, in the chat and by email if you gave one | Until we delete it, at the latest 90 days after the conversation is closed. Ask and we will delete it right away |
| You ask for food, or comment, on Gift a Bag | If you ask for food: the title and message you write, your photos, the name you want shown (yours, or your shelter’s or rescue’s), your town, state and ZIP code, and your email address. If you comment: your name, your comment and, only if you give it, your email address. We do not store your IP address; we keep a scrambled code made from it (it cannot be turned back into the address) with your post, to stop repeat spam and abuse, and it is deleted with the post. Photos are re-saved when you upload them, which removes the location and camera data phones attach. Shown publicly as soon as you post: the title, message, photos, name, town and state, and the comments under it. Within seconds, an automated check reads each request, comment and photo for scams, spam and abuse. It runs on Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic: the text, the name shown and the photos are sent to Anthropic for that check (never your email address). Anything the check flags is taken down until a person here looks at it. Never shown: your ZIP code or any email address. Your shipping address is not stored at all: when you press “Send my address” under a comment, it goes straight into one email to that commenter, with your email address so they can reply, and that person then has it | To list requests, let people offer food in the comments, get the food delivered, and keep scams, spam and abuse off the page. We email you a link to your request, and tell you when it is listed and when someone comments or replies; nothing else | A request is listed for 60 days unless you put it back up. Gifted, closed, expired and rejected requests are deleted with their photos and comments 180 days after their last change, and removed comments within 30 days. Ask and we will delete your request or comment right away |
| You comment on an article | Your name, your email address and your comment. The name and comment are shown publicly once we have approved them; the email is never shown and is only used if we need to reply to you. We do not store your IP address or browser details with a comment and set no comment cookies. To filter spam the form uses Google reCAPTCHA, described below | To publish readers’ experiences and keep spam off the site | Until you ask us to remove it (write to info@inthekibble.com), or we delete it. Comments we do not approve are deleted |
| You play the food quiz | Nothing about you. Your score is not sent to us; if you share it, the score is only in the link you share | So you can share your score with friends | Nothing is kept |
| You press “Like” on an article | Nothing about you. The article’s anonymous like total goes up by one; your browser remembers that you liked it (see the storage table below). To stop abuse we count likes per visitor for an hour, using a scrambled form of the IP address | To show which articles readers find useful | The total stays with the article |
| You use the kibble scanner | A photo of the front of the bag is sent to our own server and compared with our product photos in memory. When there is no clear match, an AI model that runs on our own server (not an outside AI company) reads the name on the bag to pick the best candidate. The photo is then discarded: it is never logged or shown to anyone else, including any AI company. For a barcode or an ingredient list, your browser reads the photo itself and only the barcode number or the words are sent to us, and they are not saved. When you pick a food from a list of possible matches, we record which foods were listed and which one you picked, with no link to you, so we can see where matching goes wrong. Only if you tick “Keep this photo to help us improve matching” do we also keep that photo, on our own server, to test and improve the matcher | To find the food, show its label figures and improve matching | Photos are not kept unless you tick the box; a kept photo and the pick records are deleted after 12 months. To slow down abuse we count scans per visitor for 10 minutes, using a scrambled form of the IP address |
| You buy a guide (our e-book or cheat sheet) | Your name, email address, the billing details the checkout asks for, and what you bought. Your card details go straight to our payment processor, Stripe, and never reach us | To take payment, send you the download link, keep the tax and accounting records the law requires, and answer questions about your order | As long as US tax and accounting law requires us to keep order records |
| You create a My Dogs account | Your email address, username and display name, your password (stored only as a one-way hash), and the dog profiles you save: name, breed, size, weight, birthday, sex, whether they are spayed or neutered, allergies, notes and any photos you upload | To keep your dogs in sync across devices | Until you ask us to delete the account |
| You use the In The Kibble app (iPhone and Android) | The app talks only to inthekibble.com. Each request carries the app version and your phone’s system version, and the same server log details as any visit. The app has no advertising code, no analytics or crash-reporting services, and does not track you across other apps or websites. Your dogs, your log and your settings are kept in the app’s own storage on your phone. To check prices on foods you watch, the app sends only their ids, which appear in our server logs like any visit; your watch list stays on your phone. Store links in the app are the same affiliate links as on the website | To run the app and keep older versions working | Server logs as for any visit. What is on your phone stays until you delete it in the app or delete the app |
| You keep a log for your dog in the app | Without an account: nothing. The log (walks, meals, pee and poo with a stool score, vomiting, itching and other symptoms, treats, medicine, weight with an optional body condition score (1 to 9) and goal weight, notes, heat cycles, the food your dog eats, each with its time, and the feeding plan: activity level, goal, meals a day, the food’s calorie figures, and the bag you are feeding from, with its size and the day you opened it) stays on your phone. If you sign in, the log is copied to your account on our server so it survives a new phone and appears on your other phones. It is never shared, sold or used for advertising, and never read by an AI company. Reminders are scheduled on your phone; nothing about them is sent to us | To show your dog’s usual day, daily averages and food history, and to sync between your phones | Until you delete an entry, a dog or your account. Deleting your account in the app (Settings, Delete my account) removes the account, its dogs and the synced log |
| You check a food or an ingredient list with the app’s camera | An ingredient list is read on your phone and is never sent to us. A photo of a food is sent to our own server, recognized in memory by a model that runs there (not an outside AI company) and discarded: it is never stored or logged. A barcode is matched on your phone; only a barcode the app does not know is sent to us, and it is not saved. A photo of a bag front is handled like the website’s kibble scanner above | To tell you whether a food is safe for dogs, or to find a dog food’s label figures | Photos and barcodes are not kept. To slow down abuse we count checks per visitor for 10 minutes, using a scrambled form of the IP address |
| Any visit | Standard server logs: IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. Our security firewall also records suspicious requests and failed logins | To keep the site running and to block attacks and scrapers | Server logs are archived monthly by our host. We use them only for security and troubleshooting |
| Any visit (our own visitor statistics) | The pages you view in one visit and in what order, how long each was on screen and how far you scrolled, the site before ours (the address of the page, not the search terms), whether you came from one of our ads (including the ad click ID), your screen width (phone, tablet or computer), and actions such as playing the quiz, using the scanner, liking, sharing, commenting or signing up. We do not set cookies or store anything in your browser for this. Your IP address and browser details are turned into a code that changes every day and are then discarded, so we cannot recognise you on another day or tie this to who you are | To see what readers find useful and fix what does not work, and to filter out bots | 180 days. The raw records with IP addresses are deleted within minutes, after the daily code is made |
| Any visit (Google Analytics and Google Ads) | Google records, on our behalf, the pages you view, how you arrived (including the click ID if you came from one of our Google ads), your approximate location, your device and browser type, and four actions: finishing the food quiz, clicking a retailer link, signing up for recall alerts, and staying on a page for 30 seconds. It does not get your name or email address. In the EU, the UK and Switzerland no cookies are set and Google receives only cookieless signals | To see which pages are useful and whether our ads bring people who find the site useful | Google Analytics keeps it for 14 months. Google Ads keeps its own records under Google’s policy |
| Any visit (Meta Pixel) | Meta (Facebook and Instagram) records the pages you view, whether you arrived from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads, your device and browser type, and the same actions: finishing the food quiz, clicking a retailer link, signing up for recall alerts, and staying on a page for 30 seconds. It does not get your name or email address from us. The pixel runs in Meta’s Limited Data Use mode and is not loaded for visitors in Europe | To see whether our Facebook and Instagram ads bring people who find the site useful | Meta keeps its own records under Meta’s policy |
| You read a page on another site that shows our nutrition facts box | The address of that page, without anything after a question mark, and which food the box shows. Nothing about you: the box sets no cookies and stores nothing in your browser, and your visit only appears in our standard server logs, as above | To know where the box is used and that its credit link is intact | Deleted 90 days after we last see the box on that page |
| You read a News story that shows posts from Instagram or YouTube | Nothing. Some News stories show posts by the brand or the people in the story through Instagram’s and YouTube’s own embeds. An Instagram post loads from Instagram when you scroll near it; a YouTube video loads from YouTube (its privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com mode) only when you press play. When they load, Instagram (Meta) or YouTube (Google) receive your IP address and browser details and may set their own cookies, under their own policies. Before you press play, the video’s picture comes from our own server | To show real photos and videos from the brand and the people in the story, credited to them, without copying them | We keep nothing. Meta and Google keep their own records under their policies |
3. What we do not do
- We do not show ads on the site. Apart from the Meta Pixel described above, we do not use social media pixels, and we do not use session recording.
- We do not sell personal information. Ad personalization is switched off, so your visits are not used to build advertising audiences or to target ads at you.
- We only email you if you ask us to, and only what you picked: our newsletter, recall alerts, or both. There is no confirmation step: you are signed up as soon as you enter your email, and every email we send has a one-click unsubscribe link. If you sign up for the free fridge cheat sheet, you also get the newsletter and recall alerts, as the sign-up form says. Gift a Bag only emails you about your own request, or about the request you commented on; it never adds you to a list.
- We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you.
4. Cookies and browser storage
In the US and most other countries, a visit sets the Google Analytics and Google Ads cookies listed below. In the EU, the UK and Switzerland they are not set. A few features also save small settings in your browser’s local storage, which never leaves your device:
| Name | What it remembers |
|---|---|
itk_dogs_v1 |
Your My Dogs profiles if you made any without an account, plus small settings such as lb or kg and when you last dismissed the welcome prompt |
itk_compare_v1 |
The foods in your comparison tray |
itk_scans_v1 |
The last 12 foods you found with the kibble scanner (name, brand, picture and link), so you can reopen or compare them. It stays on your device and is never sent to us; “Clear” on the scanner page deletes it |
itk_likes_v1 |
Which articles you pressed “Like” on, so the button shows as liked when you come back. The like itself only adds one to the article’s anonymous total; nothing about you is stored with it |
itk_quiz_v1 |
Your recent food quiz scores, so a replay deals you a fresh set of cards. Last 60 days only; it stays on your device and is never sent to us |
itk_chat_v1 |
A random code for your chat conversation, so the widget can show our reply when you come back. It identifies the conversation, not you |
itk_gab_v2 |
Which Gift a Bag requests and comments you posted from this browser, as random codes, so you can answer as the person who asked or remove your comment, plus the name, town, state and email you typed so the forms fill in next time. It stays on your device and is never sent to us except with a form you send |
itkCase, itkCaps |
Your choice of heading style from the “Aa” button |
_ga, _ga_78MXF4ZYDK |
Google Analytics: a random ID so repeat visits are counted once. Up to 2 years |
_gcl_au, _gcl_aw |
Google Ads: whether you arrived from one of our ads, so a later action can be credited to it. 90 days |
_fbp, _fbc |
Meta Pixel: a random browser ID, and whether you arrived from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads, so a later action can be credited to it. 90 days |
WooCommerce cart cookies (woocommerce_cart_hash, woocommerce_items_in_cart, wp_woocommerce_session_*) |
Only if you start buying a guide: what is in your cart during checkout. Up to 2 days |
itk_optout |
Only set if you open our team opt-out page, which our own staff use so their visits are not counted: while it is there, our visitor statistics, Google Analytics, Google Ads and the Meta Pixel do not run in that browser. About a year |
| WordPress login cookies | That you are signed in, for account holders only |
In the app: the In The Kibble app sets no cookies. It keeps your dogs, your log, your reminders and settings, and copies of our public food lists in its own storage on your phone; your sign-in key is kept in the phone’s secure storage. Deleting the app removes all of it from the phone.
Google’s reCAPTCHA may set its own cookies, as described below. You can clear any of this at any time from your browser settings. The site still works without it.
5. Services that see your information
- Google reCAPTCHA. Loaded on the site to stop spam in the contact form. It collects hardware and software information, such as device and browser data, and sends it to Google for analysis. Its use is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
- Google Analytics and Google Ads. Measure visits and the results of our own ads, as described above. Google Signals and ad personalization are switched off. You can opt out of Google Analytics on every site with Google’s browser add-on, or by blocking cookies from google.com and googletagmanager.com. See how Google uses data from sites that use its services.
- Meta Pixel. Measures the results of our own Facebook and Instagram ads, as described above. We do not build ad audiences from it, and it runs in Meta’s Limited Data Use mode for US state privacy laws. You can block it by blocking connect.facebook.net, or control how Meta uses off-Facebook activity in your Meta account settings. See Meta’s privacy policy.
- Instagram and YouTube embeds. Some News stories show Instagram posts and YouTube videos from the brand and the people in the story, as described above. You can block them by blocking instagram.com and youtube-nocookie.com. See Instagram’s privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.
- Stripe. Processes payment when you buy a guide. You enter your card details in Stripe’s secure fields; Stripe sees them and we do not. See Stripe’s privacy policy.
- Google Fonts. Some of the site’s typefaces are loaded from Google’s servers, so Google receives your IP address when the page loads.
- Amazon and other retailers. Some links to retailers are affiliate links. We share nothing about you with them. If you click through, the retailer sets its own cookies so it can credit us with the sale, and its own privacy policy applies from then on.
- Email. Recall alerts, the newsletter and replies are all sent from our own mail server, not a marketing platform.
- Our hosting provider stores the site, its database and its logs on our behalf.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the site and its users from fraud or abuse.
6. Your choices and rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to:
- tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
- correct it;
- delete it, including a My Dogs account and its photos. In the app you can do this yourself: Settings, Delete my account;
- stop sending you emails. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link, or just email us.
Email info@inthekibble.com from the address in question and we will respond within 30 days. We will not treat you differently for asking.
California and other US state residents: we do not sell personal information. Since October 1, 2026 the site sends visit data to Google Ads, and since October 6, 2026 to Meta, to measure our own ads. The Meta Pixel uses Meta’s Limited Data Use mode. Ad personalization is switched off, so it is not used to target ads at you, but if you want it stopped anyway, email us or use the opt-outs in section 5. We do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you.
Visitors from the UK and EU: we rely on your consent for our emails and accounts, and on our legitimate interest in running and securing the site for server logs and spam protection. Google Analytics and Google Ads set no cookies for visitors from the EU, the UK and Switzerland, and the Meta Pixel is not loaded for visitors in Europe. You may also complain to your local data protection authority.
7. Security
The whole site is served over HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as hashes, sign-up and login forms are rate limited, and a firewall watches for attacks. No system is perfectly secure, but we keep what we hold to the minimum, which limits what could ever be exposed.
8. Children
The site is written for adults who feed dogs. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has sent us information, email us and we will delete it.
9. Changes to this policy
We will update this page when the site starts collecting something new. The date at the side of the page shows the last revision. If a change affects how we use information you have already given us, we will ask first.
10. Contact
For anything about your privacy, email info@inthekibble.com or use the contact page.