Terms of use
By using The Pet Times, you agree to these terms. They are written to be readable, but they are the real, binding agreement between you and us. Please take a moment with them, especially the sections on veterinary advice, affiliate links, and liability.
These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website at thepettimes.com and any related newsletters, feeds, and services (together, the "Site"), operated by The Pet Times ("The Pet Times," "we," "us," or "our"). If you do not agree with these Terms, please do not use the Site.
The Pet Times is operated by OKAY LLC (doing business as The Pet Times), located at 2222 W. Grand River Ave, Ste A, Okemos, MI 48864, USA.
Who may use the Site
You may use the Site if you can form a binding contract with us and are not barred from doing so under applicable law. If you use the Site on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to accept these Terms for it. The Site is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed to children.
Using the Site
You are welcome to read, share, and link to our work for personal, non-commercial use. In return, you agree not to:
- scrape, crawl, harvest, or systematically download our content without our written permission;
- republish, resell, or redistribute our articles, photography, or design as your own;
- use the Site or its content to train machine-learning or AI models without written permission;
- interfere with, overload, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site or its systems;
- use the Site for any unlawful purpose or in a way that infringes anyone's rights.
We may suspend or restrict access for anyone who misuses the Site or violates these Terms.
Content and intellectual property
All articles, photography, illustrations, layout, and design on the Site are owned by The Pet Times or our contributors and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Our name, logo, and branding are our trademarks. Product names, brand names, and logos that appear in our articles belong to their respective owners and are used for identification and commentary only.
We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and view the Site for your own personal use. This license does not include any right to reproduce or exploit our content commercially. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
Affiliate links and how we make money
The Pet Times participates in affiliate programs, including the Amazon Associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Some of the product links in our articles are affiliate links. If you click one and make a qualifying purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
These commissions help fund our reporting, but they do not dictate our recommendations. We choose and describe products on their merits, and an affiliate relationship never buys a better review. Prices, availability, and product details are set by the retailer and can change at any time; always confirm the current details on the retailer's page before you buy. Purchases you make from a linked retailer are transactions between you and that retailer, governed by their terms and privacy policy, not ours.
Not veterinary advice
Our content is for general information and education only. It is not a substitute for professional veterinary diagnosis, advice, or treatment, and it does not create a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Every animal is different, and only a veterinarian who has examined your pet can advise you properly.
Always consult your own veterinarian about your animal's health, diet, medication, and behavior, and never disregard or delay seeking professional advice because of something you read here. If your pet is showing urgent or severe symptoms, seek emergency veterinary care immediately. You rely on our content at your own discretion and risk.
Accuracy and availability
We work hard to keep our content accurate and current, and we correct errors when we find them. Even so, we do not warrant that everything on the Site is complete, current, or error-free, and recommendations may become out of date. We also do not guarantee that the Site will always be available, uninterrupted, or free of technical issues.
Our rights to run the Site as we see fit
The Site is ours to operate. We reserve the right, at any time and without notice or liability to you, to change, edit, remove, or add to any content; to modify, suspend, limit, or discontinue the Site or any feature or newsletter; and to restrict or terminate anyone's access, for any reason or no reason, including for conduct we believe violates these Terms or is otherwise harmful. We are not obligated to keep any article, price, or recommendation available, and nothing on the Site is a promise that a product, feature, or piece of content will remain accessible.
Newsletters and subscriptions
If you subscribe to a newsletter, you are responsible for the accuracy of the email address you provide, and you agree to receive the emails you signed up for. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any newsletter. We may change the format or frequency of our newsletters, or discontinue them.
Third-party links and services
The Site links to third-party websites, retailers, studies, and organizations that we do not control. We provide these links for convenience and reference. We are not responsible for the content, products, or practices of any third-party site, and a link is not an endorsement of everything on it. Your dealings with any third party are solely between you and that party.
User submissions
If you send us feedback, corrections, ideas, questions, or other material, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, and display that material for any purpose, in any medium, without attribution or compensation to you. You confirm you have the right to share it and waive any moral rights in it to the extent the law allows. Please do not send us anything confidential or anything you do not have the right to share; we treat submissions as non-confidential. We are grateful for reader corrections and read them carefully, but we are not obligated to act on, respond to, or keep any submission, and any similarity between your idea and something we later publish independently creates no obligation to you.
Copyright complaints
We respect intellectual property rights and expect our readers to do the same. If you believe content on the Site infringes your copyright, please contact us at legal@thepettimes.com with enough detail to identify the work and the material in question, your contact information, and a statement of your good-faith belief that the use is not authorized. We will review and respond to valid notices, including under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act where it applies.
Disclaimer of warranties
The Site and all of its content are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Site will meet your needs, that it will be secure or error-free, or that any information on it is accurate or reliable. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Pet Times and its owners, contributors, employees, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, goodwill, or profits, arising out of or related to your use of (or inability to use) the Site, your reliance on its content, any decision you make about your pet, or any product you buy through a link on the Site, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Any issue with a product you purchase is solely between you, the retailer, and the manufacturer. To the extent we are found liable despite the above, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Site will not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars (US $100), which you agree is a fair allocation of risk given that the Site is provided free of charge. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The Pet Times and its owners, contributors, employees, and service providers from and against any and all claims, losses, liabilities, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs) arising from or related to your use or misuse of the Site, your violation of these Terms, any content or material you submit, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with us.
Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Site will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Michigan, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. Nothing here limits any mandatory consumer rights you may have under the law of your own country or state.
Before filing any claim, you agree to first contact us at legal@thepettimes.com and give us at least thirty (30) days to resolve the matter informally. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any claim you have arising out of or relating to the Site or these Terms must be brought within one (1) year after the claim arose; otherwise it is permanently barred.
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "last updated" date above, and we will give more prominent notice where appropriate. Your continued use of the Site after an update means you accept the current Terms. If you do not agree to a change, please stop using the Site.
Miscellaneous
If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Site and supersede any prior understanding on that subject.
Contact us
Questions about these Terms? Reach us through our contact page or by email at legal@thepettimes.com.