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, or a My Dogs account. 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 and confirmed, when we last emailed you, and a random code for your confirm and unsubscribe links | To send you only the emails you asked for | Until you unsubscribe. Unsubscribed addresses are deleted within a day. Sign-ups 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 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 finish the daily food quiz | Nothing about you. Your score is added to an anonymous tally of how many people scored 0 to 10 that day, which is how the quiz tells you how you rank. To count each player once a day we use a scrambled form of the IP address for one day. If you sign a challenge link with your name, the name is only in the link you share; we do not store it | To show how you rank against other players | Daily tallies are deleted after 90 days |
| 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 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, allergies, notes and any photos you upload | To keep your dogs in sync across devices | Until you ask us to delete the account |
| 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 |
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. Every sign-up is confirmed by a link we email you first.
- 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 scores on the daily food quiz, so it can show your streak and offer practice rounds once today’s challenge is done. Last 60 days only; it stays on your device and is never sent to us |
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 |
| WordPress login cookies | That you are signed in, for account holders only |
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.
- 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;
- 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.