Pet food research
Pet food research is how United Pet Club builds its statistics about pet foods. The foods your pets eat and the outcomes you record on their Diet page count in totals about each food: how many pets eat it, how they did on it, and how long they stayed on it. Those totals appear on the public pet food pages as Pets on this food and Pets like mine eat.
It is part of the Platform Agreement you accept when you join, like most of what United Pet Club does with the information you add. There is no separate box to tick and no switch to turn it off.
What is counted, and what never is
Section titled “What is counted, and what never is”| Counted | Never published |
|---|---|
| Each catalog food your pet eats as its main food | Anything about one pet or one person |
| Your pet’s species, size (from its breed), age band and sex (spayed or neutered or not) | Your pet’s name, breed, birthday or where you live |
| The outcomes you record on the Diet page (Improved, No change, Worse) and the symptoms you link to them | Amounts, notes, treats or foods you typed in yourself |
| How long your pet has been on the food | A list of pets or owners, to anyone |
Only foods from the pet food catalog count. A food you added that is still waiting for review, or one you typed in yourself, never does.
How your pets stay anonymous
Section titled “How your pets stay anonymous”- Groups of 10 or more pets. A number is shown only when at least 10 pets are behind it. Smaller groups are withheld, and so are numbers that would let someone work out a withheld one by subtraction.
- Rounded to the nearest 5. “About 25 dogs” may be 23 or 27.
- Totals only. Individual records are never exported or shared, not with partners, not with brands, not as a download.
Where to read about it
Section titled “Where to read about it”Settings → Privacy in your Dashboard (/dashboard/settings/privacy).
The Pet food research card says what counts and what never does. Read the Platform Agreement opens the agreement in a new tab. The statistics are rebuilt every night, so a pet you archive or give to a new owner leaves your totals from the next update.
All privacy choices → Open privacy choices takes you to your account’s Privacy pages, for marketing, analytics, sharing with partners and your data requests.
Questions
Section titled “Questions”Can I turn it off? No. It is part of the Platform Agreement, and the totals never show anything about your pet or you. If you close your account, your pets stop counting from the next nightly update.
Will anyone see that my pet eats this food? No. The totals never name a pet or an owner. Showing your pet’s food on its public page is a different setting: see Showing the food on the public pet page.
Is this a ranking of the best foods? No. The numbers describe what owners report. They are not veterinary advice and not a ranking of food quality: ask your vet what suits your pet.
Related
Section titled “Related”- Look up a pet food: where the totals appear.
- Your pet’s diet: record foods and outcomes.
- Privacy: your other privacy choices.