Who we are

Whisker & Wallet is a free service based in Calgary, Alberta, for Alberta pet owners: local pet businesses with member perks (groomers, trainers, pet sitters, dog walkers, daycares, pet stores and more), the Stamp Rally, your Pet Wallet and Pet Passport, finding a vet, emergency care, lost and found pets, events, the Pet Community, the trail and safety map and planning care costs. We follow Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and Canada's PIPEDA. Questions or requests: whiskerandwallet@gmail.com.

What we collect, feature by feature

Browsing: you can browse local businesses, clinics, lost and found posts, events, cost ranges and tools without an account.

Your account: your email address, and your name if you sign in with Google or Apple. If you use Sign in with Apple and choose "Hide my email", we only get Apple's relay address. Passwords are handled by Google's Firebase sign-in service; we never see them.

Your profile and settings (optional): the name, username, profile photo and home city you add on the Account settings page, and your look-and-feel choices (day or night, text size, less motion, reminder pop-ups). They're private to you; your username is reserved so no one else can take it, but it isn't shown publicly. You can change or remove them at any time, and download a copy of your data.

Pet profiles: the details you enter about your pets (name, species, breed, city, photo, birthday month and the date they came home). These are private to you.

Pet Passport: the vaccines, prevention and care schedule, microchip and licence numbers, care notes and emergency contact you add are private to you. It's your own record, not a veterinary record. If you share a passport, we copy only the parts you pick to a separate page that anyone with the link or QR code can open until it expires or you stop sharing; then it's deleted. Only share an emergency contact's phone number if they're OK with it.

Reminders: on the website, reminders are calendar files you add to your own calendar app. In the phone app, reminders are scheduled on your phone itself (3 days before and on the day). We don't send reminder emails or push messages from a server.

Pet Wallet, pet cards and Save to Photos: pet cards and passport cards are drawn on your own device. When you tap Save to Photos, the image is handed to your phone's share sheet or downloads folder; it never passes through us and we can't see your photo library. We only store the optional line you add to a pet card. Cards never include your name or contact details. If you add Whisker & Wallet to your home screen, that's a shortcut on your device; we don't receive anything extra.

Stamp Rally and member perks: when you scan a partner's QR code we save which business stamped your card and when, and when you claim the reward. Only you and the site owner can see your stamps. A business can see how many stamps were collected at its location in total, never who collected them. In-store member codes are shown only to signed-in members.

Birthdays and Gotcha Days: the month your pet was born and the date they came home, if you add them, stay private and are used to show celebration perks in your Pet Wallet and, in the app, a reminder on your phone.

Local pet businesses and services: if you list a business, its listing (name, category, area, website, hours, profile photo or logo, what you offer, perks and flash perks) is public once we approve it. So is whether you're accepting new pets or fully booked, with the date you last changed it. Your street address and a "Get directions" button only appear if you switch them on. The contact email you give stays private to you and Whisker & Wallet. Until we approve a listing, only you and the site owner can see it.

Pet sitters, trainers, walkers and other services: we don't book appointments, take payments or pass your details to businesses. You contact a business directly, and what you share with them is between you and them.

Lost and Found: your post (species, description, area, date and photo) is public. The contact details you add are shown only to signed-in visitors, after you confirm that's OK. Mark it reunited or delete it at any time.

Events: events you post are public once we've approved them.

Pet Community (optional): if you switch it on for a pet, its species, breed, home city and age range appear on the public community page, plus its first name only if you choose. If you add a photo or description, they appear once we've checked them; photos are shrunk and stripped of hidden location data before upload. Nothing on that page links back to you. Switch it off or delete the pet and it's removed.

Trail and safety map: the hazard type, your note, a map spot rounded to about 100 m and the time. Reports are public without your name and are removed automatically after 3 to 14 days. If you tap "Use my location", your device shares your position with the page only to place the pin; we don't keep it.

Vet clinics, prices and ER check-ins: clinic listings are public and never include prices. Prices you share (city or area, service, pet size, price and month, never the clinic) only appear inside area-wide ranges, never with your name. ER check-ins (which hospital and when) are used to estimate wait times and are deleted after about a week. Estimate requests are seen only by the clinic you chose and by us.

New pet checklist: which items you've ticked, saved on your device and in your account if you're signed in.

Feedback, reports and partner applications: what you send us, visible only to you and the site owner, used to reply and to keep the site safe.

Visitor stats: we use Google Analytics (through Firebase) to count visits and see which pages are useful. It records general information like your approximate city, device type and pages viewed, not your name or email. Advertising features and ad personalization are off. You can block it with tracking protection or an ad blocker and the site still works.

Bot protection: to keep out spam and scripts, the website uses Google reCAPTCHA (through Firebase App Check) and the app uses Apple's App Attest or Google Play Integrity. These check that requests come from the real site or app; they don't tell us who you are.

On your device: we save small preferences in your browser or app (like your last search, your city, or that you closed a tip), and Firebase keeps you signed in. We don't use advertising cookies.

In the phone app

The app only asks for a permission when you use the feature that needs it, and you can turn any of them off in your phone's settings:

• Camera: to scan a partner's Stamp Rally QR code and to take a photo of your pet.
• Photos: to pick a pet photo. We only receive the photo you choose, shrunk before upload.
• Calendar: to add events or reminders you choose to your calendar.
• Notifications: for Pet Passport and celebration reminders, scheduled on your phone.
• Receipt scanning: if you scan a receipt when sharing what you paid, the text is read on your phone and the photo is never uploaded or stored. Only the price, service and month you confirm are saved.

Who can see what we review

Business listings, Pet Community photos, events and clinic requests are checked by the site owner before they go public. The site owner can see what's needed to make that decision (for example a business's contact email) and nothing more is shared with anyone else.

Please don't upload personal details

Don't put names, addresses, phone numbers or pet medical records in descriptions or posts, except the contact details you choose to add to a lost or found post. We remove personal details if we spot them.

Where your data is kept

Data is stored with Google Firebase in Toronto, Canada. Sign-in, bot protection and visitor stats are provided by Google (and Apple, if you use Sign in with Apple or the iPhone app), which may store or process that data outside Canada (including the United States) under their own privacy terms, where it may be accessible under those countries' laws. Email us to ask how our service providers outside Canada handle personal information. Security rules make sure people can only see and change their own information.

How long we keep things

ER check-ins: about a week. Safety map reports: 3 to 14 days. Flash perks: a few hours. Shared passports: until the date you picked or until you stop sharing. Everything else: until you delete it or your account. Backups held by our provider are cleared on their normal schedule.

Your choices

You can edit or delete your pets, passports, prices, posts and listings yourself. Businesses can change their availability, hide their address or delete their listing at any time on the For pet businesses page. You can delete your whole account at any time: tap your initial at the top of the page (or Account in the app) and choose Delete my account. This removes your sign-in, pet profiles, passports, stamps, the prices you shared and the data we received from Google, Apple or Facebook. You can also email us to see or correct what we hold about you, or to make a complaint; if you're not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.

Children

Whisker & Wallet is meant for adults. If you're under 18, please use it with a parent or guardian. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Emails

We only send you emails you ask for (like sign-in links). Any newsletter or promotional email will only be sent with your permission and will always have an unsubscribe link.

Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top. Big changes will be announced on the site and in the app.

What Whisker & Wallet is

A free directory and toolkit for Alberta pet owners: local pet businesses and their member perks, the Stamp Rally, your Pet Wallet and Pet Passport, finding a vet and emergency care, lost and found pets, events, the Pet Community and the trail and safety map. We're not a veterinary clinic, a booking service or a seller of pet products or services.

Not veterinary advice

Nothing on Whisker & Wallet is medical advice. Emergency wait times are owner estimates. Your Pet Passport is your own record, not a veterinary record, and reminders are a convenience: please keep track of your pet's care with your vet. If your pet is in danger, call or go straight to an emergency hospital.

Your account

Use your own account, give accurate information and keep your sign-in safe. One person per account. We may suspend or remove accounts that break these terms or put others at risk.

Local pet businesses and services

Groomers, trainers, pet sitters, dog walkers, daycares, boarding, stores, bakeries, photographers, pet taxis, yard care and other businesses listed on Whisker & Wallet are independent businesses. We check that a listing looks like a real, non-veterinary Alberta pet business before it appears, but we don't employ, license, insure, background-check, supervise or recommend any business, and we don't guarantee their work.

We don't book appointments or take payments. Any arrangement, price, booking or payment is between you and the business. Before leaving your pet with someone new, we suggest a meet-and-greet and asking about insurance, references and any certifications. "Accepting new pets" and "Fully booked" are set by each business and may not be up to date; please confirm with them.

For businesses that list with us

• You must be authorized to list the business, and it must be a real, non-veterinary pet business in Alberta. Veterinary clinics can't join the partner program; they can claim a free clinic listing instead.
• Keep your listing accurate, including your availability, hours, services and perks. Only switch on your street address and directions if you're happy for them to be public.
• You're responsible for your own licences, permits, insurance, taxes and for following the law, including Alberta's consumer protection rules.
• Honour every perk, birthday perk and flash perk as described, under the terms you set. You can't offer prescription medications or prescription diets.
• Use the Stamp Rally QR code only at your location or with your own clients; don't post it online.
• You give us permission to show your listing, logo or profile photo on Whisker & Wallet and in posts that promote it. Listing is free today; if we ever add paid features, we'll tell you first and you can choose.
• We may approve, hold, edit for clarity or remove any listing or perk.

Member perks, birthday and flash perks

Perks are offered and honoured by each participating business, not by Whisker & Wallet, under the terms shown with the perk. They may be limited (for example one per pet per celebration, or while spots last), have no cash value and a business may ask to see your Pet Wallet, pet card or passport. Flash perks run for a few hours at most. Please be honest about your pet's dates.

Stamp Rally

The Stamp Rally is run by Whisker & Wallet with participating local pet businesses. Veterinary clinics don't take part. You collect a stamp by scanning a business's QR code at their counter or, for businesses that come to you (like sitters and walkers), on their phone or card. No purchase is needed to collect a stamp, and every person who completes the card can claim the stated reward: there's no draw or chance involved. Rewards are provided by the participating businesses while supplies last, have no cash value and can't be exchanged. One stamp per business per person and one reward per person per rally. We may end or change a rally, and remove stamps collected by misuse (for example, sharing QR codes online).

Pet Wallet, pet cards and shared passports

Cards you save to your photos are yours to keep and share. A QR code on a card or a shared passport opens a page that anyone with the code can see until it expires or you stop sharing, so only show it to people you trust. Adding Whisker & Wallet to your home screen is a shortcut to the website and works the same way.

Prices are a guide

The amounts on this site are area-wide ranges built from what pet owners told us they paid. We don't show prices by clinic, and they aren't prices advertised, posted or quoted by clinics. They may be out of date or differ for your pet. Always ask the clinic for an estimate before treatment. Whisker & Wallet doesn't set or guarantee any price.

What you post

You own what you post (prices, photos, lost and found posts, events, safety reports, listings), and you give us permission to show it on Whisker & Wallet so the feature works. Post only what's true and yours to share, in good faith. No personal information about others, no abuse, no spam, no animals for sale, no false reports. Clinic staff may not report prices for their own clinic. We may remove anything that breaks these rules.

Clinic listings

Only staff authorized by a clinic may claim and manage its listing. Listings never show fees, prices, discounts or offers, and clinics answer estimate requests privately, only to the owner who asked. Until a clinic claims its listing, we fill it in from the clinic's own public information and show the date; a clinic can ask us to correct or remove anything at any time. We don't rank clinics by price or quality, and the "verified" check only means we've confirmed it's a licensed Alberta clinic. Clinics never pay us for referrals or estimate requests.

Trail and safety map

Reports are shared by pet owners, aren't checked and aren't official warnings. Use your own judgment, follow posted signs and official advisories, and call 911 in an emergency. Don't post homes, people's names, contact details or false reports; we may remove any report.

Insurance, sponsors and partners

We explain pet insurance in general terms and don't sell or recommend specific policies. If we ever earn a referral fee, we'll say so. Partners and sponsors never pay to change prices, rankings or ratings, and sponsored content is always labelled as sponsored.

Fair use

Don't copy the site's data in bulk, use bots or scripts, try to get around security, pretend to be someone else, or use Whisker & Wallet for anything illegal.

Liability

Whisker & Wallet is provided as is and may sometimes be unavailable or contain mistakes. To the extent the law allows, Whisker & Wallet isn't responsible for decisions made using information on the site or app, or for the products, services, conduct or care provided by any listed business, sitter, trainer, walker or clinic. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Alberta or Canadian consumer law.

Changes and the law that applies

We may update these terms; we'll change the date at the top and announce big changes. These terms are governed by the laws of Alberta and the federal laws of Canada that apply there.

Contact

Questions or concerns: whiskerandwallet@gmail.com. Read our privacy policy.