You trust us with your cat, and with some of your personal information along the way. This Privacy Policy explains, in plain language, what Meow Homez (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, how we use it, when we share it, and the choices you have. We handle personal information in line with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
1. Who we are & scope
Meow Homez provides cage-free cat boarding from our home in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This policy covers the personal information we handle when you visit meowhomez.ca, book a stay, purchase a Member Pass, use your account or gallery, or communicate with us. It applies to our website, our booking system, and our day-to-day communications with you.
2. What we collect
We collect only what we need to care for your cat and run our service well:
- Contact details: your name, email address, phone number, address, and an emergency contact.
- Cat profiles: your cat's name, breed, sex, spay/neuter status, and vaccination records, including the certificates you provide, along with any care notes you share (such as diet or behaviour).
- Booking & payment history: your bookings, invoices, amounts, payment status, and any account credit or Member Pass balances.
- Photos & videos: pictures and clips of your cat taken during their stay, for your updates and private gallery.
- Communications: emails, WhatsApp messages, and form submissions you exchange with us.
- Technical data: cookies, and analytics data about how our website is used (see Section 7).
3. Payment information
We never see or store full card numbers. Card payments are processed by Helcim, our payment processor, on its secure, PCI-compliant systems. Your card details go directly to Helcim; we keep only the records we need, such as amounts, dates, and payment status, for bookings and accounting.
4. How we use your information
We use your information to:
- deliver and administer bookings: scheduling, drop-offs and pick-ups, and your account;
- screen for safety: checking vaccination records and making sure group boarding is a good fit for every guest;
- process payments, credits, and Member Pass balances;
- send transactional messages: confirmations, receipts, schedule changes, and stay updates, by email and WhatsApp;
- run your private photo gallery and daily updates; and
- improve our services, using aggregate usage information about our website.
Marketing is separate and optional. We send marketing messages only with your consent, and every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You can opt out at any time, and doing so never affects your bookings or transactional messages.
5. When we share information
We do not sell personal information. We share it only with trusted service providers, each for its own function and only what that function needs:
- Payment processing: Helcim, which handles card payments;
- Message delivery: our email delivery provider, and WhatsApp (operated by Meta) when we message you there;
- Website analytics: Google, which provides our analytics; and
- Invoicing: the software we use to issue invoices and receipts.
Two further cases: in a veterinary emergency we may share your contact details and your cat's relevant health information with the treating clinic, and we may disclose information where the law requires it, for example under a court order or other lawful demand.
6. Where your information is stored
Our booking records are held on systems we operate and control, hosted in Canada. The service providers listed in Section 5 process the information they handle on their own systems, which may be located outside Canada (for example, in the United States) and are governed by their own privacy policies and safeguards.
7. Cookies & analytics
- Session cookies keep you signed in while you use your account. If you choose the optional “trusted device” setting, a secure cookie lets you skip re-verifying on that device. We suggest enabling it only on a private device.
- Google Analytics helps us understand website usage in aggregate, such as which pages are visited and how the site performs. It does not give us your identity.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; essential cookies are needed for sign-in features to work.
8. How long we keep information
We keep personal information while your account and bookings are active, and afterwards only as long as needed for legal, tax, and accounting purposes (financial records are typically kept for seven years, as Canadian tax law requires). Photos and videos in your gallery are retained according to the Memory Vault tier you choose. When information is no longer needed, we delete it or render it anonymous.
9. Your rights & choices
You may, at any time:
- access the personal information we hold about you and ask how it has been used or shared;
- correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- request deletion of your information, subject to the legal retention periods in Section 8; and
- withdraw consent to our handling of your information, though some withdrawals may mean we can no longer provide bookings.
To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We respond promptly and may need to verify your identity first, to protect your information.
10. How we protect information
We take reasonable, layered precautions to protect your information:
- encryption in transit: our website and booking system use HTTPS/TLS;
- access controls: personal information is available only to those who need it to care for your cat and run the service; and
- secret redaction in logs: sensitive values are redacted from our system logs.
No online service can promise perfect security, but we work to keep our safeguards current. If a breach of security safeguards ever created a real risk of significant harm, we would notify affected individuals and report it to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, as PIPEDA requires.
11. Children's privacy
Our services are intended for adults aged 18 and over, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The profile details we keep about your household's furry members are about cats, not kids. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time as our services or legal requirements evolve. Updates are posted on this page with a new effective date, and we will take reasonable steps to highlight material changes. Your continued use of our services after an update means the revised policy applies.
13. Contact & complaints
Questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy? The business owner of Meow Homez is accountable for our privacy practices and is the right person to ask.
Meow Homez, cage-free cat boarding in Old Ottawa East
- Address: 169 Lees Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: (613) 900-3934
- WhatsApp: chat with us
- Website: meowhomez.ca
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca).