Privacy and Cookie Policy

As an independent, family-run small business, we at The Cat Doctor are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website or use our veterinary services, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure. We may change this policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing to the terms of this policy.

Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent to the attention of Amy Bergs via:

Who are we?

Our official company name is The Cat Doctor Ltd. We are a limited company registered in England and Wales (company number 7907228 ). Our registered office address is 21 Westleigh Avenue, Coulsdon, CR5 3AD. Our ICO registration details are:

  • Data Controller Name: Amy Bergs
  • Registration Number: ZA011975
  • Registration active since: 20 February 2014

How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you register with the practice, purchase products or services from the practice or use our website (for example, when you complete a contact form). Some of the information we collect may be classed as personal data as defined by UK data protection laws.

What type of information is collected from you?

In providing our services to you, typically we will collect:

  • Full or partial contact details including your name and address, email address, landline telephone number, mobile telephone number and IP address.
  • Information about which pages you visit on our website, including any forms you complete online.
  • If you have any special requirements it may also be necessary to collect details about a disability.
  • Payment card information, should you choose to use this form of payment. We do not store these details.
  • Bank account details may be collected in rare instances when a refund is required but are not used for any other purpose.
  • If you choose to connect with us via social media, eg Facebook or Twitter, we may collect your username, your name (including surname) and email address, your gender and your location.
  • If you provide us with any personal data relating to any third party (eg information about your spouse or other family members) for particular purposes, by submitting such data to us, you warrant that you have obtained their consent to provide us with their personal data for those purposes.

How is your information used?

We may use your information to:

  • Carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us
  • Send you reminders about your pet’s healthcare
  • Contact you regarding your pet’s treatment
  • Seek your views or comments on the services we provide
  • Notify you of changes to our services
  • Send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you
  • Process a job application
  • We may contact you via email, phone, SMS, WhatsApp or post about other related products and services we provide which we think may be of interest to you and of benefit to your pet.

We may use your information collected from our website, via cookies or direct input, to personalise future visits to our website and/or to send triggered automated emails to you.

We may use your information to meet and comply with any applicable rules, laws or regulations issued by any legal or regulatory body which are binding on us.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

In the course of providing care for your pet, we may sometimes be required to share your details with third parties – e.g. your pet insurance company, external laboratories for processing blood or urine samples, our practice management computer system, accounting software, payment collection companies (iZettle, PayPal etc), communications companies (MailChimp, SurveyMonkey etc) and pharmacies (online or local) when requested by you to do so. We only share the information that is necessary at the time, and those third parties do not have permission to use your data for anything else.

It may at times be necessary to share your pet’s medical history (including your contact details) with other veterinary clinics, such as referral centres or a practice you choose to visit for a second opinion. We would also transfer your pet’s records should you switch vets and register with another practice. In this case we will attempt to contact you first however if you choose not to respond we will transfer your records to the other clinic as requested. You have the right to request your pet’s medical history at any time.

Other than as required to provide care to your pet, or as may be required by law, we will never share your data with anyone else. For example, if asked by the police or HMRC, we may share your personal data for the purposes of prevention or detection of crime. Information is not shared with them outside of this purpose.

In some instances, it may be necessary to transfer your personal data overseas. Any transfers will be made in full compliance with UK data protection laws.

In the event that our business is transferred, sold or integrated with another business, your details may be disclosed to our advisers or any prospective purchaser’s advisers and may be passed on to the new owners of the business.

Your choices

Responsible pet ownership includes a wide range of care, some of which will be administered by you at home, some by us at home or at one of our associated clinics. In order to provide your pet with the best care, we need to contact you from time to time through various means. As your pet’s registered veterinary surgeon, our responsibilities under our contract with you might include:

Contacting you from time to time to remind you, for example, when vaccinations are due or when you should apply parasite protection. Communication about these is essential to the long-term health of your pet. For that reason, we do not ask for your consent to send these messages. However, if you have a preference as to how you would prefer to receive reminders (eg by SMS, email or post) please let us know by calling 07961 154886 or by emailing info@thecatdoctor.co.uk and we will update our records.

Letting you know about products and services (provided by us) which we believe can help your pet to live a long, happy and active life – for example, advice on diet and nutrition, exercise or preventative healthcare. Again, we believe this advice and guidance to form the foundation of responsible pet care. However, each message we send will include instructions on how you can choose to opt-out of receiving future similar messages, if you prefer. Alternatively, you can call the practice on 07961 154886 or by email info@thecatdoctor.co.uk and we will update our records.

How you can access and update your information

It is very important that we keep accurate contact details for the owners of pets under our care. If you change any of your contact details such as your phone number or email address please let us know so we can update our records accordingly. You have the right to request a copy of the information we hold about you so that you can ensure its accuracy. You can do this by the following methods:

  • Telephone: 07961 154886
  • Write to us at: The Cat Doctor, 21 Westleigh Avenue, Coulsdon, CR5 3AD
  • Email us at: info@thecatdoctor.co.uk

Retention of information

Your personal data will be retained for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it is collected or for business or legal purposes, or in accordance with applicable laws.

Should you choose to withdraw consent for marketing contact, please note that your personal data may still be retained on our database to the extent permitted by law.

Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.

Profiling

We may analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with information relevant to you. We may make use of additional information about you when it is available from external sources to help us do this effectively. We may also use your personal information to detect and reduce fraud and credit risk.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website. In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third-party site.

16 or Under

We are keen to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Transferring your information outside of Europe

As part of the services offered to you through this website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (“EU”). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK. By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this policy.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.

Website recording and use of ‘cookies’

Like many other websites, The Cat Doctor’s website uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, cookies help us to track which pages you visit on our website. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better, more personalised service.

However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.

Main cookies used on our site:

  • Google Analytics
  • Google Maps
  • Google Ads

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Review of this Policy

We keep this Policy under regular review. This policy was last updated in December 2018.