How Help My Pet is funded
The short version: Help My Pet is free to use. It’s run by one person, and it pays for itself with a few clearly labeled things: optional merch, donations, sponsors, and a small commission when you buy through some links marked “We may earn a commission.” Nobody can pay to be listed or to be listed higher.
Who runs it
Help My Pet is written, checked and kept current by Sean Arenas and published by his small company, Arenas Promotions LLC, in Southern California. It began when his 14-year-old cat, Quark, became seriously ill and finding help meant weeks of dead ends. You can reach us anytime on the contact page.
How the site pays for itself
- Merch. Help My Pet merch and fundraiser merch are optional. Buying never unlocks anything on the site.
- Donations and sponsors. People and companies can support the site. Sponsors are recognized by name; a sponsorship doesn’t change what is listed, what is recommended or how listings are ordered.
- We may earn a commissions. We apply to affiliate programs, including some pet retailers and pet insurance companies. When a link on this site earns Help My Pet a commission if you buy, it’s marked We may earn a commission and carries a “sponsored” tag in the page code. It costs you nothing extra. As an Amazon Associate, Help My Pet earns from qualifying purchases.
There are no banner ads on the site, and we don’t sell or rent your information (see Privacy).
How we choose what to list
- Help comes first. Clinics, grants, assistance programs and savings ideas are listed because they could help a pet owner, whether or not they pay us anything. Most of what’s on the site pays nothing.
- A commission never decides a listing or its order. Companies that pay nothing are listed the same way as companies that do, and affiliate links are never sorted to the top because they pay.
- Every recommendation needs a documented benefit. Every savings claim needs evidence, and that holds equally for programs that pay us and programs that don’t. Insurance and financing may protect you from a big bill or help you get care without lowering what you spend, and we say which is which.
- We check the source. Details come from the organization’s own website, with the date we checked shown on the listing. See how we check listings.
- We say what a product doesn’t do. For example, pet insurance helps with future bills, not ones you already have, and every insurance listing says so. Read our plain-English guide to pet insurance.
What we don’t do
- We don’t give veterinary advice, diagnose pets or guarantee that any program will help.
- We don’t accept payment to change a listing, a rating or a recommendation.
- We don’t promise savings amounts. Prices and terms belong to the companies and change, so each link goes to their own site for current details.
Spot a mistake?
If something is out of date or wrong, or you think a link should be marked and isn’t, tell us. We fix errors and correct the date.