Maddie’s® Pet Forum & Maddie’s® University Guidelines, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Thank you for being part of this community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, these basic guidelines for participation have been established.

Maddie's® Pet Forum Community Guidelines

Maddie’s® Pet Forum is dedicated to maintaining a respectful and inclusive community. Please keep the following in mind when participating:

Be Kind 
Please be polite to all members, even if you disagree with them. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Don’t post anything that is hateful, discriminatory or invalidates experiences. Keep in mind that real people read your posts and comments.

Respect The Space 
We envision a world free of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other forms of oppression. This is a space to practice those principles and create a community that is welcome, uplifting and informative.

Be Authentic 
No matter how you connect with animal welfare, be yourself when creating your profile. Respect intellectual property. Share original content in your discussions, comments and private messages and be sure to give credit to the author when sharing someone else’s work. Link stuffing (adding links that are not relevant to the community) and ads for the sale of products or services will be removed.

Be a Contributor 
Help establish the forum as a powerful tool in animal welfare by sharing successes, challenges, constructive feedback, thoughtful answers, resources and liking/recommending good content.

Be Safe 
Protect your personal information. Any contact information you share in comments and discussions will be visible to everyone. If you want to share private contact information with another member, you are encouraged to use the private messaging feature within the forum and visit your Privacy Settings to choose what others see on your profile.

Moderation Guidelines 
To provide a safe space for this community, any discussions or comments may be removed at any time if a Moderator feels community guidelines have been violated. Posts, comments, direct messaging, profile bios or any media including photos, videos and files that are spammy, defamatory, threatening, contain explicit content, advertise the sale of products/pets/services, or solicit funds/donations will be removed. Additional action may also be taken to limit a violator’s access to the forum.  

The intention of Maddie’s® Pet Forum is to provide support to companion animal welfare professionals, volunteers and foster caregivers. Any unrelated items that detract from the conversation may be removed at the discretion of Maddie’s Fund®. To preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules.

Help cultivate a safe and inclusive digital animal welfare community on Maddie’s® Pet Forum by reporting discussions, replies and members that you feel abuse or violate these guidelines. 

Your Content 
You are responsible for any content you submit to the forum. By submitting content, you do not lose any ownership rights you may have to this content, but you understand that the content will be publicly available for others to view, share and use at their own discretion.

Maddie's® Pet Forum and Maddie’s® University are not a substitute for veterinary care. If your pet is experiencing an emergency, please contact your local veterinarian.

Use of Maddie’s® Pet Forum and/or Maddie’s® University is also subject to the Maddie’s Fund® Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Have a question? Contact us at forumhelp@maddiesfund.org.