Terms and Conditions

Effective date: October 20, 2026

1. BINDING EFFECT. This is a binding agreement between you and Velm ("us", "we", "Company"). By using the website located at https://velm.app/ (the "Site"), you agree to abide by these Terms and Conditions ("Terms"). If at any time you find these Terms unacceptable, you must immediately leave the Site and cease all use of it.

2. PRIVACY POLICY. We respect your privacy and let you control how your personal information is treated. A complete statement of our current privacy practices can be found in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Both are expressly incorporated into these Terms by this reference.

3. NOT VETERINARY ADVICE. The Site publishes general information about pet care, written by Sam De Silva (main author) and the Velm team and based on sources we cite in each article. It is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis or treatment from a qualified veterinarian. Always ask your veterinarian about your own animal's health, and never ignore or delay professional advice because of something you read on the Site. If you think your pet has eaten something toxic or is seriously unwell, contact a veterinarian immediately.

4. GOVERNING LAW. These Terms shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, without reference to rules regarding conflicts of law, and the courts of Sri Lanka shall have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them. If you use the Site as a consumer, nothing in these Terms takes away any mandatory protection you have under the laws of the country where you live.

5. MINIMUM AGE. You must be at least 13 years old to use the Site. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you may use the Site only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

6. EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS. When you contact us at hello@velm.app, you consent to receive email replies from us about your message. We will not add you to any mailing list without your separate, explicit consent.

7. OUR CONTENT. All articles, text, images, illustrations, graphics, logos and the design of the Site ("Content") are owned by Velm or its licensors and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may read, print and share links to the Content for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not copy, republish, sell, redistribute, scrape or create derivative works from the Content, in whole or in part, without our prior written permission. Short quotations with a clear credit and a link to the original page are welcome.

8. COMPLIANCE WITH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS. When accessing the Site, you agree to obey the law and to respect the intellectual property rights of others. Your use of the Site is at all times governed by and subject to the laws regarding copyright ownership and the use of intellectual property. All Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other copyright matters are handled under our DMCA / Copyright Policy.

9. ACCURACY OF INFORMATION. We work to keep our guides accurate and up to date and to link the sources we rely on, but pet care guidance changes and sources sometimes disagree. We make no guarantee that all Content is complete, current or error-free. If you spot an error, please tell us at hello@velm.app.

10. ADVERTISING. The Site is funded by advertising, including ads served by Google AdSense. Ads are provided by third parties, and the appearance of an ad on the Site is not an endorsement by Velm of the advertiser, product or service. How advertising partners use cookies is explained in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

11. NO WARRANTIES. WE HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES. WE ARE MAKING THE SITE AVAILABLE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF ANY AND ALL DAMAGE OR LOSS FROM USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE SITE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.

12. LIMITED LIABILITY. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU IS LIMITED. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR LOST DATA, REGARDLESS OF THE FORESEEABILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR ANY OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED TO YOU BY US, INCLUDING ANY DECISION ABOUT YOUR PET'S CARE MADE ON THE BASIS OF THE CONTENT. This limitation shall apply regardless of whether the damages arise out of breach of contract, tort, or any other legal theory or form of action. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. THIRD-PARTY SITES. We have no control over and no liability for any third-party websites or materials. Our articles link to other websites, such as veterinary schools and animal welfare organisations, and ads may link to advertisers' sites. Because we have no control over the content and performance of these sites, we make no guarantees about the accuracy, currency, content, or quality of the information they provide, and we assume no responsibility for unintended, objectionable, inaccurate, misleading, or unlawful content that may reside on them. Your use of any third-party site is governed by that site's own terms.

14. PROHIBITED USES. We impose certain restrictions on your permissible use of the Site. You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate any security features of the Site, including, without limitation, (a) accessing content or data not intended for you, or logging onto a server or account that you are not authorised to access; (b) attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Site, or any associated system or network, or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorisation; (c) interfering or attempting to interfere with service to any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, by means of submitting a virus to the Site, overloading, "flooding", "spamming", "mail bombing", "crashing" or instituting a "DDoS" attack on the Site; (d) using automated tools to scrape, copy or mass-download the Content; (e) generating fraudulent clicks or impressions on ads, or encouraging others to do so; or (f) attempting to modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reduce or attempt to reduce to a human-perceivable form any of the source code used by us in providing the Site. Any violation of system or network security may subject you to civil and/or criminal liability.

15. INDEMNITY. You agree to indemnify us for certain of your acts and omissions. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Velm, its owners, authors, contractors, agents, and representatives from any and all third-party claims, losses, liability, damages, and/or costs (including reasonable attorney fees and costs) arising from your misuse of the Site, your violation of these Terms, or your infringement of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity. We will notify you promptly of any such claim, loss, liability, or demand, and will provide you with reasonable assistance, at your expense, in defending any such claim, loss, liability, damage, or cost.

17. SEVERABILITY; WAIVER. If, for whatever reason, a court of competent jurisdiction finds any term or condition in these Terms to be unenforceable, all other terms and conditions will remain unaffected and in full force and effect. No waiver of any breach of any provision of these Terms shall constitute a waiver of any prior, concurrent, or subsequent breach of the same or any other provisions hereof, and no waiver shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by an authorised representative of the waiving party.

18. NO LICENSE. Nothing contained on the Site should be understood as granting you a license to use any of the trademarks, service marks, or logos owned by us or by any third party.

19. LANGUAGE. The Site publishes articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese. These Terms and our other policies are provided in English, and the English version governs.

20. AMENDMENTS. We reserve the right to amend these Terms. When we do, we will post the updated Terms on this page and update the effective date above. If we make a change that we consider material, we will also note it on the Site's home page for at least 15 days before it takes effect. All amendments to these Terms shall be forward-looking. Your continued use of the Site after an amendment takes effect means you accept the amended Terms.

21. CONTACT. Questions about these Terms can be sent to hello@velm.app.