Hi everyone !!

We’re halfway throughout the month and the number of fundraising events happening across the country is already at an all time high!  Running for 20 years, National Pet Month continues to go from strength to strength.

It’s a very important month in the year to set our focus on the faithful four and two legged friends, the dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and rats who makes us all much happier in our stressful everyday lives.

A real success last year was the photographic competition and we have repeated this year with Your Cat and Your Dog - in fact judging is just under way now! Watch out for the winners being displayed at The Ultimate Pet Show at the Birmingham NEC which is on from  2^nd – 4^th May.

National Pet Month is all about promoting responsible pet ownership. This year’s theme is Healthy, Happy Pets – keep your pet healthy and happy and this will keep YOU healthy and happy too…..owning an animal is a wonderful pleasure, but also a massive responsibility. Not only are you responsible for what it eats, but also its health and wellbeing.

Remember the top ten tips for responsible pet ownership:

Do Think carefully before getting a pet and learn about its special requirements…for example ; a rabbit needs company , a parrot needs almost more daily social contact than dogs , and rats will be depressed if left on their own with no friends…

Ensure your pet is sociable and well trained…this is so important as it’s your responsibility if your dog jumps up at someone and wrecks their coat or dress. Make sure you train your dogs in the basic commands and make sure you are in control!

Provide a nutritious and well balanced diet… you are what you eat! If you choose a good quality pet food, like a brand such as Iams, it is so well balanced and nutritious that I often say that we would all be very healthy and fit if we ate the same quality food ourselves

Provide suitable housing and bedding…, rabbits need more than a hutch, they need somewhere to run and dig …that’s what rabbits do! Make sure the materials you use are appropriate. Last night a lady called me and cried because her hamster had its neck almost strangled in cotton wool

Clean up after your pet and worm it regularly…, there is nothing worse than stepping in dog poo, bring a plastic bag and scoop it up! Worm your dog and cat ( they get tapeworm !) regularly, in heavily dog populated areas. I recommend worming every 4^th month, or every 3^rd for cats if they eat mice and birds

Protect against disease…. Your vet can provide you with advice, ….cats and dogs and rabbits needs regular vaccines …this prevents disease like dog distemper and cat flu..

Prevent unwanted litters and neuter your pet when appropriate…, cats should be neutered at  4 to 6 months of age, dogs at 6 months and bitches between first and second season.

Groom your pet regularly…, this helps to remove excess and loose hairs, and helps you to check on skin disease and fleas…

Control your pet and ensure it is properly identified… the best way is to fit a microchip. Ask your vet for details.

Take out pet insurance…for dogs, cats, rabbits and horses to cover against unexpected veterinary fees and third party liability.

Have great day everyone, keep up the good work !

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We’re looking forward very much here to seeing some of the photos from the first National Pet Month events - and are sure there will be loads more from events going on over Easter - please send them by email to info@nationalpetmonth.org.uk.

But did you know you could share the thrills and spills of National Pet Month with the world at large - and end up on our website home page? If you upload your photographs to a site called Flikr (www.flikr.com) (you may already have an account or just set one up - it’s easy - I managed!!) and when you are asked to give them a tag, tag them NationalPetMonth (just like that - no spaces) they will be fed through to the photo section on the National Pet Month website. It would be great if you could add a description so we know which event we’re looking at too.

So whether it’s your event - or if you have gone along to an event in your area - share the fun! Do please contact me (Alison) on the above email if you need any more help or information.

We’re delighted that Argos have offered vouchers for the top school in our ‘Healthy Pets Make Happy Pets’ competition - a further incentive to get involved.

We’ve already had some great entries, but there’s still time when term restarts to get some more entries in, as the deadline is 1st May.

In previous years, our winners’ days have been fantastic - we’ve managed to get in touch with someone local to talk about responsible pet ownership. We’ve had local vets or rescue centres visiting with animals - all in all a fun day, making all the creativity worthwhile! Have a look on the website for some great pictures from years gone by.

Well - National Pet Month is underway and I hope everyone who had events on the first weekend enjoyed as much sunshine as we had in the London area and had a great time!

We were really pleased with the ‘Pets Issue’ Independent magazine which appeared on Saturday morning and included our NPM advertorial - you can catch up with some of the features online at http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/pets/ - though not our advertorial, unfortunately. And one of our photo competition winners last year continues to achieve national fame in the Telegraph Hope the White German Shepherd takes a spin round the lawn.

All this publicity - and plenty of local events in the news too - there’s an incentive to make sure your event is registered on the National Pet Month site so we can continue to create some real buzz about the whole month.

Thanks for your support!

Dear Supporters

Most of you should have your packs by now and any last minute pack requests are going out on the same day, so DON’T PANIC!!

We’ve had such an overwhelming response that we had to order more posters and collection boxes and this led to a back log of event pack requests. Apologies to anyone that thought we’d forgotten them. How could we forget our precious supporters! 

 We’ve had some fantastic events added in the last few days, from a church service for pets at St. Wilfrid’s Church in Ribchester, Preston and a super sponsored slim down at Flett & Carmichael Vets in Kirkwall,Orkney. We’ve had quizzes, fun days, open days and owl displays, rabbit talks, sponsored walks, 5K runs & doggie swimathons. So COME ON anyone who has registered but still hasn’t decided quite what to do. Have a look at our National Pet Month website and register an event. Even if you just have a collection box and put up a poster, you are spreading the word and raising awareness of responsible pet ownership.

 Thank you for your continued support and have a successful NATIONAL PET MONTH with us.