National Pet Month – April 7 to May 7 2012 – is just around the corner and we need UK pet lovers to help make this national celebration of responsible pet ownership the biggest and best yet.

With this year’s theme of Your pets and you: a winning team, National Pet Month will be encouraging people of all ages to come together and celebrate life with their pets – whether they own a cute canine or a lovable lizard – we’d love people and their pets to join us and help spread the word on responsible ownership.

As well as a host of fabulous competitions for schools, pets and owners to enter, there will be all kinds of fun events taking place across the country where people can celebrate happy times with their pets. Alternatively, we’re inviting animal lovers to stage their own event in aid of a favourite animal charity and tell us about it.

Pet owners could speak to their local vet surgery about putting on an open day, organise a sponsored dog walk or pet show, ask a local church about conducting a pet-friendly service or stage a fair or fete on a pet theme. The only limit is imagination. We’ll help pet owners do the rest.

“National Pet Month is ultimately all about acknowledging and raising awareness of how pets make people’s lives happier and healthier and how we can repay their love by looking after them responsibly. By learning about responsible pet care we and our pets can make a winning team for many years to come,” says Phil Sketchley, National Pet Month Chairman.

“By putting on an event or joining in the many other activities taking place throughout the month pet owners can help spread the word and have a lot of fun at the same time. If people want to get involved then please let us know, register an event on the website and talk to us on our Facebook page and Twitter stream. We’d love to hear from pet owners all over the UK.

He adds: “We can’t wait for National Pet Month to get underway on April 7. With the help of pet lovers across the country we really can make this the biggest and best yet!”

Anyone putting on an event to mark National Pet Month should go to our website www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk and register the event so it can be placed on our special events map and shared with our supporters.

We’ll then send the event organiser an Events Pack which contains everything needed to put on a fun, safe and successful National Pet Month event.

National Pet Month, which began as National Pet Week in 1989, is a registered charity and grows more popular each year, with thousands helping to spread the key messages of responsible pet ownership, the mutual benefits of living with pets, the role of pet care specialists and the value of working and assistance companion animals.

Become a supporter at nationalpetmonth.org.uk, follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NationalPetMonth and on Twitter @NatPetMonthUK