Love Your Pet Day is a prime example of a holiday that’s not actually a holiday – it’s a pet parent’s way of life.

Love Your Pet Day is supposed to be a 365-day promise between a pet and their forever human, rather than just one day. Much like Valentine’s Day, which is eschewed for overshadowing romantic acts on other days of the year, this holiday makes me question its effectiveness.

Let’s Celebrate Anyway!

Despite my issues with holidays like this, I always use the spotlight this holiday casts to remind pet parents to love their pets each and every day.

It can be difficult. Sometimes we get busy with work and don’t pay enough attention to them. At other times, our pet can get on our nerves; even furry children can have tantrums and try their parent’s patience.

How To Love Your Pet Every Day

No matter how hectic your schedule is or how tired you are, there are little things you can do each day to bring the two of you closer together. Since this is a cat blog, I’m going to focus on cat-appropriate solutions, some of which could possibly apply to pooches.

Feed Them The Best

There are a lot of pet food brands out there, but the one I trust without a shadow of a doubt is Primal Pet Foods.

Primal Pet Foods has literally no fillers, artificial ingredients, or controversial ingredients of any kind. We buy the Pork freeze-dried nuggets for our cats. You can find the full list of ingredients on Primal’s website.

Make sure to feed your cat appropriate portions on a regular schedule. Cats love having a routine; in an odd way, that in and of itself can keep some cats satisfied.

Play Every Day

Hard-working pet parents can agree: finding the time and energy to play is hard. You’ve got a busy schedule, and God forbid you come down with the flu. How are you supposed to manage playtime?

PetMD suggests “10-15 minutes a few times each day” playing with your cat. I’m not sure whether that means the total time per day is 10-15 minutes, or each playtime is that amount. Either way, there are simple ways to exercise your cat without overstretching yourself.

Try these simple playtime methods:

• The good ‘ole laser pointer (some are even remote-controlled)
• Use a solar-powered toy for during the day when you’re at work (or sick!)
• Teach your cat to play fetch
• Create cat treat puzzles to stimulate their brains
• Use the old-fashioned “got your toes!” routine; cats love a good wrestling match

Keep Their Bathroom Pristine

You clean your house because you love yourself and want a nice home, right? You treat yourself to a sparkling fresh bathroom with all the fancy fragrances you need, so why wouldn’t you do the same for your cat?

Cats may bury their leavings, but they’re still there. Scoop it at least once daily, and change it as often or more often than your litter brand demands. If you don’t like changing your litter every week, you should buy Pretty Litter.

It’s eco-friendly, highly absorbent, and you only have to change it once a month. However, it’s most amazing quality is its ability to detect early signs of illness in your cat through color-changing technology.

You can get 10% off with code “MeowPlace10” at checkout as well! It’s a sweet deal that is healthier for your cat and less work for you! Read our full guide to setting up your cat’s litter box for more tips.

Stay Healthy

That means both of you! You can’t take care of your cat if you can’t take care of yourself.

Be honest: you’re going to get sick at some point. No one avoids the flu or common cold forever, so when you feel a bug coming on, get prepared. If it’s so bad that you need a helper, ask a friend or a neighbor to help you care for you and your cat. If you have other roommates or family members, they can help too!

Keeping your cat healthy means much more than an annual vet visit. It means monitoring their behavior, noting any unusual symptoms, and calling your vet with questions. For first time cat owners, you’re going to be calling a lot – we visited the vet nearly a dozen times last year just getting used to things.

Keep them fed, hydrated, comfortable and happy. They may not be able to do the first two for you, but the last two are pretty much assured.

What About Pets Without A Home?

Don’t have a pet yet? Adopt one from the shelter! You can celebrate Love Your Pet Day by taking them home with you.

If you already have a pet, but you want to spread the love to others, consider volunteering at an animal shelter. There are many animals in need of socializing. It may be just a half an hour a day to you, but to them it means the world.

How will you be celebrating Love Your Pet Day? Were any of the above tips helpful? Let us know in the comments section!

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