Happy National Pet Day 2014: Here are some fun facts about the day and some adorable quotes about owning a pet. (Photo: Reuters)
Happy National Pet Day 2014: Here are some fun facts about the day and some adorable quotes about owning a pet. (Photo: Reuters)Reuters

National Pet Day is celebrated each year on April 11 and is considered to be a day when you acknowledge and display extra love and affection towards your furry little ones. The day to acknowledge the fact that the little ones are very much a part of our own family is a well received day worldwide. 

While it might be the time of the year when you are aware of how beautiful your lives are because of the little animals present around you in your home; the National Pet Day 2014 is also considered to be a day to raise more awareness of the importance of pet adoption.

The motto of one of America's favourite holidays is "Don't shop! Adopt!"  The day to celebrate the joy pets bring to our lives is, therefore, also supposed to be a day to create public awareness about the plight of many different kinds of animals awaiting a forever home in shelters across the United Nations, the Pet Day USA website says.  

Origin of National Pet Day:

According to Pet Day USA, National Pet Day was founded in 2005 by Pet & Family Lifestyle Expert, Colleen Paige, who is also the founder of National Dog Day, National Puppy Day and National Cat Day among others.

Here are some interesting facts about National Pet Day to take note of:

  • Did you know that there are approximately 86.4 million pet cats and 78.2 million pet dogs living in the United States alone?
  • Did you know Gerbils, birds, turtles, and fish are also very common pets?
  • Did you know April is also Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month?

Here are some adorable Quotes about Owning Pets:

1.     Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France

2.     No animal has more liberty than the cat...The cat is the best anarchist. - Ernest Hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls

3.     My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet. - Edith Wharton

4.     I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive - Gilda Radner

5.     Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends. -George Bernard Shaw

6.     The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but we will make a fool of himself too. -Samuel Butler

7.     Dogs never bite me. Just Humans. - Marilyn Monroe

8.     I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul. - Jean Cocteau

9.     I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. - Abraham Lincoln

10.   I have a very old and very faithful attachment for dogs. I like them because they always forgive. - Albert Camus; The Fall

11.  If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. - James Herriot

12.  Animals never worry about heaven or hell. Neither do I. Maybe that's why we get along. - Charles Bukowski

13.  I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that dogs think humans are nuts. - John Steinbeck

14. The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man's. - Mark Twain

15. If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals. - Albert Einstein 

(Edited by Vanilla Sharma)