APDG ~ National Love Your Pet Day - 2/20

Did any of you know that February 20th is National Love Your Pet Day? Well of course it is.

National Love Your Pet Day gives you the opportunity to .... you guessed it......pamper your pet!

National Love Your Pet Day is an unofficial holiday which is celebrated annually on February 20th. The purpose of this holiday is to encourage pet owners to spend some time with their pets and show them the love and affection they deserve. It doesn’t matter if you own a cat, dog, bird, fish or reptile, today is the day to pamper them and show them how much they mean to you.

Unfortunately, we were unable to determine who created this holiday. It appears that it has been lost to the fog of time. However, we can make an educated guess on when it was invented. According to our research, it would appear that this holiday started getting celebrated on a wide scale basis since the early 2000s.

In 2017, U.S pet owners spent almost $70 billion dollars worth of products for their pets. That is an increase over the $66.8 billion dollars spent in 2016 and the $41 billion dollars that was spent 10 years ago in 2007.

Just owning a pet can convey a number of different benefits. Below are 6 of the most common benefits a pet owner receives from their pet:

In the past, there was a myth that stated that the children in households who owned pets had a higher chance of getting allergies. However, science has thoroughly debunked that myth. It has now been shown in several studies that children in households with pets have a 33% lower chance of developing a related allergy. For instance, if a household has a cat, then the children were a third less likely to develop allergies to cats. However, if a person has already developed an allergy to a particular pet, then that cannot be reversed. Children in households with pets didn’t just have less allergies to the particular animal in the home, the children also had stronger immunity systems overall. Studies have shown that children who live in homes with pets miss less school due to sickness than children who grow up in pet-less homes.

An advantage to owning a pet is that it is often an instant icebreaker when you take it out in public. Many people feel more at ease and are more willing to engage with a person they see who is with their pet. Just another reason for pet owners to take their dogs to the park for a walk.

Another benefit to owning a pet, according to the latest research, is that it may improve heart health. Studies have shown that owning a pet can lower blood pressure, triglyceride and cholesterol levels in their owners. Which can lower the chance of a heart attack.

You dog may help prevent you from becoming obese. Studies have shown that walking your dog on a regular basis helps pet owners lose weight, or at the very least maintain it. Of course, dog owners who didn’t walk their dogs on a regular basis saw no such benefit.

Pets have been shown as a great cure for the blues. Which is why it’s becoming more and more common for using Pet Facilitated Therapy (PFT) in hospitals and nursing homes. Many people immediately feel better just by petting a dog or cat. Just another benefit that our pets provide to us.

As you can clearly see, there are a number of benefits of owning a pet. Which is why celebrating National Love Your Pet Day is so very important. They provide us with unconditional love and affection on a daily basis, so shouldn’t we at least give them one day in which we return the favor?

Next onto our swap:

Post THREE (3) pictures and/or gifs to each of your THREE (3) partner's profiles with the theme “National Love Your Pet Day or pets”. The pictures that you choose may be the SAME OR DIFFERENT between all of your partners. Please choose pictures that you think THEY will enjoy!

Only people with well filled out profiles may participate in this swap. I will be checking the night before partners get assigned.

If you get 3 pictures from your partner on "National Love Your Pet Day or pets" you have to rate them a 5. The heart on the rating is for if you like what they sent.

To leave a photo on someone's profile use this code ! [ ] ( Put image address here ) With NO spaces & paste the picture's link between the curved parentheses.

Practice on your own profile first to be sure it looks good because you can easily delete there.

Pick images that are size 300 wide or smaller to be sure they fit. I go to Google images to get my pictures.

Hover over images to see their size because there will be some larger sizes there too. If you really like something click on it and go to the words SEARCH BY IMAGE and click on that. THEN go to the word SMALL and see if there is one 300 size. There are other tricks in the group thread; AN EASY way to get a small PIC from a BIG one;-)

You can find moving pictures at http://giphy.com/

Please write the TITLE OF THE SWAP ON YOUR PROFILE DECO MESSAGE too! This makes it easier for partners that are in a lot of these swaps to rate it.

Any problems, feel free to contact me.

I want to thank @anrtist for allowing me to borrow SOME of her wording.