Is it in May or April?

Both, depending on the country. The American observance is all of May; the British one runs April 1 to May 1 and is a different campaign run by different organizations.

Who founded National Pet Month?

The US May observance has no documented founder. The 1981 origin people cite belongs to National Pet Week, and the Colleen Paige credit belongs to National Pet Day on April 11.

Is National Pet Month the same as National Pet Week?

No. National Pet Week is the first full week of May, created by the AVMA in 1981. National Pet Month covers all of May and is a separate, unofficial observance.

Is National Pet Month a public holiday?

No. It is an unofficial awareness and appreciation month with no government recognition, so it is not a day off work or school.

What is the point of National Pet Month?

It encourages responsible pet ownership, veterinary care, microchipping, spaying and neutering, and shelter adoption, concentrating those messages into one high-visibility month.

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National Pet Month

A month-long observance throughout May in the United States that celebrates pets and promotes responsible ownership, veterinary care, and adoption.

Saturday

1–31

May 2027

Last updated February 9, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar Team

Have an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATEAll of May

OBSERVED INUnited States

CATEGORYAnimals

SUBCATEGORYPets

ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY

Not documented

FIRST OBSERVED

Not documented

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A month everyone marks and no one signed.

No documented founder or formal establishment record has been identified for the United States observance of National Pet Month in May. It is promoted each May by veterinary groups, animal-welfare charities, shelters, and pet businesses rather than tracing to a single founding act.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday

INTRO

The pet holiday nobody actually founded

PHOTO

Ask who started National Pet Month and you get two confident answers, and both are wrong. One says it began in 1981. The other credits Colleen Paige, the author behind a shelf of pet holidays. Pull either thread and it leads somewhere else entirely.

The 1981 date belongs to National Pet Week, a different observance the AVMA built that runs a single week in May. Colleen Paige founded National Pet Day, on April 11, in 2006. The month-long version Americans mark every May has no signature on it at all.

What it does have is a country full of pets. By the 2024 AVMA survey, 45.5% of US households owned a dog, a record share. National Pet Month is the rare holiday that skipped the founding ceremony and went straight to the part people care about.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Pet Month

Adoption

The month exists to send people toward the shelter that already has the dog they are looking for.

The month leans hardest on the shelter system, where intake still runs into the millions every year. Campaigns timed to May push adoption and fostering when shelters are full and capacity is thin.

Prevention

It treats spay and neuter as the upstream fix

Promoters use the month to push spaying and neutering as the way to shrink intake before it starts. The framing is plainly practical: fewer unplanned litters means fewer animals arriving at a full shelter.

Identification

It runs alongside a microchipping push

May also carries National Chip Your Pet Month, which presses owners and vets to microchip for permanent ID. A lost pet with a chip is far likelier to make it home.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Pet Month by the Numbers

89.7M: US dogs (2024)
73.8M: US cats (2024)
5.8M: Shelter intake (2025)
4.2M: Shelter adoptions (2025)

ORIGINS

Pet Month history

CHAPTER 01

Three holidays, one name, endless confusion

The United States crowded three pet observances into roughly five weeks, and gave two of them nearly the same name. National Pet Day lands on April 11. National Pet Week takes the first full week of May. National Pet Month claims all of May. A reader who searches "when is National Pet Month" is not being lazy; the calendar genuinely set a trap. The two neighbors with paperwork are easy to pin down to a founder and a year. The month is the odd one out: it kept no such records, which is exactly why other observances' origin stories keep getting pinned to it.

CHAPTER 02

Why the month has no birth certificate

Most modern observances trace back to a person, a campaign, or a proclamation. The US National Pet Month traces back to none of them. It surfaces every May across veterinary clinics, rescue groups, and pet retailers, promoted by many hands and owned by no single one. That is not a gap in the research so much as the actual shape of the thing: a calendar habit that grew without a founder. The honest version is the more interesting one. Strip away the borrowed credits and what remains is a genuinely grassroots month that earned its place by being useful to shelters and owners, not by being declared into existence.

CHAPTER 03

An ocean away, a different National Pet Month

There is a second National Pet Month, and it does have a paper trail, but it is not ours. In the United Kingdom the observance runs from April 1 to May 1 and is a registered charity coordinated by NOAH and UK Pet Food. It began life as a British pet week in 1989 and took the "month" name in 2007. Same words, different country, earlier dates, separate organization. The American May version is its own thing.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Pet Month

Adopt or foster from a shelter

With millions of animals entering US shelters each year, May is a pointed time to bring one home or foster during a high-intake stretch. Check your local shelter's site for animals currently waiting.

BOOK

Book the overdue vet visit

Use the month as the nudge to schedule the checkup or vaccine you have been putting off. A wellness exam catches problems while they are still cheap and small.

MICROCHIP

Microchip and update your contact info

Ask your vet to microchip an unchipped pet, and if yours already has one, confirm the registry has your current phone number. An out-of-date chip helps no one.

SPAY

Spay or neuter your pet

If your animal is not yet fixed, book the procedure that shrinks shelter intake at its source. Many clinics and nonprofits run low-cost options in spring.

DONATE

Donate supplies to a local rescue

Drop off food, towels, or cleaning supplies that shelters burn through constantly. Call ahead to ask what their wish list actually needs this week.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Pet Month?

1 / 6

Who founded the US National Pet Month observed in May?

Answer

In the United States it runs the entire month of May. The United Kingdom has a separate National Pet Month that runs from April 1 to May 1.

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