With rising living costs and UK pet owners, charities and rescues feeling the pinch, National Pet Month (April 1-May 1) aims to provide plenty of practical support for pet parents and carers in 2023.

Working alongside leading vet and pet professionals, NPM’s April campaign will be packed full of down to earth, workable tips for those caring for animals in these challenging times.

Based around the five key welfare needs of our pets – Companionship, Behaviour, Diet, Health and Environment – NPM will take a close look at these topics and provide advice on how to care for a pet companion responsibly, within your budget.

Throughout the month pet owners can tune into NPM Live broadcasts via social media, and follow the campaign blogs, as pet and vet professionals share advice on everything from good pet nutrition and the importance of regular health checks, vaccinations and correctly reading labels to disease prevention, dental health and cleaning up after our pets.

There’ll also be plenty of advice on puppy and kitten training, creating a dog friendly office, how to look out for changes in our pet’s behaviour and what to do about it, the benefits of taking on an older rescue animal, plus a guide on how to become a sustainable pet owner and lots, lots more.

“Post pandemic, it’s a challenging time for many caring for animals, so it’s important that now, more than ever, National Pet Month, working alongside pet and vet professionals, offers good, practical support and advice to pet owners,” says National Pet Month’s Nicole Paley.

“Although we recognise a pet is part of our family, some owners have had to make the hardest of decisions to give up a pet for adoption with many pets finding themselves back at rescue or suffering from separation issues as people have gone back to the office.

She adds: “With this in mind, we want pet owners to know there is help available and encourage them to seek support from pet organisations before taking this difficult step.

Sometimes just one conversation with a vet or pet professional can make a positive difference for you and your animal companion. There’s a lot of advice out there: no-one needs to feel on their own.

“By joining in National Pet Month 2023 we can all work together to care for our pets responsibly.”

To get involved in #NationalPetMonth – April 1-May 1, follow NPM social channels and share your pet stories.

Facebook: fb.com/NationalPetMonth

Twitter: Twitter.com/NatPetMonthUK

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/11668521/admin/

Instagram: @nationalpetmonth

Follow www.facebook.com/joinscratchingpost (for cat lovers) and www.facebook.com/joinparkbench (for dog lovers).

Ways To Get Involved In The Campaign Month

Send us  a 30 second video or a picture of you and your pet, telling us what you love about being a pet owner, including #PetPawsitivity

Set up online mini fundraisers for UK pet charities and rescues to help support them as they support us. Tell us about what you do!

Get the whole family involved in the month. Encourage your kids to create and share pet pictures and stories and share them with us.

Remember to include the hashtags #NationalPetMonth or #NPM23 in your social posts and tag NPM and other relevant organisations.

See www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk for more information.