National Pet Day: Owners Who Love Their Pets And The Videos That Prove It

No doubt about it, people love their pets. In fact, they love their pooches, fur balls and feathered friends so much, they upload millions of videos of their animal pals to YouTube and other sites every year—and these videos get billions of views.

In honor of National Pet Day, as well as pets and the owners who love them, we’ll share some of the best pet video highlights for eight different types of pets.

Dogs

Dogs have been man’s best friend for eons, and these four legged friends don’t have to wait until National Pet Day for a holiday that might get them an extra pat or a new toy. Canines also have two other national days to their name: National Dog Day on August 26, and National Puppy Day on March 23.

On YouTube, there are millions of videos of adorable dogs, hilarious dogs, and very naughty dogs. When dogs are especially naughty—or do something extremely gross, as they often like to do—owners can take revenge by sending photos of the bad boy or girl posing in front of the deed with a “shaming sign” to dogshaming.com. Compilations of dogs being nice to babies, even if it means putting up with a little baby or toddler abuse, are also a popular video theme.

But, as any dog owner knows, dogs are more than just a pet, they’re part of the family. Sometimes these lucky pooches even get hitched, with “mom” and “dad” forking out plenty of dough for a lavish ceremony.

Since dog weddings are the perfect example of just how far dog owners are willing to go with their puppy love, and how wacky they sometimes get, we’ve chosen this dog wedding video among the masses, complete with an elaborate pooch wedding party and doggy howl fest.

Cats

Forget dogs, when it comes to pets, domestic cats are the true super stars of the Internet. In fact, images and videos of cats are among the most viewed content on the web, which has launched the careers of such feline celebrities as Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub.

While dogs tend towards happy-go-lucky, many cats are famous for their “catty” side. If you search “my cat” on YouTube, the first three suggested searches will likely be “my cat from hell,” “my cat is crazy,” or “my cat is a jerk.”

But cats are also the true eccentrics of the pet world. Sometimes their owners are, too. In the end, for National Pet Day, we decided to honor cat weirdness with this video of a cat in a shark suit riding a vacuum cleaner in the kitchen.

Bunnies

When it comes to bunnies, most owner-made videos on YouTube seem to focus on basic care, such as feeding, litter training, proper handling, and cleaning cages. However, rabbit owners also can’t seem to get enough cuddling and snuggling in with their soft, fluffy friends.

But for National Pet Day, we had to go with this video of a cute mini lop rabbit frolicking with its owner on the beach (and yes, apparently rabbits can swim!)

Hamsters

While many dog owners treat their dogs like children, many hamster owners seem to think of their teddy bear-like pets as little dolls. YouTube is brimming with videos of these cute critters in tiny, dollhouse-sized kitchens, beds, playgrounds, you name it. While some owners plop their hamsters down in Barbie’s Dream House, others make elaborate houses out of popsicle sticks or other craft supplies.

For honoring hamsters on National Pet Day, we decided to go with a video of YouTube hamster star Vanilla showing off his new home, complete with DIY ice cream truck hideout.

Birds

As any bird owner knows, birds are definitely no bird brains. YouTube has many videos where proud owners show off their smart, trained, and talkative birds. Bird bath videos are also popular as are videos about birds that either hate their owner or are a little too clingy and attached, as birds tend to attach themselves to one person.

Although many pets love music, birds are among the few pets who can make it themselves (no, dog owners, pounding on a keyboard with your paws doesn’t really count.) Like Poko, the singing cockatiel, who expertly whistles the theme song to the Japanese children’s movie Totoro, accompanied by his owner on the piano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7D-1RG-VRk

But birds are sometimes also passionate dancers. For National Pet Day we couldn’t resist adding in this second video of an Umbrella Cockatoo getting down to Elvis while his rather skeptical mate looks on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v6DZYhTQLM

Rats

Thanks to their sewer-living cousins, pet rats often get a bad rap. But fancy rats, which is the official name for domesticated rats, actually make great pets for both adults and children. These curious rodents are playful, social, and incredibly intelligent. With a little patience, you can also train rats to do lots of very cool tricks.

On National Pet Day, as a shout out to ratty lovers the world over, we picked a rat trick video from an owner/trainer in Canada who also does clicker training with Nana the Border Collie and Kaiser the Bengal cat, two animal stars on YouTube.

Pigs

Be kind to all animals! #GoVegan #NationalPetDay pic.twitter.com/z2SK7YcoUh

— Mercy For Animals (@MercyForAnimals) April 11, 2017

Speaking of Internet stars, Esther the Wonder Pig is so famous, she even has a New York Times Bestseller to her name, though her dads probably helped her with the actual writing. When Steve and Derek adopted Esther as a piglet, they were told she was a mini pig who would reach a maximum weight of about 70 pounds. But it turned out Esther was actually a full-sized pig from a commercial pig farm. The hefty lady now tips the scales at 650 pounds.

Although Esther has many cute videos, not to mention cute outfits, on YouTube and elsewhere, we chose the following video about Steve and Derek’s journey with Esther for National Pet Day, which will surely inspire and warm the heart of any pet or animal lover.

Hedgehogs

Although it’s not legal to keep hedgehogs as pets everywhere, those who do keep these spiky critters as pets are definitely enamored with their cuteness. Like rabbits, many of the videos uploaded by hedgehog owners on YouTube are about proper care and handling of the little guys. Other videos show them posing with teddy bears and other cute toys, with a soft filter focus added in.

Since hedgehogs are still exotic pets, we chose an informative video for National Pet Day, staring a hedgehog named Hunter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2T9e6plIz0

Is you type of pet missing? Know any other adorable or hilarious pet videos? Feel free to share in the comments section below.

Happy National Pet Day everyone!

[Featured Image by Happy monkey/Shutterstock]