June 2, 2025
MANILA – “What a fur-bulous day!”
On May 31, a park in Pasig City was filled with flowers, with different colors, with paints of smiles and deep noises of laughter, and of course, with dogs and cats that made the entire day shine even brighter—even amidst the pouring rain.
This was when animal lovers came together at the Capitol Commons Park to celebrate their loving fur babies through the event, “Pets de Mayo.”
The very ‘furst’ party
In an interview with the INQUIRER.net, Bianca Lagman, one of the organizers of the event who is a marketing officer of the Ortigas Land, said that it’s their first time to conduct the “Pets de Mayo,” which is inspired by the “Flores de Mayo” tradition.
Lagman said that they chose the concept to bring sunshine, especially for animal lovers, before the rainy season will officially persist in June.
“We wanted to end the summer with a nice fiesta of fur and flowers,” Lagman said.’
“So it’s a good day to bring out your pets, socialize them, have some fun, enjoy a bountiful pet bazaar, and enjoy activities with your pets. You know, just a good bonding activity on a nice weekend,” she added.
The celebration began with games that brought up laughter among the participants and audience. Some of these include the butterfly hunt, where fur families should find the most hidden butterflies to win; the eating contest for fur babies, and the hula hoop challenge for fur parents.
There were also trivia challenges to educate and familiarize the fur parents more about their pets.
READ: Gone to the Dogs: How to understand our pets better
After the exciting games came the highlight of the event: the pet fashion show.
More than 20 fur babies, along with their fur parents, donned with “Santacruzan”-inspired attire as they walked on the runway. Each participant also conceptualized the unique story of their costumes to make the experience more special.
Titles for winners include Reyna Elena Award, Prinsipe Flores Award and Royals of the Runway Award.
Beauty of joining pet fashion shows
One of the participants of the Pets de Mayo’s fashion show was Jewel Noel with her two cats, Zigzag and Zabby, from Pasig City.
Noel told the INQUIRER.net that Zigzag and Zabby are both rescued—in April and November 2024, respectively.
“We assume that they’re from the same parents because my neighbor breeds Siamese, but then they don’t want to spay them. So what happened was, even though it wasn’t the intended mother of babies, the community cats that we hadn’t spayed yet got pregnant,” Noel, a fur mom of 16 rescued cats, said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“Actually, Zabby, I saw him under the car, and she was so scared,” she added.
READ: Cats have evolved genetically to communicate better with us
The “Pets de Mayo” was Zabby’s first fashion show. Zigzag, on the other hand, had already joined in seven events so far since last year and won different awards.
“For me, win or lose, it’s okay. The important thing is that I’ve been an advocate for pet rescue, spay or neuter, and also, you know, they deserve equal love as the dogs and cats that have a breed,” Noel said mostly in Filipino.
“So what if they’re rescued? They deserve the best life. I think they deserve it more because they’ve come from hardship,” she added.
A pet fashion show is more than just an event for Noel, as she said that this reminds her more of her beloved 13-year-old dog named Princess, who died in September 2023.
Joining such an event was one of the bondings of Noel and Princess since October 2022. Sadly, this stopped after her fur baby showed signs of diseases, including blood parasite, in March 2023, prior to her tragic death.
After months of grieving, Noel eventually began to brighten up again because of her rescued cats, especially Zigzag whose demeanor was exactly the same as Princess. This, she said, helped her to cope as she felt like through Zigzag, Princess was never gone.
Thus, for this May 31’s event, Noel picked up purple and pink flowers to decorate her fur babies’ carrier. She also bought them purple cute attires for Zigzag to look like “Constantino” and Zabby like “Reyna Emperatriz.”
The Pets de Mayo celebration finished earlier than expected. The awarding ceremony was not pushed through due to the heavy rains at night. The organizers said they will announce winners on their social media pages.
Despite the inconvenience brought by the rainfall, Noel, along with other fur families at the event, went back home with smiles painted on their lips, as they felt how their loving fur babies bloomed brighter and made the entire experience a “fur-pect” day for them.