By ALMA J. BUELVA

​AT any given Sunday morning, the Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati City becomes a silent witness to a unique gathering of cats and people that call themselves the Sunday Parkday Gang.

Cats walking around on leashes, climbing trees and frolicking on the grass is a wonderful sight to behold. It certainly is not common for household cats to spend happy time in a park like dogs do. 

It takes dedication and unfettered love for their cats that get people out of their bed, begrudgingly or not, on an early Sunday morning to do it. They only have Jonna Baquillas to blame. 

Jonna was the first to take her cat Shawn on this kind of adventure. She vividly remembers the day: September 27, 2014.

​“On her first parkday, she readily walked around and climbed trees in Ayala Triangle Park. We posted her parkday photos on the PAWsome Cats and Cat Care Philippines' Facebook and Instagram accounts. It was still a novelty at that time to see cats being walked on a leash but other cat owners expressed their interest in bringing their cats to the park as well,” recalls Jonna.

Soon, Shawn, a rescued puspin, has to share the park with at least a dozen other cats and their owners. When the number of weekly “members” started growing, Jonna says that's when they adopted the name and the hashtag Sunday Parkday Gang. 

The Sunday Parkday Gang, mostly members of the social media groups mentioned, welcomes anyone who wants to join and bring their healthy and fully vaccinated cats at the Ayala Triange Park from 8 a.m. till 12 noon. The group has a soft spot for puspins and rescued cats, but they are fine with people bringing their purebred cats.

***THE SUNDAY PARKDAY GANG'S FULL STORY IS AVAILABLE IN THE Q416 PRINT ISSUE OF METROPETS MAGAZINE. 

​They say real men love cats and we agree. At the recent Dog & Cat Expo 2016, we spotted several men carrying their little sweethearts around. They even let their cats literally walk all over them.

The cats were obviously very much attached to their dads. They held on to their respective dad's protective clutch and would sometimes walk up freely on their dad's shoulders which offered height and safety, away from all the strangers and dogs around.

By the looks of it, cat gentlemen are as crazy about cats as the cat ladies. Good thing there's always plenty of cats to go around. -- MetroPets

​INVITE them and they will come. At this year's Dog & Cat Expo 2016, pets came out in droves and owned the show. 

Wearing their Sunday best, dogs and cats gobbled up free food, joined contests, posed for the cameras, strolled up and down the aisles and shopped for great deals!

As MetroPets scoured the expo for wonderful new pet products, dogs and cats were there to grab our attention. The meowers and barkers were all delightful in our eyes and some were kind enough to give us a nanosecond of stillness to snap the following photos.

There was no shortage of cuteness during the two-day show, but which species do you like more? Click  LIKE for dogs and LOVE for cats. Dog and cat owners, represent!