My 75-year-old mother, who lives in Florida, has been talking about getting herself a Shih-Tzu to keep her company as she gets older, and I've been encouraging her. To further encourage her, I recently promised that I would be emailing her a "Shih Tzu a Day" video to remind her how cute this breed of dog is. I have kept to my promise, finding the most adorable Shih Tzu videos on YouTube and then sending them along. Now, she's emailing me daily, saying: "Where's my Shih Tzu today?"

Keeping to my promise has led me to discover how rich YouTube is with videos that serve as testaments to our love for our pets. Cats, dogs, turtles, birds -- all kinds of pets and their antics have been recorded by their owners for posterity and shared with the rest of us.The led me to write this hub, a look at the most popular pet videos on YouTube. I've admittedly skipped over a couple that look too much like "America's Funniest Home Videos" compilations, but the rest are homemade videos, some with 13 million to 15 million views. Enjoy them! 

I know that a lion is not exactly a pet, but if you don't cry when you watch this video, you have no heart. These two guys have gotten a lot of press about their reunion with Christian, once their pet, but deservedly so. This emotional video will enthrall you. And the Whitney Houston background music certainly helps. This video has been viewed an amazing 15,254,810 times. 

This is a very clever video that's more about the owner's ability to write a cute ditty about his mean kitty. Our own Hubber Christoph Reilly would love this video. And believe it or not, this video has enjoyed a whopping 13 million views. The cat, named Sparta, now has his own YouTube account, according to owner SMP Films.

This video is hilarious, and I'm obviously not the only person who thinks so. "Talking Dogs" has been viewed 12,142,632 times. It's a compilation of a handful of dogs who nearly sound like they're talking to their owners. Dogs never fail to amaze me, and this video submitted to YouTube by nozzle49, reinforces that. You will fall off your chair laughing.  

This compilation video, showing assorted cats getting into cute mischief, has been viewed more than 12 million times, in spite of its grainy quality. Frankly, I like the Rosemay Clooney background music better than the video and the laugh track. 

This is truly an unbelievable video, and there's a sequel that's even better. Nora the cat plays the piano, is addicted to the piano, and even plays along when her owner, a piano teacher, is giving lessons. It's amazing to watch and I found myself delighted and mesmerized by this adorable feline. Not surprisingly, Nora's been viewed 10,691,027 times. 

This five-minute video is largely devoted to the antics of a skateboarding bulldog. You can basically skip through the first part of the video (cat antics, penguins and a polar bear) and go straight to the skateboarding dog who looks like he's having the time of his life and getting a lot of attention along the way. 

Not exactly. But in this two-minute video, you can watch a tortoise trying his darndest to bother two cats who are four times his size. Mother nature at work, and it's been viewed 5,275,874 times. 

In this video submitted by bltmic, a dog owner puts a rambunctious litter of puppies to sleep for the night by singing, "Good Night Sweetheart" to them. This is an adorable 1-minute, 40-second video that's been viewed 4,594,970 times.