PHOTO GALLERY: Queers with Pets

Kristina and Sandy / 22, 4 / NJ

“We adopted Sandy from a local shelter about two years ago, where she was rescued as a stray from South Carolina along with her four puppies. She’s my unofficial emotional support dog, crosses her paws when she lays down, and recently started contributing to dismantling the patriarchy/crushing gender norms by peeing with her leg up. We’re just a dog person and a people dog going on adventures together and eatin’ snacks. Instagram: @krstnasmth


AJ and Butch / 25, 9 / Boston, MA

“I adopted Butch last summer, I visited him to see if we would be a good fit and once I entered the room, he immediately reached up and hugged me. I could TAIL we had a PAW-sitive connection. and his name was too purr-fect to change. He’s a cat who loves to be in a baby sling while I’m working from home or watching movies (aka Netflix & sling). His Instagram is @ButchWithTheBowtie


Queer Girl and Cyrus / 33, 12 / Northern CA

“Cyrus came to me when he was just four months old from a woman who did informal dog rescues. She brought him into my work one day and I was SMITTEN, but told her I couldn’t get a dog yet, being all of 21 years old and living in a new tow, it was too much responsibility. She smiled and said “let me leave you my number, just in case.” I called her twenty minutes later to tell her I’d changed my mind. He’s my very best buddy. He loves the snow and will hold an apple between his paws as he eats it, and just six months ago, I finally taught him to fist bump. I cannot even tell you how much he is a Good Dog.”


Mickey and Reptar / 26, 3 / Suburban Apartment

“Once, when I was very depressed, and needed a reason, I put a down-payment on a parrot that hadn’t even hatched yet. This is like the pet equivalent to deciding, on impulse, to have a human child with a one-night-stand (only worse, because it’s a bird). He bites, he’s afraid of shoes, and he’s the only reason I get out of bed.”


Elissa, Yvonne, Archie / Holland Lake, MT

“His favorite activity is camping and hiking with us and sleeping in the yard. He was the runt of the litter and a gift to Yvonne. He likes to lick and sit on feet which keeps them nice and toasty in the winter.”


Jo and Whisky

“I found Whisky through a rescue group in Queensland, Australia who assured me he was good enough with other dogs and cats to be able to come to work with me (I work as a veterinarian). I chose his name because he looks like a delicious whisky and I think it’s a pleasantly gender neutral name. One of the best things about Whisky is that he’s a big lap dog and always cuddles with me. We like to walk, swim, cuddle, and sleep in. One of the weirdest things about Whisky is that he loooves a sleep in, I’m often the one waking him up for a walk and breakfast.”


Kay and Willow / 19, 3 / Deep Bay, Ontario, Canada

“After ten years since our last furry friend, my parents gave the okay on Christmas day. A few weeks later we went to “just look”… were they trying to convince themselves? She came back with us. Believe it or not, her name wasn’t a Buffy thing! We’re very outdoorsy so she was almost named after a national park or mountain, but Willow seemed to peak her interest the most. The best thing about her is she’s soft, dopey, generally very happy (despite the pictured pose), and very bad at all traditional dog things except running, barking, and swimming.

The dog is obsessed with snow and the cold, so I build her mountains in the backyard to slide down and we go cross-country skiing together. She likes to kayak well enough, but gets seasick. Aside from a human-like attachment to a teddy bear, Willow hates to miss out on any travel/adventure so she’ll pull crazy Houdini maneuvers to get into the car or boat and refuse to move. Also, while terrified of loud noises she’ll chase drones to the ends of the earth.”


Abi and Ziggy / My Garage in Austin, TX

“Ziggy is the result of a classic bottoming out story where I ended a four year relationship, lost my job, needed to move halfway across the country to live with my grandmother, and decided it would be a good idea to get a puppy. I WAS SO RIGHT. I adopter her when she was eight weeks old from Colorado Puppy Rescue in Denver, CO. Ziggy is short for ziggurat, which means “strong tower.” I knew I was going to need a strong tower in that crazy time of my life, and Zig has lived up to her name. Ziggy does not have her own Instagram but you can keep up with her adventures with the hashtag: #ziggythepittie.”


Emily and Riley / 25, 7 months / NY

“Riley the pomeranian was adopted from a pitbull rescue. He came with his name and we couldn’t think of anything better, so we kept it. His favorite game is called Find It, where I put a piece of food on the ground and say “find it”, and then he finds it. It’s thrilling.”


Nicole and Matti / Backyard in Arlington, MA

“Matti is a shelter pet. I went to the local animal shelter in Cleveland, TN (where I lived at the time) and I was looking specifically for a German Shepherd pup. It just so happens that they were bringing in a litter of shepherd puppies just as I arrived. They put them all in a cage with another random puppy. I wanted to do a quick look over the other cages before revisiting the shepherds. As I was walking back through the kennel I heard a puppy squalling and lo-and-behold if one of the shepherds wasn’t dragging this fluffball of a pup with a bent tail around by its ear. My heart said I had to rescue her so I took her instead of a shepherd.

I was seeing a girl at the time who reignited my interest in baseball cards and more specifically Don Mattingly, so we named her after him.
Matti is an amazing pup. She must have been a person in her other life because she is super smart and chill and thinks she is human. She has no interest in other animals. She just wants to chill with her peeps. She is getting old now and kind of acts like a senile old woman sometimes. She moves super slow in front of me like a retired Florida driver, she stares at me and ignores my requests, and she tends to do the opposite of what I ask her to do these days. Ex. Standing on the deck: “Go potty.” She looks at me, looks at the yard, looks at me. “Okay, come inside then.” She stares at me and then goes out into the yard.”

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lnj

lnj has written 310 articles for us.

87 Comments

  1. I want to pet all of them. Even the house plant.

    Also, I really, really wanted to participate in this one, but unfortunately my cat doesn’t live with me and I couldn’t make it over to my mom’s in time for the deadline. I even had the photo all planned out!

  2. Wow, after looking through all of these I have that kind of post-TV-binge feeling, like I am slightly stunned and unsure what to do with my feelings or my body.

    Also, did I miss Sue Perkins the sourdough?!

  3. 1. Weare, NH is one town over from where I grew up! Wow!!
    2. Everyone’s pets are so charming, omg
    3. I did not know there were this many queers in Ohio?
    4. Marty and Olive are delighted to have been featured <3 <3 <3

  4. Having a real moment over here with all the cute.

    I’m also shocked that the entirety of my crazy dog lady verbal diarrhea made the cut.

  5. I met some wonderful pups hiking Triple Falls in DuPont National Park this summer. One of my favorite parts of hiking is all the dogs I meet. I used to have a Springer that hiked all over Pisgah National Forest and The Smokey’s with me. As well as playing on the beach in Isle of Palms. It’s been a couple of years since my last Springer passed away. I have had all kinds of dogs, but we foster Springers. Hopefully, my sister and I will be able to adopt a couple of dogs soon. We already named them Biscuit and Grits.

  6. Lovely! So heartwarming to see the photos and read how all these lovely animals found their human companions.

  7. ok do you all have professional photos taken with your pets or what?

    …wait, can I have professional photos taken with my pet?

    • Right? I tried to use my good camera but that was a no-go with Mr. Grumpy Pants, so I ended up having to use my crappy phone camera instead. I am impressed with everyone else’s well-behaved fur friends.

    • Everytime I take a pic of reptar I am RISKING MY VERY LIFE because he hates phones. I think the screen doesn’t refresh fast enough for bird eyes to make sense of them? I’m p sure phones are murdery strobe lights for him

    • Maybe a little food before and after the shoot could make it more professional? Food to distract then food as reward when your pet does a good job.

    • Yes you can have professional photos taken with your pets (says the woman who has signed her dogs up to be calendar models).

    • I’ve done that before but Boris was very scared in the studio and tucked his ears all the way back. I sent one of those I turns to my dad and he answered me “your poor dog has no ears”

  8. So much cuteness! I thought I was going to die there for a minute.

    Glad to report that the result was this instead:

  9. Also wow wasnt aware we were meant to write essays on our animals?? I worked so hard* to condense mine

    *”hard”, “for five minutes”, potato, potahto,

  10. I wish I knew about this! I would love for you guys to meet my pet cock, Pirri, 10! I love that guy. ?????

  11. So many good animals and so many good animal names and so many good faces and pictures and ahhh! So much good I so desperately needed today. <3

  12. Thank the gods for this post today. I was already crying last night out of overwhelmed-the-world-is-the-worst-dumpster-fire-ever types of emotions. Then I woke up to the tragic news about vegas. This is a nice reminder that not all is bad.

    Thanks.

    ps. It looks like my pic with my dog is lumped into the folks pictures above me.

  13. All of your pets are adorable and I’m jealous that I am a poor grad student with a lease that forbids dogs and cats.

    Also I reeeeeally hope the next gallery is a Halloween costume gallery.

  14. Oh how I needed this gallery today! Rather than try to pick favorites, I’ll simply say that y’all and your pets are just *the cutest*. Thanks, everyone! <3

  15. This is the best thing ever. I have officially followed all of your instagram accounts, because whenever the world is bad I follow another 20 or so animal instas and this was a perfect opportunity. This thread is amazing and I wish I hadn’t forgotten to send in pictures of my amazing cats. You can see them on my instagram if you want; my username there is also ankhmorpork. It’s 90% my cats with a few selfies here and there. I don’t pet sit as much anymore but I tend to take pictures of the dogs and cats I sit for as well.

    P.S. Atlanta people, we should become friends so I can pet your dogs. And because half my queer friends have moved away and you seem like fun people. But also, dogs.

  16. Oh, my goodness. OH, MY GOODNESS! My heart. I can’t handle this right now. Look at all of this cuteness. Precious babies.

  17. So many beautiful humans with amazing animal friends! ?

    I was kind of expecting at least one snake or lizard though…but I’m very glad nobody sent in a photo with a pet tarantula! ?

  18. I love animals and I love you guys and everything is so cute and let’s choose to ignore the rest of the world, just for today

  19. YOUR PETS ARE ALL SO GREAT but now i feel guilty that i only posted my dog and not my cat, because he is also a star. instead of using a litter box, he likes to jump over our back fence, crap in the neighbor’s yard, and then come home, because cats are dicks. we used to be okay with this because we hated our old neighbors but now we have new neighbors, a nice gay couple who love him, so now he goes over there to crap and then they let him in their back door for food and treats. he has a second family and thinks we don’t know because he still comes home wanting dinner. anyway that’s my cat and i need you to know about his antics.
    my sister also has a ball python. she sleeps most of the day and hates men, so, ya know, relatable.

  20. This is the best photo gallery ever!! I just went and followed all the Instagram accounts! I kinda wish this was an ongoing queers with pets instagram. Haha. I also really want a cat now! I also absolutely loved that Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs had their cat here too and an instagram!! So exciting!! This has made my day. <3

  21. this was soooo lovelyyy!!!

    anna^2 i really want a christmas card from you and yours. that is year-round fridge material.

  22. OMG the adorbs. Part of me regrets not including my parents’ new puppy Ms Frizzle for the amazing cuteness factor, but Mikoto’s my priority. I was getting nervous that we weren’t going to be on the list but turns out we were just near the end.

    I miss my camp buds and now I miss your pets too ❤️

    • First thing I did was Ctrl+F my cat’s name, and then look through the gallery once I knew he made it in ~^_^~

  23. It is 7:25 am on Bainbridge Island in Washington, and I have been up since 5:10 am to take the ferry over here – so forgive my emotions when I say that all of you and your bbs are perfect. Gosh. Thank you for sharing.

  24. I thought my favourite page on the internet was a cache of 215 pictures of Kate McKinnon at the Emmys, but I see I was wrong. I live here now.

  25. This gallery makes me SO happy. Like it is the most heartwarming, relaxing, adorable thing ever. Thank you for putting this together.

  26. Shoutout to the people whose dogs are named Henry and Hazel – those are our dogs’ names too! <3

  27. I’m going back through this a page a day and reading every single word you all wrote about your furbabies, and I just laughed out loud at this: “fun fact: if you name your very independent dog Stella, every trip to the dog park turns into A Streetcar Named Desire.”

  28. Yo bookshelf, I’m really happy for you, Imma let you finish but Pets is the best gallery of all time.

  29. So good! I particularly love Boris the show cat who reminds me so much of my cat Spike. She was a show cat in her own mind.

  30. Wow, I wrote a god damn essay. I am sorry ya’ll lmao. I love everyone’s pets!!

    If you and your doggo live near Sacramento, CA, we need to meet up ASAP!!!

    • Beau and I are on page 13 and also we would love to be friends. He needs practice making friends because he’s not great at it and friends confuse him. Shoot me a message… I’m much easier to contact on Instagram or Facebook, so swap details with me and you can play with my dog?

  31. So many new instagram friends for Puck! I’m very glad we can keep this gallery going on instagram ^_^ And it’s nice to see there’s another mischievous Puck out there :)

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