PHOTO GALLERY: Queers with Pets

Korra and Jodie

“Korra is a 11 month old Chihuaha/Staffie mix, who was born blind in both eyes. We hadn’t intended to get another dog, after our Yorkie, Rolo, died of inflammatory bowel disease in December. But something made me want to look on Pet finder one day in April and there she was. When we called the rescue, they told us that there had been a lot of interest in her, until people found out she was blind. Then they didn’t want her. We loved her from the minute we met her. She is a crazy ball of energy, who doesn’t let the fact she can’t see, stop her in any way. She is completely fearless. Wouldn’t have her change for anything.”

Cassy Lamothe and Risk / Shelburne, VT

Izabella and Dr. Beverly Crusher / 21, 3 / Houston, TX

“I went with my partner to a pet store to buy fish food and Crusher and her cage mate were dying to get our attention. My partner and I had only been together for about a month and a half but I knew we needed them. We spent hours trying to figure out names for them; they had to be the perfect duo but not something too cliche, so we decided on Dr. Beverly Crusher and Counselor Deanna Troi.

Our favorite thing to do together is take naps and her favorite snack is spaghetti (same tbh). And for being over 1 pound, she is surprisingly nimble and loves to climb my leg while I’m cooking. She is my little chubby baby and my best friend.”

Giorgia and Oscar / 21, 2

“I was a foster mom for cats for years and never kept any of the kittens I helped birth. Oscar was a tiny scrap that no one wanted, she hid in my room and never came out. Two years later she rules my heart and home. Best/silliest thing about her is that she hates all toys except for Nerf bullets and bouncy balls. Every three months I buy her a pack. She stands on the second floor and drops the bouncy ball down each step, meows because it’s far away, then goes to get it and repeat the process. I hold her in her baby carrier and dance around while I do my paperwork. She’s the biggest Planned Parenthood supporter I know! No insta for her, but lots of her on mine! My Insta is @authenticvangogh.”

Sara and KitKat (aka Angel Prince of Darkness) / 34, 7 / Little Rock, AR

“My fiancee wanted a cat, so I set about finding one to adopt. This crazy guy wasn’t being picked because he has FIV and his foster’s description of him seemed to fit what I was looking for. I never wanted a cat before, but now he’s my baby boy and barely gives my fiancee the time of day. Drives her nuts! As you can see, he has no concept of personal space.”

Justine and Tucker / Kalamazoo, MI

Kelli and Ruby / 27, 6

“My family and I adopted her as a puppy from the SPCA. In the first picture, we had gone on a hike together in January 2016. We got lost on the mountain, and ended up spending the night in the forest in a bed of pine boughs. Needless to say, we bonded. Every time I visit my parents now, Ruby is beside herself when she sees me — probably because she’s relieved that I haven’t died on a mountain somewhere. This second picture was taken yesterday; Ruby wouldn’t leave my side, and crawled onto the couch with me as though she’s a lap dog. Ruby likes deer, licking the hands that pet her, and sleeping under my parents’ bed.”

Xoe, Christiana, Callie, Bonzai

“First is me, Xoe, with our cat Callie. We are both of indeterminate age. Second, my beautiful wife Christiana walking in the woods with our two puppers, Bonzai (the small black chihuahua/Australian shepherd mix) and Boba (the golden honeybear chow/lab mix). Both dogs are around 9 years old. Christiana is significantly older. We are all pictured doing our favorite things: Callie and I snuggling, Christiana, Boba and Bonzai walking in the woods.”

Jordana and Lady Galadriel / 26, 7 / Childhood Home

“My mother found Lady Galadriel on a website after the untimely passing of our previous girl cat. We usually adopt rescues, but Lady Galadriel’s beauty could not be denied and my mother fell in love. Lady Galadriel came with the name Zara, and that is still what most people call her. But I never felt connected with the name (and as you might know, a cat must have three different names) and neither did she. So once, we were watching Lord of the Rings and Lady Galadriel appears on screen in all her terrifying glory, and I glance over to the girl cat to see if she’s paying attention, and I swear she was literally glowing. Like an elfin goddess. She named herself.

Lady Galadriel’s best quality is her unrelenting beauty. She is keenly aware of it and uses it to her advantage at every turn, especially in the manipulation of our boy cat, Moishe. LG and I enjoy snuggling and spooning when I am home for a visit, as evidenced by the picture. She is a creature of leisure and our time together is spent as such. Her weird thing is that she addicted to biting charging cords. We think she gets a little shock/high out of it. We are working on it and have covered all the cords in our house so that she does not hurt herself. But yeah it’s a weird thing.

Deborah and Vasi (Vasi the Asshole) / Washington DC

“Vasi is an Anantolian Shepherd (known as Kangals in Turkey). Discovered the breed when I lived in Turkey and fell in love with them. I had a sad break-up and my therapist at the time recommended before I got into a new relationship, I start with nurturing a plant, if I can keep that alive for 6 months move to a pet, after a year of pet ownership maybe then think about a relationship again. When it was time to move to the second stage, I remembered the dogs I fell in love with in Turkey…thus Vasi came into my life. He is my 170 pound mamas boy.”

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87 Comments

  2. 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!

  3. 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?!

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  9. 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.

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

  13. 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”

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

    Glad to report that the result was this instead:

  17. 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,

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

  21. 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

  23. 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.

  25. 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.

  27. 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

  28. 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.

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

  31. 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! ?

  32. 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

  36. 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.

  37. 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

  38. this was soooo lovelyyy!!!

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

  39. 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 ~^_^~

  40. 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.

  41. 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.

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

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

  45. 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.”

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

  47. 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.

  49. 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?

  50. 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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