PHOTO GALLERY: Queers with Pets

Katie and Babbitt (Babz) / 24, 2 / NYC Pride March


Erin and Frida / 31, 8 / San Jose, CA

“Frida is a sweetie. She is also very desperate for loving. You could give her your undivided attention for the rest of your life and it still wouldn’t be enough. If she were a human, she might be what folks refer to as ‘thirsty’. Here she is now looking down my shirt. That’s probably why we get along.”


Ari + Kermit / St. Louis, MO

“Kermit, the lucky bamboo plant, my only pet right now. I bought him when I moved in cause I had to leave my succulents back in Boston. But someday when I’m a real adult with a real job and not a confused grad student, I want to adopt a rescue greyhound, so I got this postcard to motivate myself.”


Claire, Audrey and Murphy / 29, 11, 2

“Getting a picture with the siblings together isn’t super easy as they tend to keep a respectful distance from each other, but they like to be on me. Audrey is a rescue so I don’t know precisely her age, but I’ve had her for ten years. Cockatiels can live over twenty years, so she’ll be around for a while. She screams a lot and sometimes bites my girlfriends, but I adore her. Murphy is afraid of power cords, storms, and Audrey. If I leave the door open he’ll try to jump in my lap while I pee. They’ll both do tricks for sweet potato.”


Claire and Harvey Milk / 26, 3 / Union City, CA

“Harvey (full name City Supurrvisor Harvard Pigpen Poopy-pants Milk Karvonen-Quigley) was plucked out of his feral colony to be socialized at three weeks old and has been a spoiled bottle baby ever since. My fiancée and I adopted him at a year old after he had been returned to his foster mother due to allergy issues. We got him as a playmate for our other cat (Buttermilk Pancake, apricot tabby, phenomenal woman), and they ended up hating each other for over a year. We named him Harvey Milk because he looked so distinguished and we wanted to name him after someone famous and gay, but it turns out he is the world’s dumbest cat (sorry actual H. Milk). His favorite things to do are chase his sister, cuddle his other mom more than me (rude), and be pet on the bridge of his nose. The weirdest thing about Harvey is probably his incredibly high falsetto voice, while his petite sister sounds like a quacking duck.”


Amanda, Sarah, and Macie / 29, 36, 9 / Columbus, OH

“Sarah met Macie (née “Kandy”) in a shelter in Albuquerque. At three, she was well-accustomed to life on the streets; this was her third visit to this particular shelter. Sarah thought, “that is the ugliest dog in the shelter,” and knew immediately that she had to have her. The shelter warned Sarah that since the dog had already run three times, she should expect her to run again, but once Macie got home with Sarah, there was nowhere else she wanted to go… unless there was a cat to chase.

A few years later, Sarah and Macie welcomed Amanda into their family after a very long trial period during which Macie frequently caused a ruckus. Her main goal was to reclaim her half of the bed. She finally gave up, but still steals all the pillows. The recent presidential election brought out Macie’s activist side, pictured. A desert dog, Macie prefers to be on dry ground at all times. She enjoys chasing bunnies, barking at cats, arranging big piles of pillows in which to nest, and having her armpits scratched.”


Hannah, Della and Bella / 25, 6, 3 / DuPont State Forest, NC

“In the picture is Della (black lab golden retriever cross, 6) and Bella (yellow lab golden retriever cross, 3). While in college at the University of Georgia, I became involved with the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and America’s VetDogs. GDF provides guide dogs for visually impaired individuals. AVD provides service dogs for Veterans. I became a puppy raiser for the two sister organizations. Della was the first puppy I was given to raise for GDF. She ultimately did not complete the training program due to allergies, so I adopted her! She is now my furever dog. Bella graduated from America’s VetDogs and is now a working service dog for a Veteran in NY! Bella graduating as a service dog was one of the proudest moments of my life! I have always loved exploring the outdoors, especially the mountains of North Carolina! These adventures are always made better with fur babies!”


Marcela and Mora / Atlanta, GA

“This is Mora Benitez. She’s an 8-month-old black lab mix. I adopted her from Hero Dog Rescues here in Georgia. In the first picture, we are chilling after a full day of swimming at Morningside Nature Reserve in Atlanta. The second picture was taken at Park Tavern in Piedmont Park while she was staring longingly at bacon. Mora likes socks, water, and cheese. We have that in common. We spend most weekends hiking, swimming, at gay brunch (that’s a thing in Atlanta), or snuggled up watching Wynonna Earp. In her free time, Mora likes to hang out in the bathtub.  Surprisingly, she refuses to go anywhere near the tub when I try to actually give her a bath.”


Liz and Bob Barker / 36, 6 / Austin, TX

“Bob was our neighbor’s dog and when he went into hospice he asked us to take care of him. We were skeptical, but now we are huge fans. His original name was Bobby, but he barks at the UPS person, so my friend Sinclair renamed him Bob Barker and it stuck. He’ll sometimes burrow into your armpit when you are least expecting him to, and our house has been 100% squirrel free since we moved in. We watch a lot of Golden Girls — Bob is a Dorothy, for sure. The weirdest thing about him is he is obsessed with mangos. Instagram: @bobbarkerthecairn


Kelly and Ouija / 30, 3 / Philadelphia, PA

“I was fostering cats as well as volunteering weekly at a local shelter after my cat with FIV passed away.  I wanted to still feel the energy of cats around me, but was totally unable to feel like I could commit to a new kitty so soon after losing my previous one, so fostering and volunteering seemed like a great compromise. Months of volunteering went by before this weird little creature was placed in a cage toward the back of the room.  I think he hypnotized me.  I couldn’t take my eyes off his bright golden eyes, fluffy white fur and unique markings on his face.  Not to mention that his eyeliner was so on point.  I couldn’t stop thinking about him, but also freaked out a little that I wasn’t emotionally prepared to parent a new cat so soon.  It turns out that Ouija didn’t care, so he hypnotized me the next week that I saw him and made me adopt him two days later.

Some friends helped me pick out the name Ouija since the markings on his face resemble a planchette.  Ouija and his boyfriend Cosmo have an Instagram – ouijaandcosmo. Ouija isn’t a super snuggly or cuddly cat, but somehow knows how to comfort me when I’m feeling shitty. He’ll let me throw him over my shoulder and carry him around like a baby, or do very cute upside down flops.  He’s got the best cat paws that look like an Oreo McFlurry, and is insanely good at taking photos.”

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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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