We care for our pets. They care for us in their turn.
We feed them, give them shelter and, if we’re sensible, we insure them. They bestow all sorts of health benefits and give us a few laughs too.
Celebrity pets do all that, plus look teriffic in paparazzi photos. But which is top dog? Or cat? Or monkey? Let’s count it down…
9. Griffin & Eva Green
The sultry, spooky star of Casino Royale and Penny Dreadful does not have much time for high-profile Hollywood romances.
Although Eva dated Kingdom of Heaven co-star Marton Csokas for a while, her border terrier Griffin is acknowledged as the number one man in her life.
8. Shorty, Audrey and Mila Kunis
Audrey (an eight-year-old French bulldog) and Shorty (your guess is as good as ours but corgi, beagle and Chihuahua are in there somewhere) are the dogs in the Black Swan and Family Guy star’s life.
Mila doesn’t talk about her pets too often but we do know Shorty cannot resist chasing lizards when the opportunity permits.
7. Various dogs and Meg Rosoff
Writer Meg Rossoff wanted a dog from a very young age, and has been a lifelong dog-owner.
She is pretty keen on you getting a dog too: “If you are depressed, selfish, impatient, hard to get on with or just having a bad day, never fear. Your dog will adore you when no one else does. He will also make sure you get plenty of exercise and will remind you, more or less constantly, about living in the moment. About joy.”
6. Boo Radley & Jake Gyllenhaal
jake gyllenhaal holding his dog incorrectly pic.twitter.com/rC5fhbQrcF
— Beyoncé Reactions (@ReactionBeyonce) August 21, 2015
Jake knows how to maximise the appeal of his vulnerable but manly good looks. He carries floppy-eared pup Boo Radley everywhere he goes.
Although he still does not seem to quite have the hang of it.
5. Several Corgis and The Queen
OK, Her Majesty the Queen is not Jewish. But as the world’s most famous celebrity pet owner, how could we leave her out?
Three of Her Majesty’s corgis, Monty, Willow and Holly, appeared with her when she filmed the James Bond sequence that opened the 2012 Olympics.
Televised across the world, they were probably seen by more people on that occasion than any other dog has ever been.
4. Esau & Mayim Bialik
This cat is absurd. pic.twitter.com/71h8g7nGQy
— Mayim Bialik (@missmayim) April 25, 2017
The Big Bang Theory star’s purebred Peterbald cat is affectionate, playful and loves challah. Almost the perfect Jewish pet…
3. Chunk & Chelsea Handler
Chunk is a true celebrity pooch, with his own Twitter account.
Along with Chelsea’s other dog Tammy the pleasingly shmaltsik Chow Chow has hijacked his owner’s Instagram page to post photos of dog-interest photos and even carried a special dog-cam on to her TV show’s set.
2. Duck & Sarah Silverman
The story of comedian Sarah Silverman’s rescue dog Duck is sad but ultimately heartwarming. Sarah adopted Duck when he was found straying in the Los Angeles area and might have been put down. He was probably about five or six years old at that point. Sarah and Duck spent 14 happy years together.
She wrote a touching obituary for the good-natured little fellow that concludes “14 years. My longest relationship. My only experience of maternal love. My constant companion. My best friend. Duck.”
1. Marcel and Ross Geller
Most of the pets listed here have been dogs. That’s understandable. Dogs are social animals who will integrate more readily into human families than cats or, say, goldfish.
But what’s more human than a dog? What’s more human than some humans we could mention? That’s right. Marcel the showbiz monkey who eventually became more famous than his keeper.
The fact that his owner/ flatmate/stooge Ross from Friends is a fictional character in no way disqualified Marcel from being the best celebrity pet ever.