Right now, the struggle is real and even celebrities aren’t exempt from dealing with pangs of loneliness from time to time. Zoom calls, TikTok breaks and Houseparty raves are all fine and well, but sometimes virtual hangouts just don’t hit the spot. Enter four-legged furballs in all shapes and sizes, proving once again that animals really do have the power to lift our spirits when we need it most. Let us introduce you to the VIP pets of the moment…

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Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson

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Pet: Two dogs called Bowie and Hendrix (breeds unknown) 

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Claim to fame: Just before the news broke that Cara Delevingne and girlfriend Ashley Benson have decided to end their two-year relationship, the former it-couple had added some much-needed cuddles to their quarantine, sharing glimpses of their harmonious home life with their combined 65.5 million Instagram followers.

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Best moment: In an Instagram post captioned ‘Fostering these cuties during quarantine and you should too!’ Delevingne showed off her two foster pups from LA-based nonprofit, The Labelle Foundation. Fans will know that Delevingne’s compassion for canines started long before Bowie and Hendrix came into the picture. Some of the barks at the end of her good friend Fiona Apple’s new single Fetch the Bolt Cutters (from her celebrated new album of the same name) belong to her dogs, Leo and Alfie, who joined Apple’s own pets as backup vocalists on the track.

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Miley Cyrus​

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Pet: A Persian cat called Shanti Om Bb 

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Claim to fame: This is one adorable little ball of fluff, so it comes as no surprise that Shanti Om Bb is a bona fide Instagram influencer in her own right. With 86.6k followers and memes that will put a smile on anyone’s face, Shanti is destined to make cat lovers out of the biggest feline sceptics yet.

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Best moment: Miley making waves in her Shanti Om Bb T-shirt (worn under a fuzzy pink top, complete with a furry handbag) on The Tonight Show.

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Kaia Gerber​

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Pet: Foster puppies (name and breed unknown)

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Claim to fame: Having famous parents appears to run in the family. Gerber recently posted a number of photos of her two quarantine buddies, joining Delevingne and Benson in their mission to foster a couple of furry friends. In a recent Instagram post with the caption ‘We stay home,’ the model is seen napping next to one of her new pups.

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Best moment: Gerber recently broke the internet by sharing a photo showing off her new hair (she famously and controversially bleached it at home with a DIY peroxide kit), a leopard-print bikini and a sleeping puppy. What more could one ask for?

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Billie Eilish​

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Pet: A pit bull, aka ‘little nameless monkey’ 

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Claim to fame: Eilish’s lovingly dubbed ‘little nameless monkey’ made its social-media debut in a recent Instagram story, joining the ranks of famous celebrity pets. Unlike her fellow foster parents, Eilish spontaneously decided to keep her pit bull pup rather than giving him up for adoption, joking that she had “failed at fostering”. 

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Best moment: After Eilish impulsively decided to provide her new friend with a forever home, she urged her followers to do the same. “If you’re looking for tings [sic] to do while we’re all stuck at home… foster some babiieeesss,” she wrote, tagging LA-based dog rescue Angel City Pit Bulls.

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Taylor Swift​

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Pet: A Scottish fold cat called Olivia Benson 

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Claim to fame: As every self-respecting Swiftie will know, the megastar is a huge cat aficionado. Her three cats, named after fictional characters (Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey and Benjamin Button) have appeared in countless Instagram posts, music videos and commercials alongside their famous owner. 

 

What sets Olivia Benson apart from her siblings is the eye-watering fact that the furry feline, named after Mariska Hargitay’s character on the juggernaut TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is reported to have a whopping net worth of $97m, making her the richest cat in the world. (And no, that’s not a typo.)

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Best moment: Choosing just one seems an impossible task, but a recent Instagram post of a quarantined Olivia Benson looking both regal and somewhat miffed is the stuff meme dreams are made of.

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Ariana Grande

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Pets: 12 dogs called Lily, Snape, Myron, Toulouse, Coco, Ophelia, Pignoli, Lafayette, Cinnamon, Strauss, Sirius and Fawkes (variety of breeds)

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Claim to fame: The pop star has 12 — yes, 12 — dogs dominating her eclectic Instagram feed (though not all of them live with her). Grande has made headlines in the past by regularly flying her pups around the world to join her on tour, giving new meaning to the term roadies.

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Best moment: Not one to hog the limelight, Grande’s August 2019 Vogue cover, shot by legend Annie Leibovitz, saw the singer upstaged by the real MVP of the shoot, her beagle-chihuahua mix Toulouse.

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