Many U.S. Presidents have had cats, with Abraham Lincoln being the first to bring pet cats (Tabby and Dixie) to the White House, followed by others like Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Jimmy Carter (Misty Malarky Ying Yang), Bill Clinton (Socks), George W. Bush (India), and Joe Biden (Willow). Cats have served various roles, from rodent control to beloved family companions, and several presidents were known for their deep affection for felines.
Lincoln left his dog Fido at home in Springfield, Illinois, after winning the presidency, which paved the way for Secretary of State William Seward to give Lincoln two cats named Tabby and Dixie. They are believed to be the first cats to live at the White House.
Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have any presidential pets while in office (however, Johnson did take care of some mice he found in his bedroom).
Mittens and Puffins (Woodrow Wilson)
President Woodrow Wilson, amid the stress of leading the nation during World War I, had two cats to provide feline comfort: Mittens and Puffins. These two cats joined a curious collection of White House pets during Wilson's presidency, including a ram named Old Ike.
Herbert Hoover, the 31st president, had an opossum. And Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, had a raccoon named Rebecca that walked on a leash! Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, was famous for his many pets. His six kids had snakes, dogs, cats, a badger, birds, guinea pigs, and more.
President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Teddy Roosevelt had an impressive collection of White House pets, including a six-toed cat named Slippers, and Tom Quartz, named for a fictional feline in Mark Twain's Roughing It.
Theodore Roosevelt's Pig. Theodore Roosevelt and family were not above calling barnyard animals their pets. They kept animals such as horses and chickens as close in their hearts as they did the family dogs and cats. One such Roosevelt pet was a white pig named Maude.
Buddy (August 7, 1997 – January 2, 2002), a male chocolate-colored Labrador Retriever, was one of two pets kept by the Clinton family while Bill Clinton was President of the United States. The Clintons' other pet was a cat named Socks.
Outdoorsman Theodore Roosevelt also had bears among his pets, as well as snakes, pigs, an owl, raccoon, badger, hyena, zebra and lion.
Famous Cats Of The World
Buffy (2010–present)
Buffy, a caramel and white Bulgarian male 10-week-old shepherd Karakachan dog, was given to Putin during a visit to Bulgaria in November 2010 by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. The name 'Buffy' was chosen by a five-year-old boy during a nationwide competition.
Did you know President John Quincy Adams had a pet alligator? He kept it in a bathtub in the East Room of the White House.
President Kennedy's 1963 trip to Ireland resulted in two more pets-as-gifts: Shannon, a cocker spaniel, a gift of the Barry family, distant cousins of the president; and Wolf, an Irish wolfhound, who was a gift from a priest. ST-C363-3-63. President John F.
Einstein saw the value of leaning on our feline friends in moody or dark times as he said, “ There are two means of refuge from the misery of life: music and cats.” When it came to being a cat fancier — a famous one at that — he was not alone.
Socks was a stray tuxedo cat adopted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton when they lived in Arkansas. The image of Socks was a common and beloved sight in households across the nation and became a pop culture icon, appearing in books, television shows, and video games.
During the last advances of the Civil War while visiting General Grant, President Lincoln came across three motherless kittens. He took the three of them in his lap and remarked, “Kitties, thank God you are cats, and can't understand this terrible strife that is going on.”
Billy, also known as William Johnson Hippopotamus (before 1927 – October 11, 1955), was a pygmy hippopotamus given to United States President Calvin Coolidge. Captured in Liberia, he was given to Coolidge by Harvey S. Firestone in 1927.
Theodore Roosevelt's Snakes - Presidential Pet Museum.
Presidential Pets (1860-1921) President William Howard Taft's cow, Pauline, poses in front of the Navy Building, which is known today as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Pauline was the last cow to live at the White House and provided milk for President Taft (1909-13).
Bo (October 9, 2008 – May 8, 2021) was a pet dog of the Obama family, the first family of the United States from 2009 until 2017. President Barack Obama and his family were given the male Portuguese Water Dog as a gift after months of speculation about the breed and identity of their future pet.
TIL that US President Theodore Roosevelt pets included: a small bear, a lizard, 5 guinea pigs, a pig, a badger, a blue macaw, a hen, a one-legged rooster, a hyena, a barn owl, a rabbit; and a pony.
Rex (Ronald Reagan's dog) Rex (December 16, 1984 – August 31, 1998) was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel owned by Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy during his second term as President of the United States.
🐊 Did you know that John Quincy Adams is rumored to have had an alligator as a pet in the White House? During his presidency, Adams received the alligator as a gift from the French ambassador. He famously kept it in a bathtub in the White House, where it would swim and entertain guests.
Fun facts: We've had 2 American presidents that owned a squirrel. Warren G. Harding and Harry S. Truman, each had a pet grey squirrel named Pete.
But his dubious ethics allowed for one clear exception to his no-gifts rule—sheep. In the third season premiere of the Plodding Through The Presidents podcast, we dive deep into the story of an unusual four-horned ram gifted to Thomas Jefferson, and the violence and death that it wrought.