We love our furry friends: Historical photos of people and their pets

In his­to­ry, one con­stant has been the bond between humans and their pets. From ancient times to today, peo­ple have cher­ished their ani­mal com­pan­ions. 

These pho­tos offer a glimpse into that endur­ing con­nec­tion. Join us as we explore snap­shots from the past, reveal­ing the time­less love shared between peo­ple and their fur­ry friends.

A cat nes­tled in a car­ri­er dur­ing an air raid, 1941 

Paparazzi sur­round­ing Socks, Bill Clinton’s cat, c. 1992

Cats Black­ie and Brown­ie Catch­ing Squirts of Milk Dur­ing Milk­ing at Arch Badertscher’s dairy farm, Fres­no, Cal­i­for­nia, 1954 

Russ­ian Sol­dier befriend­ing a cat on the front line. Ca. 1941–1945

The cat pho­tog­ra­ph­er, 1909

A girl and her cat, San Anto­nio, TX, 1939

A lady feed­ing a home­less cat dur­ing World War II, Paris. 1939–1945.

Hap­py French Girl And Her Cat, 1959

”Our Michael”, Octo­ber 1938,

An Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian man with his prized hunt­ing dog, 1950.

A man and his cat. Tak­en in Ski­botn, Nor­way by Ismo Hölt­tö, 1967

French sol­diers pass­ing by a dog wear­ing googles and smok­ing a pipe, 1915

No Dog Bis­cuits Today. Lon­don, 1939

A young boy play­ing ban­jo with his dog, 1920. 

A scout­ing dog and a US Marine who is com­fort­ably occu­py­ing a fox­hole in Guam, dur­ing World War II, 1944

A police offi­cer and his dog rid­ing a motor­cy­cle c. 1930

Lit­tle girl and her pet toad at a pet show, Venice Beach, Cal­i­for­nia, 1936. 

Audrey Hep­burn shop­ping with her pet deer “Ip” in Bev­er­ly Hills, CA, 1958

Fri­da Kahlo, a Mex­i­can painter, with one of her pet spi­der mon­keys (Mex­i­co 1944

Dwarf Hen­ry Behrens dances with his pet cat in the door­way of his Wor­thing home, 1956

Actress Tip­pi Hedren play­ing in the pool with her pet lion, Neil

Pres­i­dent John­son in the pool with grand­son Patrick and dog Yuki