Take A 5-Minute Break To Look At These Delightful Pet Portraits — You Deserve It

We’re just gonna say it: We all need a heavy helping of TLC right now. But a lot of the go-to pick-me-ups that used to make us feel better (banana bread recipes, viral videos of famous people singing) just don’t hit the same anymore. We need something in addition to chicken soup for our souls. We need bone broth...for our squee reflexes.

With that in mind, we asked some of our favorite photographers to capture their best quarantine buddies — their pets! — just being their adorable selves. From a psychedelic chicken to a shopaholic snail, the results are aww-inducing, inside-soothing, and 99.9% guaranteed to give you a break from feeling like a pile of slop.

Sasha Elena Lombard

Age: 8 years old on April 4! Quarantine birthday for Sasha this year.
Location: Jackson Heights, NYC
Favorite Food: Bananas
Favorite Activity: Licking feet and barking at nothing.

Owned by Amy Lombard, @amylombard

Sophia (left, bottom) & Sylvia (right, top)

Age: Sophia is Sweet 16 and Baby Sylvia is 10
Location: Portland, Oregon
Favorite Food: Sophia enjoys Deckhand Tuna out of the can, while Sylvia prefers Fancy Feast, Savory Salmon Classic Paté. They both prefer water from the fishbowl.
Favorite Activity: Sophia just loves basking in the sunshine like a leathery Miami mama, and Sylvia finds the most joy riding on my shoulders like a crazy lil monkey.

Owned by Holly Andres, @hollyandres

Clementine The Basset Hound

Age: 10-11 (rescued around age 4-6)
Location: At home in our bedroom (in Brooklyn, NY)
Favorite Food: String Cheese, Babybel 
Favorite Activity: Sleeping/Napping and occasionally running around our house in circles in between naps.

Owned by Winnie Au, @winniewow

Winter (Standard Chinchilla Rabbit)

Age: 1 Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Favorite Food: Fresh cilantro 
Favorite Activity: Chewing anything in sight

Owned by Savana Ogburn, @savanaogburn

Voodoo (pictured with grapes)

Age: 3 years
Location: Rhode Island, USA
Favorite Food: Whole-milk yogurt
Favorite Activity: Sitting in front of the bathroom heating vent.

Ghost (pictured with strawberries)

Age: 1 year
Location: Rhode Island, USA
Favorite Food: Cucumber slices Favorite
Activity: Sleeping in my (Kathryn’s) hoodie.

Ouija (pictured with watermelon) 

Age: 4 years
Location: Rhode Island, USA
Favorite Food: Jello Favorite
Activity: Standing over the kitchen heating vent.

Owned by Kathryn Parker Almanas, @xkpax

Francis

Age: 3 years old 
Location: Mall of America 
Favorite Food: Bubble tea (and sweet potatoes)
Favorite Activity: Francis misses the comfort and madness of the mall, & shopping for objects to fill the void.

Owned by Aleia Murawski, @aleia

Otis

Age: 4 months
Location: NYC
Favorite Food: Freeze Dried Minnows
Favorite Activity: Wrestling with his big brother (a large orange tabby cat).

Owned by Suzanne Saroff, @hisuzanne

Matisse — yes, after the painter

Age: 1 year, 3 months
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Favorite Food:  Bananas and Scrunchies
Favorite Activity: Looking out the window and howling at sirens.

Owned by Vanessa Granda, @ohmynessa

Rhea (pictured on pink)

Age: 1 
Location: Moorestown, NJ
Favorite food: Spaghetti with tomato sauce
Favorite activity: Being faster than the big chickens.

Andie (pictured on blue/green)

Age: 2
Location: Moorestown, NJ
Favorite food: Blueberries 
Favorite activity: Hopping the garden fence to steal said blueberries.

Owned by Morgan Sloan, @morgsloan

Age: 6 years old
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Favorite Food: Fresh Pets Vital Grain Free Chicken, Beef, Salmon & Egg Recipe for Dogs. He has some joint issues and needs to be on a grain-free diet. We sprinkle some of this raw food into his grain-free kibble. 
Favorite Activity: He is part Italian Greyhound and part Xoloitzcuintle and he loves running off-leash in Astoria Park's Lawn. We just recently moved to Jersey City, so there's a lot of places to explore once we are allowed outdoors for longer periods of time. He has a habit of picking up sticks that are too big for him to handle comfortably, and yet he seems to pick them up for the adorable struggle.

Owned by Joel Arbaje, @j.arbaje

Moo (left) and Pebbles (right)

Age: 9 months
Location: New Jersey
Favorite Food: Bananas and sweet potatoes!
Favorite Activity: It is a toss-up between cuddling with me on the couch and nibbling my pajamas.

Owned by Yoona Hong, @yoonaratties

Age: 4 years old Boston Terrier
Location: Brooklyn, NY Favorite
Food: Beef Jerky
Favorite Activity: Cuddling

Owned by Kaitlyn Flannagan, @kaitlynflannagan