Assorted Presidential Pets, In Order

Assorted Presidential Pets, In Order

by Sarah Marshall

29. Misty Malarky Ying Yang, a Siamese cat belonging to the President’s daughter (Carter)

28. Washington Post, Yellow-Headed Mexican parrot (McKinley)

27. Maude, pig (Teddy Roosevelt)

26. Old Whitey, a horse the President had used during wartime and from whose tail White House visitors would pull hairs to keep as souvenirs (Zachary Taylor)

25. Old Whiskers, an ill-tempered goat who once escaped the White House lawn and had to be chased down Pennsylvania Avenue (Harrison)

24. Sweet Lips, Scentwell, Drunkard, Taster, Tipsy, Tipler, Lady Rover, Searcher, Mopsey, Captain, Vulcan, and Cloe, hounds (Washington)

23. Siam, the first Siamese cat in the United States (Hayes)

22. Emily, Lady Nashville, Bolivia, and Truxton, racehorses (Jackson)

21. Yuki, a mutt the President’s daughter had found at a Texas gas station (Lyndon Johnson)

20. Silkworms belonging to the First Lady (Quincy Adams)

19. A pair of tiger cubs given to the President by the Sultan of Oman, which he donated to the zoo at Congress’ suggestion (Martin Van Buren)

18. Fala, full name Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, a Scottish Terrier who survived the
President by seven years and was eventually buried alongside him (Franklin Delano
Roosevelt)

17. Nanny and Nanko, goats (Lincoln — who, to his credit, politely declined the King of Siam’s offer to send over unspecified number of elephants, because “it has occurred to us that, if on the continent of America there should be several pairs of young male and female elephants turned loose in forests… and all were forbidden to molest them; to attempt to raise them would be well and if the climate there should prove favourable to elephants, we are of opinion that after a while they will increase till there be large herds as there are on the Continent of Asia until the inhabitants of America will be able to catch them and tame and use them as beasts of burden making them benefit to the country.”)

16. Emily Spinach, garter snake (Teddy Roosevelt)

15. Sukey, cow (Harrison)

14. White mice the President found in his bedroom during the time of his impeachment, left flour and water for, and called the “little fellows” (Andrew Johnson)

13. A horse named the General, which the President later buried on his private estate under a gravestone reading: “Here lies the body of my good horse ‘The General.’ For twenty years he bore me around the circuit of my practice, and in all that time he never made a blunder. Would that his master could say the same! John Tyler.”

12. Sheep that grazed on the White House lawn (Wilson)

11. Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau, lion cubs (Coolidge)

10. Valeriano Weyler and Enrique DeLorne, Angora kittens (McKinley)

9. Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection, opossums (Harrison)

8. Josiah, badger (Teddy Roosevelt)

7. Pauline Wayne, the last cow to live at the White House (Taft)

6. Butcher Boy and Jeff Davis, horses, and Billy Button and Reb, ponies (Grant)

5. Billy, pygmy hippo (Coolidge)

4. An alligator that lived in the White House bathroom and was given to the President by the Marquis de Lafayette (Quincy Adams)

3. Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans, Admiral Dewey, and Father O’Grady, guinea pigs (Teddy Roosevelt)

2. A Welsh terrier named Charlie, a mutt named Pushinka who was the daughter of the Soviet space dog Strelka and was gifted to the White House by Krushschev, and their puppies — Butterfly, White Tips, Blackie, and Streaker — which the President called “the pupniks” (Kennedy)

1. Checkers, Cocker Spaniel (Nixon)

Related: Roman Emperors, Up To AD 476 And Not Including Usurpers, In Order Of How Hardcore Their Deaths Were

Sarah Marshall is the proud owner of an imaginary Corgi named Ruggles.