CHENNAI: I have a two-and-a-half year old Labrador — Tesla Ravindran. I created an Instagram account for her when she was six-months-old and have been updating it since. I could just stare at her adorable antics all day long and thought I should share the same joy with others. That is how we created her Instagram account — @teslathelab,” shares Nandhitha Ravindran, a marketing professional.
Amritha Menon who is a proud pet mother to five-year-old Labrador Lexie Fernando and her five cats — Caesar, Rossi, Hayden, Dileila and Chopra aka chopu, says that she started the account, @lexieandcaesar two years back, but later, the family expanded when they rescued four more cats. “I created an Instagram account is to show the world how wonderfully a dog and a cat can get along. There’s this misconception that cats and dogs are enemies. But, my girls love each other,” she smiles.
There are a lot of foreign social media profiles of pets that have become popular like @kaya_and_kody, @alphie.and.teddy.pug, etc These accounts have videos of the pets being taken for shopping, playing on the beach and so on. Having taken inspiration from the Instagram account — @lokistagram, Amritha started an account and shares pictures and videos of them playing, napping, eating etc. “The posts are shared from their perspective — so it is like they are sharing their daily activities and stories with their followers.”
Similar is the story of Gayathri Suryanarayanan, a city-based doctor who posts pictures and boomerang videos of Hugo, her Cocker Spaniel. “Apart from Hugo’s daily activities, we even share posts about pet adoptions and pet missing cases. He has quite a lot of friends and followers (close to 300) on Facebook and Instagram, which includes friends, family and pet pages from other countries as well,” she grins proudly.
Pet birthdays too are celebrated with as much energy and enthusiasm as any other birthday party, and these are further shared on their social media accounts. “Mario gets hundreds of birthday wishes from friends and followers on his account. My handsome boy has close to 700-plus friends on Facebook,” adds Sinduri Vishal, playback singer.
Most of the pages capture and share the best moments of their pets and go on to get many likes, comments and shares by followers and friends. Sinduri says that most of Mario’s posts get 100-plus likes and at least 20 comments. “There is a video of him tearing out the bed and I am screaming at him for doing that. It is adorable and funny. It is one of my best and most cherished moments.”
Gayathri says the best picture of Hugo was the one taken at the beach. “In this picture, his ears are dirty and he has his tongue out. But what mattered most was the happiness on his face regardless of how messy he looked.” So what do their families think of the idea? “My brother loves it and my mother encourages me to post more videos,” laughs Amritha.
Most pet parents are keen on showcasing their love for their pets via social media and often receive immense support from families, who consider them as a member of the family itself. By capturing funny and memorable incidents in their pet’s lives and being able to create memories, pet owners are able to create a network, where they share useful tips and tricks, and also turn to each other for help during medical emergencies.
Famous pets on social media
● @marniethedog - 15-year-old Shih Tzu - 20 lakh followers
● @nala_cat - 6-year-old cat - 30 lakh followers
● @halmet_the_piggy - 3-year-old mini micro pig - 3 lakh followers
● @exempelthebunny - 5-year-old mini lop rabbit - 1 lakh followers
● Boo, the Pomeranian - 17 million likes on Facebook
● Minnie and Max, the pugs - 1.4 million likes on Facebook