Celebrity Animal House

Hilary Duff sure has some spoiled pets!

This past Christmas she was spied shopping for a toy for her cat and now she’s at it again.

The actress gave the parking meter a chunk full o’ change before making her way into a pet store in California to buy toys for both her cat and dog.

Oh, to be the pet of a celebrity in another life!

Unless, of course, you’re one of Paris Hilton’s trillion dogs that never gets individual attention.

Hop on over to Just Jared to see pics of Hilary from her most recent pet toy shopping trip.

Why on earth do we have to bring such sad animal stories lately? First, it was the Bush family cat, then Mickey Rourke’s dog, and now former President Clinton’s cat, Socks, has gone to four legged afterlife.

Socks strutted its stuff around the White House with Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea during Clinton’s time in office and was later given to a former aide, Betty Curie, where it lived out its life for 19 years, finally succumbing to cancer.

“Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere,” the Clintons said in a statement, “We’re grateful for those memories, and we especially want to thank our good friend, Betty Currie, for taking such loving care of Socks for so many years.”

Chelsea Clinton was taking piano lessons in the early 90s when Socks was spotted in her music teacher’s backyard. According to Mrs. Clinton, Socks jumped right into Chelsea’s arms.

Rest in peace, former Executive Kitty.

Mickey Rourke won an Independent Spirit Award this weekend and although his beloved chihuahua Loki could not be with him physically, he sure was there in spirit.

Rourke thanked Loki and a whole host of other people in a colorful speech.

We were hoping our favorite chihuahua lover would get an Oscar for The Wrestler this weekend too, but that’s okay.

Any man who loves his dog as much as he loved Loki deserves a thousand Oscars in our opinion.

Watch his acceptance speech-a rare scene where we see Mickey alone without his best friend.

“we must stop our cats milking us. its like an indonesian sweat shop. i’ve yielded all the dairy i can and yet he ceases not.”

“that doesnt soften the blow, a cat kneading dough on my midriff?because he thinks i’m his mum?call that progress? it’s neolithic.”

—-Russell Brand, replying to people on his Twitter page about how cats love massaging our bellies. No word on whether or not this is the same cat he wants to put in a bikini.

Does your cat have a tendency to “milk” you constantly?

Our favorite Aussie animal loving hottie recently traveled to Romania to document how bears are held captive in less than ideal conditions for the sake of tourists.

Natalie, along with the World Society for the Protection of Animals, filmed the documentary to highlight the animals, along with the work being done to get them into sanctuaries where they can roam freely in an environment similar to their natural habitat.

One black bear caught Nat’s attention and caused heartache once she discovered it’s plight.

“Ursula has lived day and night for 26 years in a dirty, rusty cage just a few metres square,” said Natalie.

“With your help we can rescue bears like Ursula from a life of misery in these terrible captive conditions.”

Natalie has been involved with animal causes before, participating in anti-fur campaigns.

Source: Australian Women Online

Mariah Carey has been known to ask for accommodations for her pet pooches when traveling or on vacation.

Shown here, she and newlywed hubby Nick Cannon took one of the family dogs along a ski trip recently.

But this wasn’t the first and probably won’t be the last time Mariah brings her pups along and neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor boats will keep them away.

The singer has requested yachts that will allow her dogs to bask in the sun while sailing too.

How many times do we have to say it? Wild animals do not make for good pets.

The lovable chimpanzee, Travis, who starred in Old Navy and Coca-Cola commercials was shot to death by police after he attacked a friend of his owner.

He had been living with Sandra Herold for years where she treated him like family, taking him along for rides in the car.

We should mention that Travis weighed 200 pounds! Not exactly a handbag pet.

He never showed any violent behavior before the attack, but did escape from home in 2003 where he was “at large” for several hours. Again, a 200 pound chimp. Not the same as kitty running out the door when you’re not looking.

Travis should have been living his life out in an animal sanctuary and some argue he never should have been used in television to begin with. Actress Anjelica Huston has recently spoken out against the use of apes in movies.

Hopefully people will take this situation and re-think how we carelessly think any animal can be tamed and live as a pet. Because in reality, that’s just not true.

Watch the video for clips from Travis on his commercials and to hear the 911 call made to police when he attacked.

All dogs go to heaven, and Mickey Rourke’s beloved chihuahua Loki, who he took everywhere he went, has joined all the other saint pooches.

Rourke’s rep confirmed to E! News on Tuesday that Loki had indeed passed.

Mickey brought Loki along for trips on the red carpet, interviews, and just about everywhere else, even thanking her in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes.

He said last year that she was getting older and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible during her remaining years on earth.

Losing a pet is never easy, and although we made humor to Rourke and Loki’s relationship, our condolences go out to the dog loving man during his time of saddess.