Cute Animal Videos and Photos

Things that will not be posted:

Animal abuse (this includes obviously detrimental obesity in animals (that are not specified to be undergoing treatment) - i.e. a cat that's slightly chunky but can still move normally is fine but a cat that is clearly obese to the point where it cannot groom itself properly is not), incorrect enclosure/terrarium/aquarium requirements and intentionally bred health problems (this includes brachycephalic dogs and cats, Scottish Folds, spider ball pythons, etc.)

Animals/humans in dangerous situations (e.g. free handling of dangerously venomous snakes, free contact with big cats, predator-prey interactions being labeled as cute (for example, a wild lion hunting a wild zebra may be posted but a domesticated cat 'playing' with a bird will not))

Wild birds and mammals that are kept as pets (occasional exception for well-cared for smaller bird species with no visible signs of distress but no large macaws or similar)

Animals with cosmetic surgery (i.e. docking and cropping in dogs, declawing in cats (note that I have never heard a debarked dog nor seen a declawed cat so it's REALLY hard for me to pick up on those things and having that stuff pointed out would be super helpful if I do end up accidentally reblogging/posting it.))

Unsupervised outdoor cats (leashed cats and cats in catios or adequately fenced gardens that the cat cannot get out of are fine. If a cat is supervised when outdoors and is in an area where the owner would be able to easily catch the cat before it leaves the area (e.g. garden with a 1,5m wooden fence - the cat can technically climb it but not before the owner can catch the cat), it's fine.)

If you need something tagged so you can block it (or find it) then just send me a message or an ask. If I forget to tag something feel free to send me a message/ask as a reminder :)

NOTE older posts may be tagged with spaces in between individual words, i.e. '#scenes from nature' as opposed to the current '#scenesfromnature'

Things already tagged:

#[thing tagged] - [content that is tagged with this]

#abuseawareness - posts that mention animal abuse in order to educate**

#actuallyqueuedanimals - posts from the queue (please note that the queue is VERY long and that new tags may take months to appear, thus if you have requested that a tag be made, I recommend also filtering the queue tag for a few months)

#animaldeath - post contains an image or video with a dead animal. Does not include taxidermy or displayed bones

#animaldeathmention - post contains words mentioning but no actual images of animal death

#animalviolence - animals fighting, e.g. territorial disputes, hunting, etc this does not include bloodsports such as dog fighting or cock fighting as those are animal abuse

#arachnid - post contain images, pictures or videos of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, etc). Text mentioning without images or videos of arachnids will not be included

#arachnidmention - post contains text only with arachnid mention

#art - post contains artwork of an animal. This can be a sculpture, painting, embroidery or any other form of art

#ask - post is an ask that was sent to me that I answered

#bird - post that contains images of modern birds

#bones - post contains an image with bone in it. This includes x-rays, lacerations with visible bone as well as displayed bones

#canine - images that contain animals that belong to the subfamily Caninae, e.g. foxes, wolves, dogs, jackals, bushdogs, zorro, raccoon dogs and so on

#caresheet - post contains a caresheet for a pet

#cetacean - post contains image of a cetacean

#colouredtext - post contains coloured text that may cause eye strain or migrains. NOTE this is not reliably tagged as I cannot see different coloured fonts on mobile

#croppeddog - post contains an image of a cropped dog

#deepwater - post contains image of water that appears to be as deep as an average adult is tall

#dockeddog - post contains image of a docked dog

#equeuestrian - posts from the queue (please note that the queue is VERY long and that new tags may take months to appear, thus if you have requested that a tag be made, I recommend also filtering the queue tag for a few months)

#dog - images that contain domesticated dogs

#dolphin (new) - post with image of dolphin(s)

#equine - post contains equines (horses, donkeys, zebras, wild asses etc)

#flashing - videos containing flashing/rapidly blinking lights or strobing

#giraffe - post with an image of a giraffe

#gore - image contains blood or bad wounds

#horse - post contains image/video of horses (includes both domesticated horses and the Przewalski's horse)

#hyaena - post containing images/videos of hyaenas - i.e. spotted, striped, brown, aardwolf or an extinct hyaena species. Older posts may use the spelling of hyæna

#insect - post contain images or videos of insects. Text mentioning without images or videos of insects will not be included

#insectmention - post contains text only with insect mention

#invertebrate - post contain images, pictures or videos of invertebrates. Text mentioning without images or videos of invertebrates will not be included - I will usually NOT tag corals and similar (Anthozoans) as #invertebrate unless it is a close up photo/the focus of the picture/video. Jellyfish will be tagged

#invertebratemention - post contains text only with invertebrate mention

#joke - post contains something meant to be taken as a joke. This might include blatantly incorrect facts i.e. calling a dog wearing a bunny ears headband a rabbit.

#lepidoptera - posts that contain images of butterflies and moths

#longpost - text in the post is long enough to fill my (tablet) screen. Note that images DO NOT count towards the post length UNLESS they are images of text

#muroid - posts that contain images of animals of the family muroidea - this includes mice, rats, voles, gerbils, hamsters and lemmings.

#mypost - posts created by me or by my main blog

#notanimals - post is not about animals

#ocean - post contains image of the ocean

#poll - post contains a poll. Might not include any animal pictures

#overweightanimal - posts that contain the image of an overweight animal

#palaeoart (new) - depiction of an extinct animal

#rosettes - post contains images of animals that have a rosette pattern, e.g. leopards, jaguars (new)

#scenesfromnature - animals displaying mating behaviour, genitals or giving birth*

#snake - posts that contain images of snakes

#spider - posts that contain images/videos of spider

#spots - post that contain images of animals with a phenotypically spotted pattern or drawings with spots, e.g. Dalmatian dogs, peacocks, cheetahs, pointillism

#snakelike - posts that contain images of snake-like animals, e.g. eels, legless lizards, worms and so on

#tagging - posts where I ask if I should implement a new tag and when new tags are announced (I do not recommend filtering this tag)

#taxidermy - post contains image of a taxidermy animal

#text - post contains no images or videos

#twtrypophobia - images of holes, dots or bumps clustered together that is NOT included in giraffe, spots or rosettes

#underweightanimal - posts that contain the image of an underweight animal

#whale (NEW - kind of, changes made) - post contains images or videos of cetaceans which are not dolphins. Prior to and for up to a few months after 01/07/26 (dd/mm/yy), this tag was used for dolphins.

#weirdandwonderful - creatures that are odd in appearance in a disconcerting way. Think giant squid, deep sea fish, animals with birth defects that give them extra limbs/eyes/heads etc. Anything with a sort of eldritch vibe (note that this tag is HIGHLY subjective. I will tag what I think fits in it but I might miss something that YOU find disconcerting.)

*#scenes from nature is likely not something that's going to come up often

**#abuse awareness is also not likely to come up often. I'll reblog these posts if I see the relevant abuse posts a concerning number of times. Or if I get a submission that contains abuse (this is not to shame, only to educate and the name of the blog who submitted an abusive video/photo/gif will not be mentioned.) Please do reblog these posts.

I do have things queued (potentially several months worth of queued content) and, if they were queued before a certain tag was created, then they might not be tagged appropriately. Things that may appear untagged from the queue are marked (new). If you notice a post isn't tagged that should be tagged with one of the tags listed here, just send me an ask or message and I'll go and fix that :)

SOME EXPLANATIONS:

Why do I prefer to not reblog over/underweight animals, even if this is caused by something out of the owners control?

This is so that people are able to recognise what a pet's body condition score should look like. We so often see overweight animals that we are unable to recognise when our own pets are overweight. I hope that by limiting my reblogs of over- and underweight animals and that by tagging the few I do reblog, people will more easily be able to recognise when their pets are at a bad weight (and also recognise when a wild animal is struggling and needs a wildlife rehabilitation centre to help it.) It is also because obesity can have an extreme affect on an animal's health e.g. an obese cat not being able to properly groom itself, obese horses being prone to laminitis and so on.

Why do I not reblog docked or cropped dogs? Not even working dogs? Docking and cropping is often done by the breeder before the owner even gets the dog, so why not?

From my understanding, dogs with natural ears and tails do not obtain a significantly larger number of injuries - certainly not enough to justify an unnecessary amputation on a young puppy.

Yes, while docking and cropping is often not the doing of the owner, many people do not realise that dogs are docked/cropped. I am hoping, that by avoiding reblogging docked and cropped dogs, people will be better able to recognise the breeds in their natural state and also not decide that they want to dock/crop a dog purely on the basis of 'it doesn't look like [breed] without cropping/docking'.

Why are docked sheep okay when docked dogs aren't?

Docking in sheep is necessary to prevent botflies. Wool sheep with long tails tend to get extremely dirty around their tails, causing a high risk of disease/infection. In this case, docking is beneficial to the sheep whereas docking in dogs is purely aesthetic (tail injuries are very rare, even in working dogs, and thus the risks from docking outweigh whatever small benefit they grant. If you can provide me with a scientific paper from a reputable source that proves me wrong then I will gladly change my mind.)

Why do you not put spaces between words in tags?