Many pet owners don’t shy away from putting their pets on social media, and sometimes their adorable dogs and cats even cash in big time.

Popular pets can rake in money through sponsored posts and ads – and upon reaching furry fame, they can also have their own merchandise. Some even surpass their owners in terms of wealth, while others inherit – or are set to inherit – fortunes from their owners.

The community All About Cats has created a list of the world’s wealthiest, highest earning and most influential pets, stating their earnings or inheritances.

Here are the eight wealthiest pets in the world and how they made their fortunes.

8. Doug the Pug – US$1.5 million

If dogs wore crowns, Doug would be king of pup culture! With 3.5 million Instagram followers and almost 12 million followers across all his social media channels, the six-year-old pug belonging to Leslie Mosier has an impressive career. The four-legged cutie plays Monchi in Oscar-nominated animation The Mitchells vs The Machines, earns a reported US$22,400 per post on Instagram, and is also a People’s Choice award winner.

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7. Pontiac – US$5 million

America’s sweetheart Betty White was always known for her immense talent and for being lifelong animal lover. Pontiac, an adorable golden retriever, was White’s most recent pet. Pontiac had initially worked with ​​Guide Dogs for the Blind, an organisation White had supported for years.

Word on the street is that Pontiac had US$5 million set aside in her will, but he didn’t live long enough to see the windfall. According to People, the friendly golden retriever died several years before White did, in 2017.

6. Choupette – US$13 million

The most famous cat in fashion, Choupette, is Karl Lagerfeld’s Birman kitty and the fashion mogul’s one true love. While Lagerfeld left her a vast inheritance when he died in 2019, the kitty has made nearly US$4.5 million in her own right from modelling contracts and endorsements. In 2015 alone, Choupette pocketed US$2.7 million when she collaborated with Shu Uemura and posed for a Vauxhall Corsa car calendar.

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5. Jiffpom – US$25 million

This tiny Pomeranian dog born in Chicago holds two Guinness World Records and has more than 30 million followers on social media. The most followed pooch on Instagram has nearly 10 million followers there, plus a whopping 20.7 million TikTok followers and another 1.3 million followers on Facebook. A book titled I Am Jiffpom, a calendar and his own line of “Jiffmoji” emojis later, this dog has had his day – the city of Los Angeles celebrated “Jiff Day” on August 20, 2014.

4. Sadie, Sunny, Lauren, Layla and Luke – US$30 million

Proving that being Oprah Winfrey’s pet might be better than being a human with a successful career are Sadie, Sunny, Lauren, Layla and Luke. The dogs will receive US$30 million when Oprah dies, which is a relatively large chunk of her total fortune. Oprah’s fur family makes regular appearances on her Instagram.

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3. Olivia Benson – US$97 million

Taylor Swift’s Scottish fold cat enjoys a whopping US$97 million net worth. The Blank Space singer made her cat famous on Instagram by setting up her account. What followed was a slew of extensive commercial work, cameos in music videos and ads for Diet Coke and Keds shoes.

2. Nala_Cat – US$100 million

Showing the world that cats can be enterprising too is cat food brand owner, Nala_Cat, with a net worth of US$100 million. With 4.3 million Instagram followers, she holds the Guinness World Record for the most followers on Instagram for a cat. Adopted from a shelter, the Siamese-Persian lives with owners Pookie Methachittiphan and Shannon Ellis. The blue-eyed beauty reportedly earns as much as US$625,000 a year (as she did in 2019) from appearances and brand endorsements.

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1. Gunther VI – US$500 million

Five times richer than Nala_Cat is the world’s richest pet, a German shepherd known as Gunther VI. The canine prince inherited a late German countess’s multimillion-dollar trust and has it all, from mansions and private jets to savouring the most delicate meat and caviar.

On the one hand, you may find him doing regular dog things like eating, playing, and rolling in the garden, but what sets him apart is that he does all this in Madonna’s former home! Gunther VI is owned by the Gunther Corporation, which manages the dog’s estate and fortune.