The Duchess of York said she “spoils” the corgis she and the Duke of York adopted following the death of the Queen in September.

Elizabeth II owned more than 30 corgis during her reign and was known for her love of the breed.

The late monarch received the two dogs, Muick and Sandy, as gifts from Andrew and have now been taken on by her son and his ex-wife Sarah.

“I am their favourite but everybody always says it’s just because I feed them gravy bones. I love everything about them and I spoil them the most.”

In early 2021, the Queen was given two new puppies, one dorgi and one corgi, as a gift by Andrew while staying at Windsor during lockdown.

The puppies kept the monarch entertained while the Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital – and Buckingham Palace and the royals were dealing with the fallout from the Sussexes’ Oprah interview.

The Queen named the dorgi Fergus after her uncle – who was killed in action during the First World War, and the corgi Muick, pronounced Mick, after Loch Muick on the Balmoral estate.

But the monarch was devastated when five-month-old Fergus died just weeks later, in the aftermath of Philip’s death.

He was later replaced with a new corgi puppy, from Andrew and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie for her official 95th birthday, who the Queen named Sandy.

Larry was only four years old when he was adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to begin his new life in politics and has served as a trusted companion to three prime ministers: David Cameron, Theresa May and the outgoing PM, Boris Johnson.

A tweet from Larry’s Twitter account with a picture of the billboard, featuring the cat in a union flag tie below his slogan, quickly accrued more than 14,000 likes on Saturday.

“Dream come true,” it was captioned, along with the hashtags Larry4Leader and YesWeCat.

Users were quick to spot the billboards that have popped up

DOGS could be struggling with the mental impact of coronavirus just as much as their owners, according to an animal mental health expert.

Dr Robert Falconer-Taylor is warning that our four legged friends could by suffering anxiety passed on by their humans who are increasingly stressed out due to the pandemic.

To combat this, Dr Falconer-Taylor says we should be creating ‘Comfort Caves’ so that worried pets can feel safe and secure in their homes.

Dr. Falconer-Taylor says: “A refuge can give your pet a sense of control over the source of their stress and enables them to feel safe.

“Pets without somewhere to retreat to can struggle, so building a den – or preferably, several dens – in the rooms where your pet likes to relax will help to support them.”

As polling stations opened on Thursday morning for what is being billed as Britain’s most important General Election in a generation, social media became awash with pictures of people’s pet dogs.

The tradition of taking photos of puppies obediently waiting for their owners to vote at polling stations is a trend that has taken the internet by storm in recent elections thanks to the #dogsatpollingstations hashtag.

And, while the third general election in five years has prompted much political exhaustion, it’s safe to say the viral trend is warming people’s hearts everywhere. 

If you really want to go there, there are some pretty alarming downsides to pet ownership. In England, for instance, between 6,000 and 7,000 people are admitted to hospital for dog bites each year. Tripping over pets is another potential danger – each year, this sends an estimated 87,000 people to hospitals in the US, particularly elderly people. And what of the parasites that pets bring into the house – the fleas, ticks and mites? And the potentially fatal diseases they can transmit to humans, from pathogens such as salmonella (from reptiles) and capnocytophaga that can be passed to humans in cat and dog saliva? For many people, the answer to whether pets are good for us is clearly no – although, to be fair, you are far more likely to be exposed to disease or violence by another human than by a dog, cat or pygmy hedgehog.

A lurcher dubbed “Britain’s loneliest dog” has finally found a “forever” home.

Two-year-old Hector had been in a shelter since he was rescued by the RSPCA over welfare concerns in 2017.

Hundreds of people from all over the world offered to re-home him after a campaign by Little Valley Animal Shelter in Exeter, Devon, went viral. 

The lonely lurcher, who spent more than 500 days at the shelter, had been its longest-staying resident. 

“We couldn’t be happier for him,” the shelter said. “We can’t stop smiling.”

The chief executive officer of Go Fund Me, Brad Damphousse, said the site has  safeguards in place to make sure the fundraising is for a genuine cause. Tony Warburton, for example, decided to name the vet treating Alfie, and keep donors up to date with his pet’s progress: “I wanted people to be able to check it was all true, Alfie the spaniel’s story was shared more than 3,000 times across social networks and the level of trust on the Go Fund Me site was very high because most donations will come from personal family and friends”. While ‘social proof’ may help potential supporters make informed giving decisions, the PDSA – which provides 2 million + free veterinary treatments for sick and injured animals each year – recommends pet owners bear in mind the long term costs of having a pet (veterinary bills, feed etc) and take out pet insurance to offset some of the treatment costs.