The Simpsons: All 23 Simpson Family Pets Explained

The Simpsons family are known for having a dog and a cat as pets, but throughout the whole series, they have had a variety of pets, of which many didn’t survive the episode they were introduced in – here are all the pets the Simpsons family has had so far. Created by Matt Groening, The Simpsons began as a series of animated shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, and after three seasons, it was developed into a half-hour prime time show, making its official debut on Fox in 1989. The Simpsons has since become the longest-running animated American series, and it shows no signs of stopping soon with over 30 seasons and counting.

The Simpsons follows the daily adventures of the title family in the fictional town of Springfield along with those of other family members, their closest friends, and even a couple of enemies, as are Homer’s boss Mr. Burns and Bart’s eternal enemy Sideshow Bob. Over the course of the series, viewers have followed the personal life of the Simpsons family members quite closely, witnessing many fights, triumphs, and even deaths, as happened with Homer’s mother, Mona. The audience has also seen the family deal with a variety of pets, from traditional ones to more exotic and even illegal ones.

Although the family’s dog and cat are the show’s main pets and have even been at the front and center of some episodes, the Simpsons have actually had many, many other pets, though most of them haven’t lasted for long. However, not everything is fun and laughter when it comes to the family’s pets, as in some cases these have been subjected to abuse, as happened with Mojo the Helper Monkey, and many have died under mostly silly circumstances. So far, the Simpsons have had a total of 23 pets (that’s counting the Greyhound puppies as one), and they will surely continue to have more as the series continues. Here are all 23 pets the Simpsons family has had and what happened to them.

Santa’s Little Helper

Santa’s Little Helper made his debut in The Simpsons’ very first episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”, where he was introduced as a racing dog. He lost the race and was thus abandoned by his owner, so Homer and Bart adopted him. Santa’s Little Helper is the only pet that hasn’t died and been replaced and has even appeared in episodes set in the future. Due to his disobedience and destructive behavior, the family has almost given him away on different occasions, and he once was the mascot of Duff Beer, this when Homer gave him away after the dog failed to save him from a fire. Even though he’s not the “perfect” dog, he’s Bart’s best friend and they care a lot for each other, and he will continue to be part of the Simpsons family for a long time.

SnowBalls

The Simpsons haven’t had the best luck when it comes to their cats. First was Snowball, who by the time the series began was already dead, as she was run over by Mayor Quimby’s drunk brother, Clovis Quimby. Then came Snowball II, who also made her debut in “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”, and she died in season 15 when she was hit by Dr. Hibbert’s Mercedes Benz. She was replaced by Snowball III, a male, brown cat who didn’t last long as he drowned in the Simpsons’ aquarium after trying to catch a goldfish, only minutes after Lisa brought him home. The next cat was Snowball IV a.k.a. Coltrane, who looked a lot like Bart. When she got home with Coltrane, Lisa started playing some of John Coltrane’s music for him, but he didn’t like it and he jumped out the window to his death. While mourning the deaths of all her cats, the Crazy Cat Lady threw one at her, who was named Snowball V (or “the new and improved Snowball II”, as they look very similar).

Greyhound Puppies

The Greyhound puppies are the offsprings of Santa’s Little Helper, and they made their first appearance in season 6’s episode “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds”, a loose parody of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The first litter was the puppies of She’s the Fastest and were a total of 25 puppies that Mr. Burns planned to turn into a tuxedo, but the Simpsons rescued them. However, when they became adults, all of them became world racing dog champions, making Mr. Burns even richer. Santa’s Little Helper became a father again when he and Rosa Barks (Dr. Hibbert’s poodle) had eight greyhound-poodle hybrid puppies, and the Simpsons gave them away to townspeople.

Stampy

The Simpsons’ season 5 episode “Bart Gets an Elephant” saw Bart do precisely that: get an elephant. When Bart won a radio contest, the hosts told him he could take $10,000 in cash or the “gag” prize, which was an African elephant, and Bart chose the latter, much to the surprise of the hosts. Bart eventually got his elephant and named him Stampy, but he was too much to handle as he needed huge amounts of food and, obviously, a lot of space. After almost selling him to an ivory dealer, Stampy was donated to a wildlife preserve.

Goldfish

To the surprise of many, the Simpsons also own two goldfish that don’t appear quite often but were at the center of a tragedy. As mentioned above, Snowball III decided to eat the goldfish but ended up falling into the tank and drowning, but the goldfish survived. They have appeared sporadically throughout the show, and mostly in the background.

Strangles

When Santa’s Little Helper joined the police force, Bart replaced him with a python appropriately named Strangles. The python was very protective of Bart, to the point where, when Homer was about to strangle Bart, Strangles jumped first and wrapped his body around Homer. When Bart chose Santa’s Little Helper to rescue him when Strangles created a toxic cloud at school, Strangles was initially hurt, but then realized he would always be there for Bart. Strangles was adopted by Groundskeeper Willie, and Santa’s Little Helper went back home.

Chirpy Boy and Bart Junior

Chirpy Boy and Bart Junior are two Bolivian Tree lizards who Bart initially believed to be birds. In the episode “Bart the Mother”, Bart accidentally shot a bird with Nelson’s BB gun and took the eggs on the birds’ nest home to look after them. When the eggs hatched, the Simpsons were surprised to see that they weren’t bird eggs but lizard eggs. When Skinner tried to kill them by tossing them off the roof as they were dangerous (because they ate bird eggs), Chirpy and Bart Junior deployed their “wings” and glided to the ground, and put an end to the town’s pigeon infestation.

Laddie

Laddie is a collie that Bart bought with a credit card he obtained through forgery. Laddie was trained to be the “ultimate dog”, and when the repo man came to take the dog away after the credit card went unpaid, he told them Santa’s Little Helper was the dog he ordered. Of course, he soon regretted this and rescued Santa’s Little Helper, who had been given to a blind man named Mr. Mitchell. Santa’s Little Helper eventually chose to go back with Bart and Laddie joined the Springfield police force, and even found a bag of weed in Mr. Mitchell’s pocket.

Mojo the Helper Monkey

When Apu got a helper monkey to work for him, Homer decided he wanted one too, so he used his father in order to qualify for the services of a highly trained and intelligent monkey. The monkey, named Mojo, soon realized that Homer wanted him to be his slave, but he preferred to adopt Homer’s sedentary lifestyle. This had severe consequences as Mojo gained a lot of weight and became bloated and lethargic. Not wanting to deal with a dead monkey, Homer dropped him off at the door of the agency, where the attendant handed him a keyboard to communicate, with poor Mojo typing “Pray for Mojo”.

Pinchy

Pinchy was a lobster Homer took home so he could fatten him up to eat him. However, he became attached to him and decided to keep him as a pet, naming him “Pinchy”. Homer kept him in a fish tank and an indoor wading pool, but he accidentally killed him by giving him a very hot bath. Homer then ate him all by himself while crying over the loss of Pinchy.

Plopper

Plopper the pig made his debut in The Simpsons Movie, where Homer took him in when he was about to be killed so he could be turned into Krusty Burgers. Since then, Plopper has made different appearances throughout The Simpsons, and while he’s still legally owned by Homer, he has been used by many other Springfield citizens.

Princess

At one point, Lisa had a pony named Princess. This happened in season 3’s episode appropriately titled “Lisa’s Pony”, where Homer got her to make up for him forgetting to buy a new reed for Lisa’s saxophone. As happy as Lisa was with her pony, her needs were too expensive and the family couldn’t handle them, so Lisa gave her up.

Annie the Ant

Lisa also had an ant farm, which was destroyed by Bart in the episode “American History X-cellent”. The only survivor of that massacre was Annie, but she became weaker and weaker. Lisa suspected that Annie only had about two or three days left and so decided to let her out into the wild so she could enjoy life, but was eaten by Santa’s Little Helper.

Bart’s Raccoon

Bart had a raccoon who made its first and only appearance in the episode “Luca$”. Bart fed the raccoon with his ADD medication, making the animal act jittery. Later in the episode. Snake stole a tiger and gave it to Bart as a gift for helping him escape the cops, but the tiger ate the raccoon.

Raymond Bird

One day, Bart found a pigeon injured in his room, so he nursed him and later trained him as he wanted to free him, but became too attached to him so he became Raymond, his pet pigeon. Bart used Raymond as a messenger, but Raymond’s time came to an abrupt end when Santa’s Little Helper, jealous of Bart’s attention going to the pigeon, ate the bird.

Pokey & Rabbit

Pokey is Lisa’s guinea pig, who made a brief appearance in the episode “The War of Art”, where it destroyed the Simpsons’ living room art. Last but not least, is the unnamed rabbit Bart got Marge for her birthday in the episode “Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart”, who got them all into trouble but, just like Pokey, it survived its debut episode in The Simpsons.

About The Author

Adrienne Tyler
(3268 Articles Published)

Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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