A brief history of Elon Musk's pets, including a 'nasty' Yorkshire Terrier, a cat — and a hedgehog too

• Elon Musk said he once owned a "nasty, brutish" dog that liked biting people on the ankle. 
• The Tesla CEO has occasionally posted about his pets, including dogs and a cat, on social media.
• Here's a list of some of Musk's pets, including one that inspired a crypto meme coin.

Elon Musk may be world's richest person and the father of 11 known children, but he still has time for a handful of four-legged friends. 

The Tesla CEO has often publicly mentioned his pets on social media. In 2022 he tweeted a video of his son X Æ A-12 or "X" playing with the family dogs. 

Although not comprehensive, Business Insider compiled a list of known pets that have made it into Musk's family over the years. 

Hobbes the Yorkshire Terrier

Musk first mentioned his Yorkshire Terrier in a 2023 post on X, saying he was well-known for biting people's legs.

"Had an awesome Yorkie for 15 years who I named Hobbes, because he was nasty, brutish & short," he wrote. The dog's name appears to be a play on 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," in which he described human existence as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

"I'd tell people 'watch out for the dog!', then they'd see him & laugh, then he would bite them on the ankle," Musk wrote.

Floki the Shiba Inu

Floki is Musk's most famed pet and is a Shiba Inu — a type of hunting dog from Japan. He was first mentioned in a tweet by Musk in 2021 when the billionaire announced his name.

The first picture of Floki made it to Twitter in September 2021 captioned: "Floki has arrived." 

Shiba Inu is also a decentralized cryptocurrency founded in 2020 and a fork of the popular Dogecoin — named after a popular meme of a Shiba Inu. The "Floki Inu" is also meme coin that takes its name from Musk's pup. 

Dogecoin saw a $10 billion surge in market value when Elon Musk posted a picture of Floki joking that he's the "new CEO of Twitter" and is "perfect for the job."

Gatsby, Marvin the Martian, and Schrödinger

Musk has posted about a string of other pets he owns on Twitter, including two dogs and a cat. 

In 2018, he tweeted: "We have a big dog called Gatsby, a little dog called Marvin the Martian & a cat named Schrödinger."

The cat's name refers to the infamous thought experiment created by Erwin Schrödinger in the 1930s.

Gatsby and Marvin have even visited the "dog whisperer" Cesar Milan, who posted a picture of them on his Instagram in 2018. 

Marvin made an appearance on Twitter again when the billionaire bought him a hand-knitted "Marvin the Martian" helmet in 2021. 

When users asked Musk whether Marvin and Floki were getting along, he tweeted: "They are … not yet friends."

Shrub the hedgehog

In November 2024, Musk revealed he also owns a pet hedgehog. "Her name is Shrub, the Hedgehog," he wrote in response to an X post claiming the creature enjoys running on a wheel.