Who doesn’t love an adorable pet friendship story? Whether it’s a cat befriending a racoon or a dog looking after a cockatoo as one of its own, they can melt even the coldest of hearts. Even if they only exist in someone’s drawings.

An excellent example of such an adorable pairing is—you guessed it—none other than ‘Pet Foolery’s’ Pixie and Brutus. (It’s no secret that we’re quite fond of them here at Bored Panda.) The charming duo of a tiny kitten and a German shepherd is the work of a Minnesota-based illustrator, Ben Hed, who has amassed over 2.5 million followers with its awww-inspiring cartoons.

Today, we are happy to show you more of Ben’s lovely illustrations, covering the adventures of Pixie, Brutus, and some of their friends, so wait no longer and scroll down to find the cartoons below. You will also find some of his thoughts about working on the comics, which he shared on a recent interview with Bored Panda.

More info: Instagram | Patreon

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Most pet owners have likely thought their critter looks—or acts—like a cartoon character sometimes. When they’re staring at you with those googly-eyes when you’re having lunch, for instance, or when they’ve just done something they shouldn’t have, and you’re about to find out what it is exactly. (You ought to know the look of guilt I’m referring to).

Illustrator Ben Hed has been drawing guilty looks, misbehavior, and other pet-related daily matters for years now. His ‘Pet Foolery’ Instagram account was created in December 2017, and has been successfully growing ever since. That is no surprise, considering that internet users seem to love animal-themed content.

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“I think stories that focus on animals rather than humans serve as an escape from all the human problems and drama that we’re all too familiar with,” Ben told Bored Panda in a recent interview. “There’s a certain innocence to animals. While we spend our days worrying about taxes and bills and wars here and tragedies there, our dogs and cats are just doing their thing—eating, sleeping, playing, exploring, chasing stuff. They aren’t worried about a lot of things that we humans spend so much time stressing over. So, I think there’s an innate element of escapism in stories that follow animal characters.”

Data revealed that back in 2015, cats drove as much as 15% of internet traffic, according to Pure Storage. By the year 2020, the interest in felines has grown even larger with internet searches for “cat” increasing from 20 million in 2015, to roughly 50 million just five years later.

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Looking at Pixie, the tiny adorable kitten, it’s easy to understand why people love cat content so much. But her faithful companion and guardian four-legged angel, Brutus, is likely to have a fan base as well. At least plenty of dog-related memes online do—just think of how popular pictures of Dogge alone are.

In a previous interview for Bored Panda, Ben pointed out that Pixie is an energetic kitten that’s “innocent, and also somewhat oblivious to the serious, dangerous stuff around her,” while the scar-faced German shepherd is the exact opposite. The illustrator revealed that Brutus’ backstory suggests that “He was adopted by Pixie’s owner after retiring as a Military Working Dog (MWD).”

“He’s… seen things,” Ben added. “He’s a very serious and intimidating military dog, but he has a soft spot for Pixie, and does what he can to protect her from the harsh realities of the world around them.”

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It’s pretty common for dogs to have a soft spot for all sorts of other animals. (Unlike many cartoons suggest, cats and dogs don’t always have to be chasing each other around as well.) Psychologist Dr. Stanley Coren told The Dog People that it all comes down to biology and their nature and that it’s typically female dogs that tend to nurture other species.

“All mammals have certain pheromones—simply biological scents—they give off, and they have a certain communication value,” Dr. Coren pointed out. “Pheromones indicate if an animal is young and often we find female dogs respond to that and start to mother these animals very much as if they were their own pups.”

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During the aforementioned interview with Bored Panda, Ben Hed said that Pixie and Brutus was just a random comic idea he had while at work. “I was never planning on making them a series; I just thought it would be a funny idea to introduce a cute little kitten to a big intimidating war dog. So I made the first Pixie and Brutus cute animal comic, and people liked it so much, I just kept making them.”

Due to its popularity, Ben was eventually able to focus on working on comics full-time, which he revealed on his Patreon page. “Ever since the first Pixie and Brutus comic that I posted on Instagram, I’ve been overwhelmed with support for my work,” he wrote. “It was like one moment I was doing illustrations on Instagram as a side-job for some extra money, then all of a sudden, I had over a million followers and illustration became my full-time job!”

“If you’re a fan of my comics, that’s all thanks to you. I’m working my dream job because of YOU, and I honestly can’t thank you enough,” the illustrator added.

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“I just enjoy making comics in general, but the part I might enjoy most is seeing people’s reactions to my work. Seeing that I can make so many people feel something is really cool,” Ben shared during our latest interview.

However, the illustrator also agreed that such artists as himself face certain challenges as well. “One challenge I’ve grown very familiar with is the perception people have of artists. Too many of them don’t see art as a legitimate profession, so they get confused or even upset when the artist demands a certain amount of money for their work. ‘It’s just a hobby that they enjoy doing anyways, why do they charge that much?’”

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If you enjoy Ben’s illustrations, make sure to check out Bored Panda’s previous editions of his works here and here. If you’re looking for more on Pixie and Brutus specifically, you can find more cartoons in our previous collections here, here, here or here.

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