With the festive season now upon us, what better way to treat your loved ones this year than with a book on one of their favourite furry friends. Here, we’ve collected stunning photography books, heartwarming stories and the cutest picture books going, for the cat crazy, dog mad and horse obsessed to sink their claws into. Get your pet-loving nearest and dearest the “paw-fect” gift this Christmas!

Dogtown is a street photography project about the dogs of Venice Beach, California. The book is named after Dogtown, an area of West Los Angeles that used to encompass the slums of Venice and Santa Monica’s Ocean Park, back in the 1960s and ’70s. The surfers and skateboarders of Dogtown were known as aggressive, antisocial school dropouts from poor families. Today, actual dogs of all breeds and social status are taking over Venice Beach. The canines photographed in this book often embrace Dogtown’s rich skateboarding culture. American photographer Dotan Saguy and his Leica camera delight us with many lighthearted, quirky, emotional moments captured with much love and compassion for both the dogs and their Dogtown surroundings. This book is a modern homage to Elliott Erwitt and a must-have for dog lovers.

Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a dog? Buster: A Dog is the story of one dog’s lifelong journey, as told by Buster himself. Buster, a strong and proud boxer, spends his early days with a loving family in a public housing complex in Washington, DC. Abruptly, he is taken away by an abusive, alcoholic man, plunging Buster into a challenging, nightmarish existence. Over the course of his life, he will experience homelessness, tragedy, a harrowing stay in a kill shelter, and acts of kindness, including his adoption by an older gentleman grieving the death of his wife. At his peak, Buster lives with a young marijuana dealer who runs a profitable but dangerous business in the city. Along the way, Buster befriends other dogs and witnesses the best and worst aspects of humanity. As the seasons change, and change again, he begins to understand the finality of existence and in turn learns to appreciate the gift of life.

On Lilypod Lane, everyone knows everything about everybody… or so they believe! When curious paperboy Weasel encounters his mysterious neighbor Roy on his route, he becomes convinced that Roy is actually a dog! But when his friend Pam Pam disagrees, Weasel must put on his detective cap and do his best sleuthing to reveal Roy’s extraordinary secret, and prove that not everything is as it seems, once and for all! An endearingly offbeat picture book that celebrates neighbours and neighborhoods, Roy Is Not a Dog delivers laughs and lessons about accepting others for who they are as well as the risks and rewards of showing your true self.

In Five-Dog Epiphany, Marianne Leone writes about the joy that can be summoned after a great loss, ‘when you look into the eyes of another damaged creature and know that your happiness is a mirror and an echo and a prayer, and that the little soul reflecting all that energy is happy too, at last.’ This memoir is a moving and sometimes surprisingly funny exploration of grief and the mutual healing that can occur between rescue dogs and people who have experienced a soul-crushing loss.

Leone and her husband, actor Chris Cooper, lost their only child suddenly in 2005. Jesse was seventeen, a straight-A student, and a brilliant poet, who was also quadriplegic and nonverbal except with the assistance of a computer. When six-year-old Jesse miraculously blurted ‘dog’ to Santa, Goody appeared on his bed on Christmas morning. Goody was followed by Lucky, Frenchy, Titi, and Sugar, all rescues adopted after Jesse’s passing. After Jesse’s death, Leone grew a tumour the size of her premature son at birth, her husband disappeared into dark acting roles (Breach, Married Life), and Leone fainted during the filming of a scene in The Sopranos where she is standing in front of her television son’s coffin. This is the story of a bereaved couple and a pack of rescue dogs finding their way to a new life, everyone licking their wounds, both corporal and spiritual, and the rediscovery of joy.

Did you know that, until the Middle Ages, people were wary of half-domestic, half-wild animals? That cats evoked laziness, cruelty, greed, and even lust? And that ‘having a cat’s nose’ was a serious physical defect at the time? The cat traverses the history of civilisations and the history of art. Its symbolism fluctuates: revered in ancient Egypt, assimilated to Satan in medieval religious painting, companion to the free and independent artist in the 19th century. Throughout the pages, explore the works of Lorenzo Lotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Francisco de Goya, Auguste Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, Fernand Leger, Balthus, Andy Warhol, and more.

Husband and wife team Hannah Shaw (Kitten Lady) and Andrew Marttila have made cats their lives’ work: they rescue and rehabilitate kittens, educate people on cat and neonatal kitten care, and capture our feline friends’ unique personalities through writing and photography. Now, in the project of their dreams, they’ve taken their passion for cats global. In Cats of the World, Shaw and Martilla journey across 25 countries to explore cat culture around the globe, documenting their travels with stunning photos and interviews with cat lovers from each country. From England’s charmingly worn pubs and candle-lit cathedrals, Greece’s sunset-stained cliffs and white-washed homes, Kuwait’s sandy beaches and glittering skyline, South Africa’s bustling streets and lush mountains, and so many places in between, Cats of the World is a celebration of cats in their every form — in settings magical and mundane — and an enlightening exploration of what they mean to the people who love them most.

The cats in our lives are always close to our hearts, whether they’re napping in a sunbeam, demanding pets and treats, playfully attacking our shoelaces, or haughtily ignoring us. The many ways of felines are chronicled here in over 50 multimedia contributions, compiled from the first 10 issues of the Cat Party zine along with some new content just for this book. Editor Katie Haegele drew inspiration from the readers of her book, Cats I’ve Known, who wanted to tell the stories of the cats that had touched their own lives. The result is like a series of conversations and encounters with a panoply of some of the most relatable people on the planet: cat people. These cat people include Quimby’s Bookstore founder Steven Svymbersky, cartoonist and performance artist Dame Darcy, punk legend Joe Genaro (Joe Jack Talcum of The Dead Milkmen), Microcosm founder Joe Biel, comics artist Mardou, Defectivepudding, Heidi Moreno (Heidiroo), Justin Duerr, Vanessa Berry, and many more artists, writers, musicians, homebodies, dreamers, and close observers of the world.

From New York Times bestselling author of The Mosquito, the incredible story of how the horse shaped human history. The Horse is an epic history that begins more than 5500 years ago on the windswept grasslands of the Eurasian Steppe when the first horse was tamed and an unbreakable bond with humans was forged — a bond that transformed the future of humanity. Since that pivotal moment, the horse has carried the fate of civilisations on its powerful back. For millennia it was the primary mode of transport, an essential farming machine, a steadfast companion and a formidable weapon of war. With its unique combination of size, speed, strength, and stamina, the horse has influenced every facet of human life and widened the scope of human ambition and achievement. They fundamentally modified the human genome and the world’s linguistic map. From the thundering cavalry charges of Alexander the Great to the streets of New York during the Great Manure Crisis of 1894 and beyond, horses have been integral to both the grand arc of history and our everyday lives. Timothy C. Winegard’s The Horse is a riveting, fast-paced narrative of this noble animal’s unrivalled and enduring place in human history. To know the horse is to understand the world.

When the nouveau riche Parker family moves to an exclusive community in the heart of Southern California, they believe it’s their chance at a fresh start. Heather Parker is determined to give her daughters the life she never had — starting with horses. She signs them up for riding lessons at Rancho Santa Fe Equestrian, where horses are a lifestyle. Heather becomes a ‘barn mom,’ part of a group of wealthy women who hang at the stables, drink wine, and prepare their daughters for competition. It’s not long before the Parker family is fully enmeshed in the horse world — from mean-girl cliques to barn romances and dark secrets. With the end-of-summer horse show fast approaching, the pressure is on, and these mothers will stop at nothing to give their daughters everything they deserve. Before the summer is over, lies will turn lethal, accidents will happen, and someone will end up dead.

Dr. Dawn Filos has always had a passion for animals —  and with a lot of hard work and perseverance, she turned that passion into a career. Here, with emotional honesty, Dr. Dawn shares her colorful, memorable journey from nervous novice to seasoned, self-assured doctor. This modern-day James Herriot ultimately finds her niche as a house-call vet, where she creates a way to practice on her own terms with the privilege of unique, intimate access into the homes and lives of her beloved patients and their human families. Sometimes heartwarming, sometimes sad, and often hilarious, Tales of a Pet Vet will resonate deeply with pet lovers everywhere.