A recurring problem for English learners is the question of how animals should be named. Choosing which personal pronoun (he, she, it, him, her) or a possessive pronoun (his, her, its) is important. Basically, there are two reasons. On the one hand - if there is a close relationship. If that is the case, and the pet ‘belongs to the family’, ‘he’ or ‘she’ may often be suitable: “Where’s the cat? Have you fed it?” The reference to animals with ‘it’ is permissable and often the ‘normal’ way of expressing for many native speakers. However, this can also concern pets. “Lola is a sweet cat. We’ve had her for three years now.” In this comment, the possessive pronoun ‘her’ shows that the cat is female and, therefore, named by its gender. An emotional bond with the pet is present. “Look at your dog. He is also feeling sad.” In this example, the speaker wants to attribute human emotions to the dog. On such occasions, ‘he’ or ‘she’ is acceptable too. On the other hand, it is acceptable to use ‘he’ and ‘she’ if the sex of the animal is known. Such naming usually applies to animals that are typically not pets. There are often male and female forms for such animal designations: “Do you see that bull there? He is my best one.” In this statement, ‘bull’ is male cattle and referred to with ‘he.’ If the animals are insects, fish, reptiles, and the like, they are usually not associated with ‘he’ or ‘she.’ ‘It’ is appropriate instead. Sometimes ‘he’ is suitable (albeit not as gender-specific but -neutral pronoun): “Wow, that snake is long. And it’s also very poisonous.” The proper denomination for the snake is ‘it’ as it is not a domesticated animal.

Your pets sound nice, I'd like to meet them!