Top 20 Cat and Dog Halloween Costumes

Assuming your pet is chill enough to wear a costume, it’s a great time to get thinking about their next cat or dog Halloween costumes. Your chosen costume can be as simple or elaborate as you like, and the options below cover all sorts. There are hats and onesies for those who like to keep it simple, walking costumes for those who can’t look at them without giggling (guilty!), and more elaborate costumes that will scare any guests as soon as your cat or dog comes running into the room.

These cat and dog Halloween costumes cover themes like vampires and spiders to sillier options… like a roast turkey hat for your cat. You’re sure to find something to make your pal the best dressed companion for trick-or-treating!

Why Do We Dress Up For Halloween?

The practice of wearing costumes for Halloween may have originated in a Celtic festival – called Samhain – held on October 31st to mark the beginning of winter. People wore costumes to ward off evil spirits, and went door to door to sing in exchange for food. If a household gave food it would get good luck, while those that refused to give any would be struck with misfortune.

Another possible explanation is the Christian tradition of souling, known to take place in the 15th Century. Children would dress in costume and go from one house to another, singing songs and asking for cakes. The practice is mentioned in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593).

Halloween costumes began with people dressing to scare away evil spirits or to represent corpses and the dead, and when dressing up became separate from tradition and religion in the early 20th Century, costumes carried on this theme. Costumes included vampires, zombies, and ghosts. In the late 20th Century, pop culture costumes rose in popularity, with the ‘scary’ theme no longer being the go-to.

But what about cat and dog Halloween costumes?

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When Did Cat and Dog Halloween Costumes Start?

The concept of dressing up cats and dogs isn’t new: people have dressed their pets since antiquity. Wealthy families in Ancient Egypt dressed their cats in jewels. Queen Victoria dressed her King Charles Spaniel – named Dash – in a scarlet jacket and blue trousers in the 19th Century. French aristocracy of the era would also dress up their dogs – silk jackets, cloaks, even bathing outfits.

Anthropomorphic photography – making animals look like humans – was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Dogs were posed upright wearing human clothing, a concept not unlike today’s walking costumes. They were accessorized with hats, pipes, and other items.

Halloween costumes began to be mass produced in the 1930s, with cat and dog Halloween costumes really taking off in the 1980s. By the 21st Century, the pet costume industry was huge, being fueled in part by social media and events like dog parades.