Gunther IV: This is pretty ridiculous. Gunther IV, a German shepherd, has just over US$372 million. The dog actually inherited his money from his father, Gunther III, who inherited from the German Countess Karlotta Liebenstein – she died in 1991. Gunther IV has servants, maids, a chauffeur, a personal chef and even his own Miami mansion (which use to be Madonna’s) as well as a villa in the Bahamas. It is reported that Gunther IV also dines on caviar and steak everyday.
Tommasino: Also known as Don Tommasino, this cat was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the richest cat in the world with an inheritance of US$15 million. The Italian cat, who started life as a stray, received the money after the death of his 94-year-old reclusive owner. In Italy, however, a animals cannot inherit directly although they can be beneficiaries after a trustee is found – enter Stefania, a nurse entrusted to take care of the fortune and the animal.
Trouble: Billionaire property tycoon Leona Helmsley made headlines around the world when it became known that she bequeathed US$12 million to her pet Maltese, named Trouble. She disinherited her two grandchildren to give away the fortune, but after she passed away in 2007, legal battles have seen Trouble’s fortune slashed to a mere US$2 million. Trouble later passed away in 2011, an event covered in a 1,005-word article in The New York Times.