Pets

Joan Rivers turned someone's dog into a major baller ... 'cause Fido's gonna be drinking or eating out of a sterling silver dog bowl that mommy and daddy dropped $14k to get!

The Tiffany and Co. bowl belonged to Joan's beloved Spike -- a Yorkie with caviar taste, we're guessing -- and it went for 5 figures during a Christie's auction of a bunch of Joan's stuff.

The buyer, who might love their pet a little too much, is choosing to remain anonymous for now. Christie's thought the bowl would only get about $800.

It hasn't been used in quite a while -- Spike died in 2001. He was 17.

#RIP

Dez Bryant has been sued for allegedly causing more than $60,000 in damage to a Texas home owned by a state senator ... a man who claims Bryant left the home littered in "trash and feces."

Nicolas Cage fell in love Wednesday at the Burbank Airport ... and our photog is responsible for it.

Jesse was multitasking ... holding his camera in one hand and a leash in the other. His apartment is being re-carpeted so he had to take Otis, his fiancee's chihuahua, to work.

Nic had a thing for Otis, and then proceeded to tell us about his favorite dog and a tiger-like cat in his menagerie.

By the way, Jesse got married this past weekend. He called his wife his fiancee. Force of habit, maybe. BTW ... Congrats!!!

Disney's "Finding Dory" is causing a rift in the exotic fish community ... which believes the movie could bring a financial boom -- but also massacre the fish population.

We called a bunch of fish dealers who say they've stocked up on blue tangs -- Dory's species -- expecting a rush once the movie premieres. The same spike happened for clownfish after "Finding Nemo."

Tangs ain't cheap -- one goes for $40 to $60 ... So there's big money to be made.

But many experts told us they're worried tons of blue tangs will die when parents flock to buy the fragile fish for kids because tangs require a very specific, exotic tank setup. As one enthusiast put it ... fish novices "will kill these creatures."

One store owner sounded like he had PTSD from the 'Nemo' craze, and said he's stocking ZERO blue tangs ... just to avoid the "screaming kids."

Shop wisely.

Bretagne, the 16-year-old golden retriever hailed as the last of the 9/11 search dogs, has died.

Bretagne was euthanized Monday, according to firefighters in Houston ... where she had been a founding member of the K9 Search & Rescue Team.

She put up some true hero stats over her career. As part of Texas Task Force 1, she and handler Denise Corliss spent days searching through Ground Zero for trapped victims. Bretagne also pitched in on rescue efforts during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

She left active duty at 10, but continued serving as a community ambassador.

Bretagne was given a hero's salute on her last walk into the vet's office and her body was draped with an American Flag on the way out.

We've solved the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard dog mystery.

We now know each owned one dog, which is why the judge only referenced Amber's dog in Friday's court order.

You'll recall the pooches made headlines a year ago when they smuggled the two Yorkies into Australia. Amber could have gone to prison, but ended up doing a PSA on why smuggling is a bad idea and they got off scot-free.

Turns out it was a blended family. Amber owns Pistol and Johnny owns Boo. When Amber went to court asking for her domestic violence restraining order -- which she got -- she also asked for an order requiring Johnny to stay clear of Pistol. The judge declined, saying Pistol was in no real danger.

Houston Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus is desperately trying to find his missing dogs, Rocky and Princess ... and says he's concerned they may have been taken.

Mercilus says his beloved pets -- a German shepherd and a yorkshire terrier-chihuahua mix -- got out of a gated area at his Houston area home Thursday while he was at football practice.

WM has been asking the public for help ... and says he's already gotten a few leads.

The most promising tip ... witnesses say a white landscaper truck with blue lettering was spotted picking up the dogs in his neighborhood and putting them in the back of the ride. He's doing everything he can to track down the truck.

Whitney is begging anyone with information to help out -- "I would love for them to be back home safe and sound."

Mally Mall is pissed Clark County tweeted a pic of his dead exotic cat with laughing emojis ... mocking the tragic situation.

TMZ broke the story ... the rapper/producer lost his pet caracal, Nyla, Thursday in a house fire. Shortly after the fire, the Clark County official Twitter page posted a pic of the dead cat. But that's not all ... the tweet included the "laughing so hard you cry" emoji.

The county deleted the tweet within minutes and apologized for using the "wrong emojis." It appears they intended to use the "crying" emoji.

Still, we're told Mally's furious and says it's totally insensitive and an invasion of his privacy. It's still unclear what started the blaze.

Mally Mall just lost one of his most beloved exotic animals in a house fire.

Sources close to the producer tell TMZ one of his exotic cats was found unresponsive Thursday after crews contained the blaze. We're told a neighbor called 911 after they saw flames coming from his two-story Vegas home.

A neighbor tells us the fire started in a closet near his master bedroom. At this time it's unclear what started the blaze and how much damage was done.

We're told the producer is devastated over losing the animal.

Mally's known as an animal collector -- with pit bulls, snakes, turtles and wild cats -- he once gifted Justin Bieber a monkey.

Lady Gaga found a ride more eco-friendly than a Prius on her way to grab a smoothie in Malibu.

Gaga ditched 4 wheels for her 4 legged white horse, a gift she got last Christmas from her music label, Interscope.

LSU's beloved Siberian-Bengal tiger mascot, Mike VI, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer ... and vets believe he only has 2 years to live ... school officials announced.

The 10-year-old tiger has been receiving treatment from a team of specialists ever since his caretakers noticed a tumor on his face earlier this month.

Officials say Mike has spindle cell sarcoma -- which is unlikely to spread to other areas of his body ... but it's a fatal condition nonetheless.

LSU says Mike is receiving the best care possible -- and they've already drawn up a battle plan to make sure Mike lives out his final days as comfortably as possible. Without treatment, officials say Mike would only have 1 to 2 months to live.

Jillian Michaels has a real issue with her neighbor's pooches ... and it's gotten so bad she's called in the big guns to fix it.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Jillian's been in a fight with her Malibu next-door neighbor for months. We're told Jillian recently filed a complaint with animal control, saying the neighbor's dogs are a total menace ... charging her fence, bothering her dogs and scaring her kids and horses too.

Animal control made a visit to Jillian's place last month but didn't see any cause for concern. They also checked the fence line for any breaks, but saw no problem.

Ryan Gosling's so ridiculously good looking he mesmerizes chicks of all species.

The new papa showed some love Thursday to a Labrador Retriever that greeted him outside "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." Looked like they were both into the show of affection -- although Ryan wasn't the one with his ass in the air.

Firefighters ran into kind of a nightmare while rescuing a teenager from an elevator ... since she's the same girl who scared the crap out of people in the horror movie, "Orphan."

Isabelle Fuhrman was trapped Monday evening in an apartment building elevator ... and L.A. City Fire Department rushed to the rescue. When they got the doors open they came face-to-face with the actress who played creepy little Esther ... and her dog, Jennings.

Of course, she wasn't in costume and she's 19 now ... so none of the firefighters had to change their shorts. After the rescue, Isabelle tweeted, "When the fire department has to save you from your elevator ... thank you #LAFD."

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard ended Australia's "war on terrier" by striking a plea deal that required them to record an awesomely awkward video apology.

Depp's wife pled guilty to falsifying immigration docs when they brought their 2 dogs into Aussie land last year. She failed to declare them which violated the country's strict quarantine laws.

Johnny and Amber appeared in a Sydney court Monday morning to enter her plea and submit a videotaped apology. Prosecutors dropped other charges, including illegal importation -- she could've gotten 10 years in prison for that one.

The best part of the deal though is their apology. We won't say it looks like a hostage situation, but ... it looks like a hostage situation.

Cesar Millan's off the hook ... Animal Care and Control has wrapped its investigation and he will not be charged with animal cruelty for one of his trainee dogs attacking a pig.

The 'Dog Whisperer' reacted to the news, saying ... "Just like LA County Animal Control, my team and I are 100% dedicated to the proper care of all animals, including the farm pig in this case."

Sources told TMZ weeks ago, the D.A. would not charge Cesar. As we reported, he'd been under fire for the video that showed the dog bite a pig's ear during a training session.

The D.A.'s Office says it was "nothing more than an accident," the injury to the pig was minimal, and it was treated by a vet immediately. Bottom line: the whole matter was handled appropriately.