It's time the Academy recognized what the rest of us already know: some of the best performers on screen have four legs.

The Academy Awards are dedicated to honoring the very best performances on screen. And yet, year after year, some of the most memorable performances go unrecognized. There isn't even a category for them.

While the Academy honors dramatic transformations and painstaking method acting, it continues to overlook performers who conveyed fear, loyalty, grief, and love without speaking a single word.

We're talking about our four-legged friends.

Who can forget Messi, a Border Collie who delivered one of the most emotionally devastating performances in recent memory in Anatomy of a Fall — a film that won the Palme d'Or. His co-star got a nomination. He got a pat on the head.

This year, Bing, a Great Dane from Iowa with zero acting experience, carried The Friend on his enormous, beautiful back and was declared a "breakout star" by the New York Times. Tonic, a Siberian Forest cat, spent months training to limp on command and ride the NYC subway for Caught Stealing. Toad held his own alongside Paul Mescal in Best Picture nominee Hamnet. Maggie the Rottweiler stole scenes in Pillion. And Brisket, Glen Powell's own dog, proved that star quality runs in the family with a scene-stealing cameo in The Running Man.

None of them are eligible for an Oscar. Not a single one.

Animal performances have been celebrated on the awards circuit for years — Cannes has the Palm Dog, the British Film Institute has the Fido Awards, now in their 20th year. It's time Hollywood's biggest night joined them.

The Academy has expanded its categories before. It's time for another: Best Animal Performance.

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