The children liked animals, and their menagerie included dogs, cats, birds, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, a Shetland pony and a parrot. The children once used their animals to conduct a circus on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion. Hogg charged each visitor five cents, but was forced to return the money when her father discovered the scheme. In later years, the family added a bear, a horse, a fawn, cockatoos, and two ostriches named Jack and Jill to their collection of animals. In response to a challenge from her brothers, Hogg once mounted one of the ostriches, but was thrown from its back after one of the boys hit it with a slingshot. Ima and her ostriches later became the protagonists of a picture book, "Ima & the Great Texas Ostrich Race", by Margaret Olivia McManis and Bruce Dupree.