I’ll take the risk of sounding like Willard here, but rats make delightfully playful and affectionate pets.
It sounds counter intuitive but once your rats(need to have at least two) bond to you they treat you like a giant one of them. They’ll groom you for hours, and you can play chase with them with your hands like you would with a kitten(without the scratches!) They’re like a cat and dog together in a much smaller animal. One of mine played fetch.
I just wish they lived longer and weren’t so prone to cancer. Maybe one day science can fix that.
Only 4 or 5 years, right? I don’t think I could handle loving a pet who’s lifespan was that short. But I do know people who have pet rats and they really love them. Doesn’t really surprise me, guinea pigs are similar. And you need to have at least two of them as well.
Some dog breeds are trending that way, especially large breeds, anecdotally I know of a bunch of Bernese Mountain Dogs that were 4-5 years due to cancer (which isn’t uncommon), 7-8 is the normal expectancy for them afaik.
I’ve got two brothers we got as kittens, they’re 4 next year, we bond really strongly with animals.
Absolutely agree on that, our cats are rescues and we’d do the same for any dog.
had a Shepard/retriever mutt growing up, by far the longest lived dog I had, her brother was the longest lived of the litter (and the neighbour’s) at like 16. Have family that show for fun, only do it if the dogs enjoy it, I don’t like the way some people talk about their dogs, definitely not a fan of breeding practices in general.
Yeah, unfortunately they don’t live very long. I actually don’t keep them anymore because it felt like I was setting myself up for heartbreak after awhile.
I’m happy for the experience though! And that doesn’t surprise me about guinea pigs. A lot if people underestimate the intelligence and needs of small pets.
I’ll take the risk of sounding like Willard here, but rats make delightfully playful and affectionate pets.
It sounds counter intuitive but once your rats(need to have at least two) bond to you they treat you like a giant one of them. They’ll groom you for hours, and you can play chase with them with your hands like you would with a kitten(without the scratches!) They’re like a cat and dog together in a much smaller animal. One of mine played fetch.
I just wish they lived longer and weren’t so prone to cancer. Maybe one day science can fix that.
Only 4 or 5 years, right? I don’t think I could handle loving a pet who’s lifespan was that short. But I do know people who have pet rats and they really love them. Doesn’t really surprise me, guinea pigs are similar. And you need to have at least two of them as well.
Some dog breeds are trending that way, especially large breeds, anecdotally I know of a bunch of Bernese Mountain Dogs that were 4-5 years due to cancer (which isn’t uncommon), 7-8 is the normal expectancy for them afaik.
I’ve got two brothers we got as kittens, they’re 4 next year, we bond really strongly with animals.
I would never get a purebred dog and that is yet another reason. I have had two mutts live to 14 and another one is 10 now.
Get a mutt and rescue them from a shelter or rescuer. I have not regretted it even if they are little shits. Even the big ones are little shits.
Absolutely agree on that, our cats are rescues and we’d do the same for any dog.
had a Shepard/retriever mutt growing up, by far the longest lived dog I had, her brother was the longest lived of the litter (and the neighbour’s) at like 16. Have family that show for fun, only do it if the dogs enjoy it, I don’t like the way some people talk about their dogs, definitely not a fan of breeding practices in general.
Yeah, unfortunately they don’t live very long. I actually don’t keep them anymore because it felt like I was setting myself up for heartbreak after awhile.
I’m happy for the experience though! And that doesn’t surprise me about guinea pigs. A lot if people underestimate the intelligence and needs of small pets.