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What is the best type of pet to have as a buddy?
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this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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Asklemmy
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Cats and dogs are surprisingly some of the least labor intensive pets. Things like rabbits, reptiles, birds, etc are all effectively exotic pets. Not all veterinaries can or will treat them. They have highly specialized diets, and social structures. They tend to have pens or cages that need regular deep cleaning. So on and so forth.
There’s also a personal preference at play. Personally, I’m a cat person. Dogs are adorable, when they are someone else’s.
Obviously, if you’re allergic to dogs/cats, that probably rules them out (I’m allergic to cats and have 2 but my allergy is relatively mild).
Based on the 4 sentences you provided a fish might be your best bet.
The other thing with rabbits (and prey animals in general) is they don’t always form a good bond with a human; it can take a long time if they are fussy. Even if they do take to liking you, prey animals tend to only show subtle signs of illness until they are critically unwell by which point it might be too late. That’s before we get to whether there’s a vet nearby who has a special interest in “exotic pets” and who knows how to help.
Edit to add: the signs of illness are subtle because they actively hide it - key to survival is to avoid looking like easy prey.
Agreed.
Iirc their diets are highly specialized too. It’s not what everyone thinks. You can just give them lettuce and the occasional fruit.
I’d say most animals mask their illness/injuries well, unfortunately. Pet owners really need to know their pet well and see the very subtle changes most of the time.
The main reason I'm not interested in practicing on exotics, even though I love them, is because they hide their illnesses so well. It feels like by the they're sick enough for an owner to notice and bring them in, 9/10 the prognosis is so grave they're euthanized on presentation or die a few days later.
I think it depends. I have three snakes, and I feel that combined they're less work than a single cat or dog. They're all in bioactive enclosures with an automatic misting system, so other than changing out the water, care just involves feeding them once a week to once every other week, reading the temps and humidity whenever I walk into the room, and occasionally handling the to inspect for potential issues