Are you a Cat, Dog or Unconventional pet person?
Are you a cat or a dog person? What if there was a third option – something obscure like “Are you a cat, dog or Axolotl person?’. We’re not talking pet tigers or elephants, but realistic animals that are quietly growing on the most common pets list. We’re talking about some of the more common, uncommon or unconventional animals that people keep as pets. Following cats and dogs, the most common animals kept as household pets are unsurprisingly birds and fish, but we all know someone with one of these. Do you know anyone with a pet Hedgehog?
Hedgehogs are quietly climbing the list of unconventional pets. While they have a bad reputation for being pests in many countries, one may look at housing a hedgehog as a pet as a way to decrease the numbers of pests in our native bush land. Just be careful that they are not illegal in your state or country. When it’s appropriate to make a homely hedgehog friend, these animals are capable of learning new behaviours through conditioning and will even purr like a cat when they feel happy and contented. Also, their quills (spikes) are not actually painful to the touch unless the animal feels threatened. However, one important thing to be aware of with pet hedgehogs is the diseases that they carry and may pass on to humans and their pets; these include tuberculosis, rabies and salmonella.
Also growing in popularity, even among celebrities are pet pigs. Of course pigs can be found on many farms, but some people like to have them trotting around their homes instead like a funny looking, extraordinarily hungry puppy. They’re actually not all that different from dogs, just much less common to find around one of your friends’ houses munching on a chew toy.
Although pigs can also carry diseases, many veterinarians can treat your pet pig as they would any other animal. And since pigs are considered the fifth most intelligent animals in the world, we think they make cute little clever buddies. Some studies even show that pigs are more capable of playing video games than our near relatives – chimpanzees! As well as this, pigs are known to have a strong object-location memory which means if you’re forgetful like me, a little pig friend may be able to help you to find your lost remote or glasses.
On the other hand, I definitely wouldn’t like it if this animal found and brought my remote to me… but I’m intrigued as to why people like to keep giant snails as pets. These animals are illegal to house as pets in many countries because they are known as pests and also carry diseases that can cause meningitis in humans and other animals. Upon much research, I found that the most common reasons people like to keep snails as pets are ‘their cute faces and inquisitive eyes’ despite studies telling us that snails have terrible eyesight. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be adding giant snails to my list of dream pets… I will settle for the ones that eat away at my garden.
Other obscure pets that are growing in popularity are Axelotls, also known as mexican walking fish; turtles; snakes; goats and amphibians such as toads or frogs. Owning unconventional pets means there is often more to consider than owning more common pets. Some things to consider are: What sort of environment do they thrive in and whether you can replicate that at home; what diseases they may carry; legality of owning that animal as a pet and also, whether there are veterinarians near you that are able to treat that kind of animal.
As someone who once made an eel a pet, my interest is definitely piqued by some of these potential friends. I wouldn’t mind petting a sweet little hedgehog until it purred, although somehow I think my cat wouldn’t like this very much. My next obscure pets may be something more like worms, where we share a mutually beneficial relationship – they get to thrive in the soil I provide and they also take care of my food scraps! Happy petting, whatever that pet may be!