Focus is always on dogs and cats in the pet world, but what about those of us who can't own a larger animal? Don't overlook the benefits of small pets-they can be good pets just like any other animal, and are often easier to take care of. There is a large variety to choose from so it's hard to pick just one, that's why we broke it down for you so you can decide which pet is right for you!
• Rabbits: These furry animals are social and friendly, and adapt very well to human companionship. They actually have longer life spans compared to other pets-in fact, some rabbits live to be 7-10 years old! Rabbits are kid friendly-but a downfall is that you need lots of room indoors for them. They also need to be socialized just like a dog, so if you're very busy and don't have time for that, rabbits probably aren't right for you.
• Birds: Pet birds have been known to reduce depression in owners because of the color and charming, calming sounds they bring to the home. They are one of the cleanest animals and only need to take up a small area in your home. Several birds have been selectively bred for human ownership and adapt well to domestic life, including finches, cockatiels, canaries, parakeets, and lovebirds. Some downfalls are that some birds, such as parrots, are better off in the wild and can be loud and destructive. When deciding to purchase a bird, you must consider getting two because most birds are flock animals and need a friend to keep them company.
• Hamsters: These small animals are cuddly, friendly, and inquisitive. They do not require a large amount of attention, so they're great for people with busy lifestyles. A downfall is that they are nocturnal, so if you're planning on keeping one in your bedroom you may want to reconsider so you can sleep. They can also bite and carry diseases like salmonella, so you should handle them carefully and wash your hands after touching them. Hamsters also have very short lifespans-if you have small children in the household, be prepared to explain death after 2.5-3 years.
• Ferrets: These are very fun and engaging small pets with playful attitudes. They have long life spans and become very cuddly as they age. You must keep a close eye on them when they are out of their cage, and you should not keep one in its cage for a long period of time. Ferrets can get pretty smelly and it takes time to keep them clean. But if you have the time and energy, ferrets are probably perfect for you!
• Guinea Pigs: These pets have a lifespan of 5 to 7 years and are very sweet and social. They require grooming and do better when they have another guinea pig for companionship. Like hamsters, they can carry salmonella and other diseases so it's important to wash your hands after handling one.
• Chinchillas: These small pets also have a longer lifespan of 5 to 10 years and are quite adorable. They tend to be solitary so there's no need for a companion. Chinchillas are usually clean and odorless and friendly to humans. A downfall is that they require dust baths at least once a week and should be handled very carefully because they are easily startled. They can get to be large and hard to handle.
There are so many small pets to choose from-hopefully you are able to determine which small animal is right for you!
One can’t just take his eyes off hamster pups, as these tiny cute little creatures will sure have your attention. Baby hamster are born without any fur and are closely attached to their mother. Though you may have the desire to hold them, bare in mind that there is nothing you can do within two weeks period after delivery.
Female syrian with her two babies, which are less than one week old. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
REMEMBER NOT TO TOUCH THE BABIES!! Your action might harm the babies and change its scent thus confuses the mother. She will think that they are not hers, abandon them and worst she might even eat the babies (it did happened to my hamsters). Not to cause any stress to the mother, avoid cleaning up the cage within this period. It is advisable to place the babies at the bottom of the cage as none of them had opened their eyes yet.
After this two weeks ‘vital’ period, you can hold them but only for a brief period as not to disturb or stress the mom or babies. You can also clean up the cage and place fresh beddings in most of it. Remove just the soiled parts in the nest area and put a good portion of the old bedding in it. Put the babies back in the nest after it is cleaned up followed by the mother.
Once the babies eyes are opened (which should occur on the 11-12 days, but some take less/more), they should figure out how the bottle works. In order for them to reach it easily, put it lower and in an area where they frequently go. If they haven’t figured out how to use the bottle and you are worried about them not drinking enough, you can give them pieces of cucumbers to prevent dehydration. Do not put water in a bowl to prevent them from falling in and drown or catch a cold.
At three weeks, you can separate the babies if you observe any fighting among them but if they seem immature, less developed and not quite independent enough to leave mom just yet, let them stay together until they are four weeks old. When they reach five weeks old, independent and have a healthy development, they can be placed in new homes and play in new surroundings and environment.
A small caviomorph rodent native to Chile is the Degu. The caviomorphs are characterized by their large heads, plump bodies, slender legs and short tails. They are also distinguished by the formation of their jaws and massafer muscles. The degu is sometimes also called the glitter-tailed rat though it is not related to the rat family.
A single degu ( Octodon degus ) eating a piece of dried banana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The rodents are highly social creatures living in burrows. They dig together communally to make larger and more elaborate burrows than what they could do individually also. There are chains formed by degus digging together and coordinating their activities. The social behavior is also observed in case of the females who live in the same group who not only nest communally but also nurse the young of each other.
Caring for Degus Kept as Pets
The degus can indeed become very tame if handled from an early age. It is best however that they be kept with other degus as they are social animals. These are playful creatures and are active during the daytime i.e. they are diurnal.
If encaged, the degus need a large cage. A couple of degus ought to be kept in a cage that has the minimum length, breadth and height of 24 inches, 18 inches and 24 inches respectively. The larger the cage the better it is. The cage should be made of wire so that the degus who are avid chewers cannot chew and damage the cage. However, the floor should not be made of wire and should be solid and shelves and ledges should also be made of solid material. This will ensure that the degus do not have foot problems.
It is important that a solid surface exercise wheel is introduced in the cage of the degus. There can be thick branches placed in the cage helping the degus climb on to them and chew them for fun and exercise. There can also be placed thick cotton ropes for climbing purposes. Within the cage the use of ceramic dishes that are chew proof and a water bottle with sipper tube with chew guard is required. Since degus love to chew very much some chew toys can also be placed in the cages.
The degus need regular dust baths to keep their skin and coat in good condition. So, a shallow bowl is to be placed in their cage with an inch or two of sand a couple of times per week and left for around half an hour for the degus to enjoy sand bathing.
To feed the degus high quality of chinchilla or guinea pig pellets can be given together with rodent blocks. Grass hay like timothy hay should be made available for munching of the degus all the time. A little of alfalfa hay can also be provided. Small hay racks to keep the hay stocked can be arranged for in the cage. Fresh vegetables may also be given to the degus preferably in small quantities because otherwise they may be causing diarrhea. The vegetables which are members of the cabbage family should be fed in very small quantities if not avoided altogether. The water in the bottles placed should be changed on a regular basis.
At our Practice we see a large number of small mammals with symptoms of dental disease both as first opinion cases and as referrals from other practices. This article deals specifically with dental disease in Chinchillas (Chinchilla Langier). Degus (Octodon degus) and Guinea Pigs (Cavia porcellus).
The most common presentations include weight loss, anorexia, cachexia (chronic wasting), excess salivation (slobbers), small faeces or absence of faeces. An ocular (eye) discharge or a discharge from the nose may also be evident. The incisions (front teeth) are commonly overgrown and there may be a history of repeated burring or clipping of these teeth as an attempted treatment for the anorexia. On careful palpation the jaw of these presenting animals may be irregular and painful. Sometimes the animal will grind its teeth, a sign of pain in these species. There is often a poor dietary history which will be addressed later.
One of the most important points to stress is that a detailed oral examination of a conscious small mammal is nigh on impossible. This is especially true of the species dealt with in this article. Guinea pigs often have food in their mouths at the time of examination (in fact if they don't it is a worrying sign), chins and degus resent oral examination vigorously. Anaesthesia is often required to thoroughly examine the oral cavity and this allows the clinician to perform skull radiography, arguably the most informative diagnostic tool in small mammal dentistry. This is because most dental disease processes in exotic small mammals are concerned with the tooth "roots" which are encased in bone and therefore not visible on a dental examination. In fact, many animals with severe dental disease have mouths that look essentially normal on casual examination of the anaesthetised patient.
Dental Anatomy
Guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus have the dental formula of 2 x I 1/1 C 0/0
P 1/1 M 3/3 (where I = incisors, C = canines, P = premolars and M = molars). The premolars and molars act as a functional unit to grind food and the incisors are used for prehension and cutting of fibrous foodstuffs. All teeth grow continuously. There is no true anatomical root. The lower (mandibular) cheek teeth are arched toward the tongue and overgrowth can lead to tongue entrapment. The upper (maxillary) cheek teeth are angled outward (laterally). Angulation of the teeth provides an effective surface for grinding thin fibrous food material and when eating this high silicate foodstuff, rapid tooth wear occurs and new growing tooth replaces the wear caused by grinding. In the wild these animals spend a long time eating low quality grasses which are high in silicates (the precursors of glass). This continual grinding prevents overgrowth of the teeth.
Diet and dental disease
Captive bred specimens are larger than their wild counterparts and it is established that a proportion of cases of dental disease can be attributed to genetic causes. However, by far the most cases of dental disease in Guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus results wholly or in large part from inappropriate diets. Specifically a lack of dietary fibre is implicated. Most modern "complete" diets are complete in that they contain adequate protein, carbohydrates, fats and trace elements. However, their sole use leads not only to problems with obesity but also does not allow these animals to spend the large amount of time chewing and wearing their molar teeth that they require to grind down their continually growing back teeth. This can lead to spur formation and entrapment of the tongue by the diagonally growing lower molars. This can be picked up and treated by a detailed examination of the mouth. All the time however, a more sinister development is occurring which is all together more difficult to treat.
If less time is spent chewing, the exposed parts of the teeth elongate. This puts pressure on the teeth which slows eruption, but tooth growth continues at a slow rate. Essentially what happens next is that the cheek teeth grow backwards, invading the structures of the skull. The teeth can grow into the nasal sinuses causing respiratory infections or towards the eyes causing weepiness. The lower teeth invade the jawbone causing bony changes and sometimes abscess formation (common in rabbits). The net result of this growth is that the mouth is progressively forced open. The front teeth elongate as they do not meet any more and becomes progressively more difficult for these animals to eat (try swallowing with your mouth open!). This leads to the condition known as slobbers where saliva spills onto the skin often causing a fetid smell. Clients often notice this and the fact that the incisors are growing and present these animals for incisor trimming. In fact the incisors are growing because they are not meeting as a result of the mouth being forced open by the overgrown back teeth. Skull radiography is the only way to accurately quantify if this has occurred and to what extent. All too often, animals are referred to this practice with histories of repeated anaesthetics with no radiography performed.
Treatment
To sum up, difficult at best. Most presented cases have advanced disease. Aggressive burring of the cheek teeth may be attempted. If abscesses have formed, these need specific treatment. Eye infections require antibiotics. Otherwise force-feeding and anti-inflammatory drugs are required. Quality of life needs to be assessed on a regular basis and weight monitoring with faecal output are useful indicators of appetite. The liquid anti-inflammatory drug meloxicam (Metacam: Boehringer Ingleheim) is well tolerated in these species. It has the advantage of being very palatable (it tastes like honey) so is well accepted also. Often patients require life long treatment. Secondary problems associated with anorexia (e.g. intestinal stasis where the guts shut down and stops moving) also need to be addressed. Often euthanasia is required in patients that fail to respond.
Prevention
As always, better than cure. The diet of these animals needs to resemble their diet in the wild. They are not like dogs and cats that get a bowl of food twice daily and that's it. Their anatomy and physiology is specifically set up to deal with ingestion of large quantities of lower quality foodstuffs in order to meet their nutritional requirements. This means lots of good quality hay. Timothy hay is usually the beat. The fibre requires lots of chewing and keeps the intestines moving which is essential for health. 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls maximum of concentrate mix is the recommended daily allowance; the rest should be good quality hay with occasional treats. Offer the hay in a hayrack to prevent contamination with faeces. This also provides environmental enrichment, as the animals have to work a little harder for their food. Twice yearly veterinary checkups allow careful palpation of the cheek teeth. Also monitor weight and faecal output on a regular basis so that any symptoms can be managed early in the course of disease.
References
BSAVA Manual of Exotic Pets 4th edition
Hillyer, Quesenberry: Diseases of Ferrets, Rabbits and Rodents 2nd edition
O Malley: Clinical Anatomy and Physiology of Exotic Species
Carpenter: Exotic Animal Formulary 3rd edition
By Mark Rowland Mark Rowland BVSc cert Zoomed MRCVS is in practice at: Sandhole Veterinary Centre, Snodland, Kent, ME6 5LG. He is an Exotics specialist with a soft spot for chinchillas.
What You Need to Know About Taking Care of Small Mammals
Have you been thinking of bringing a new pet into your family? If you have, do you realize that it does not have to be something big like a dog? You can also have the option of going with a smaller mammal. A few examples would be a gerbil or a hamster or maybe even a rabbit or a rat.
One common reason people choose smaller mammals as a pet is if they are restricted with the amount of space they have for a pet. A prime example would be something living in a small apartment in the inner city. Chances are that there would not be enough room in the apartment for a dog to be comfortable and have room to play.
On top of that, it can be a real hassle walking a dog up and down stairs to take them outside and some dogs will require training to be able to walk in the city without problems. Training can be costly and the entire experience of having a dog in a small apartment can be full of hassles so in this situation it is probably better to go with a smaller pet.
If your children have been begging you for a pet you might want to start out with a smaller animal. Fish can be boring and children can lose their interest and forget about them in no time. At the same time, a dog can be way too much responsibility for a child, especially if they are young and it is there first pet. The perfect option for a child as their first pet would be an animal such as a hamster or gerbil.
