Watching Food

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had given me his pet guinea pig. One thing to understand is this friend was probably eleven or twelve at the time. His mother would not let him have more than one pet at a time, and he wanted a snake.

Cookie was a good guinea pig and got along well with a rabbit I had. However, I must not have had her more than a month before, one day, she could not walk and, within a couple of hours, died. I could not easily explain this incident, though small animals seem to die rather suddenly, she was not old.

I was told later that my friend had fed Cookie an unusual foreign candy. I cannot precisely connect the untimely death of Cookie with this candy, but I do think it played a role; Along with not being able to walk, she also had extremely aromatic diarrhea, indicating the possibility of having eaten something less than healthy. I had been feeding her guinea pig food and timothy hay, both of which I have been praised for feeding my guinea pigs.

Pets, especially dogs and cats, can get into everything. Foods are not universally good for all creatures. I have heard of dogs eating pounds of chocolate and didn't get sick, but this is not always the case. Keep an eye on people food.

Exotics

I was talking to a veterinarian a while ago, and she mentioned the many cases of interesting animals coming in and not being cared for properly. It's usually the ignorance of the owner of how to take care of them. Very cool pets, such as chameleons and sugar gliders, actually have a little higher maintenance than many other pets.

Chameleons need lots of heat lamps in their cages. They need places to climb. They have a specific diet. Just one sugar glider needs plenty of space to roam. They need branches and climbing trees, and also have a very specific diet.

For any potential pet, please research their needs. The vet I talked to said that anyone who came in with a chameleon usually had it for a year before it died. This is an all too common trend.

Even worse is the fact that pets are taken from the wild, their natural habitat. So often are they dumped in pet stores, and then taken in and not cared for properly.

Always do your homework. Sometimes you might find certain pets to be just too much work.