Unusual Pets
Our current menagerie of two dogs and a cat is pretty run of the mill, so Eddie occasionally tries to spice up our animal collection. Before we were married he had previously owned a ferret, some African frogs that only live underwater (and that committed suicide on my watch by jumping out of their tank), and a rabbit. I was happy not to have inherited any of these pets as part of our cohabitation.
When we went out West for our honeymoon we fell in love with prairie dogs and learned that they can easily be domesticated and they make "great pets." Needless to say, Eddie was convinced that we had to get one. While they are cute, I wasn't too happy with their rodent-like qualities. I looked up lots of information online about prairie dogs as pets and most of the news was positive. They apparently bond well with humans and are relatively clean animals. The downside is that they need lots of attention and they can actually die if they don't get enough. Given that I was still working on my dissertation and Eddie was on the road a lot, that pretty much killed the prairie dog discussions. I couldn't stand that level of guilt.
This weekend Eddie came up with his next pet idea -- a pot-bellied pig. Again, I wasn't thrilled, but I attempted to be open-minded. We even tried to come up with cute names for the pig, settling on Arnold since Eddie often likens us to Oliver and Lisa Douglas of Green Acres. Needless to say, I went back on the internet to check out the pig-as-pet alternatives. Bad news there as well. Although they can be easily trained and they also bond well with humans, pigs have a tendency to be aggressive with other animals (and possibly children). They typically weigh about 125 lbs., and quite frankly the 125-lb. Rottie is more than I can handle. They also need to dig in dirt and roll in mud -- more for me to clean up, so no thanks. So now I've nixed the pig idea. I'm sure this won't deter Eddie for long.
When we went out West for our honeymoon we fell in love with prairie dogs and learned that they can easily be domesticated and they make "great pets." Needless to say, Eddie was convinced that we had to get one. While they are cute, I wasn't too happy with their rodent-like qualities. I looked up lots of information online about prairie dogs as pets and most of the news was positive. They apparently bond well with humans and are relatively clean animals. The downside is that they need lots of attention and they can actually die if they don't get enough. Given that I was still working on my dissertation and Eddie was on the road a lot, that pretty much killed the prairie dog discussions. I couldn't stand that level of guilt.
This weekend Eddie came up with his next pet idea -- a pot-bellied pig. Again, I wasn't thrilled, but I attempted to be open-minded. We even tried to come up with cute names for the pig, settling on Arnold since Eddie often likens us to Oliver and Lisa Douglas of Green Acres. Needless to say, I went back on the internet to check out the pig-as-pet alternatives. Bad news there as well. Although they can be easily trained and they also bond well with humans, pigs have a tendency to be aggressive with other animals (and possibly children). They typically weigh about 125 lbs., and quite frankly the 125-lb. Rottie is more than I can handle. They also need to dig in dirt and roll in mud -- more for me to clean up, so no thanks. So now I've nixed the pig idea. I'm sure this won't deter Eddie for long.
posted by Janet | 9:24 PM
4 Comments:
Prairie DOg...Prairie DOG. It's not too late
I vote for prairie dog as well - maybe you need 3 so they can hove their own "pack" and you won't have to worry about not giving them enough love and attention... we have a praire dog, groundhog, beaver obsession here in our cube world at work and have printed out varies prairie dogs and have propped them up over the cubbie walls looking at everybody.... yea - graphic designers with too much time on our hands....
Did you say three?!?!!? Good grief! That stresses me out more than the possibility that I may kill one out of neglect!
I have a feeling prairie dogs are going to pop up as an option again soon since we're both home more often now than ever. I just think there should be "pets per person" or "pets per couple" rules and I think our limit is three animals total. I'm already concerned that the ones we have don't get all the attention they need (or certainly that they want).
Maybe you need a helper monkey?
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