PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

Halloween’s coming, and that means pet owners should be thinking about their pets’ safety as well as holiday fun. Treats like chocolate and caramel can be harmful or even fatal to some types of pets. In addition, excitement and activities surrounding Halloween may frighten pets or place them in harm’s way. For a safe and fun Halloween with your pets, follow these simple suggestions.

Keep Pets Safe from Candy

Put all Halloween candy on a high shelf that pets can’t access until it’s time to start handing out sweets to trick-or-treaters. When it’s time to give out candy at the door, put dogs in their crates or a safe room, and shut cats in a safe room with food and water. Caged pets should remain securely caged. This will ensure that the pets don’t snatch a treat while you’re not looking. It’ll also prevent them from dashing out the door or frightening a child.

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Every pet owner should maintain a good working relationship with a veterinarian. Owners of multiple types of pets, particularly exotic or unusual pets, may need several veterinarians. However, sometimes the decision to take a pet, particularly a small mammal, to the vet for an illness or injury is a difficult one. Small pets are particularly sensitive to stress. Some are also susceptible to airborne viruses. For both these reasons, it’s best to avoid unnecessary stress.

While I am not a vet and a consultation with a veterinarian is always the best choice if you are uncertain or think your pet may be in need of treatment, here is some basic information on symptoms and injuries and their severity. More →

If you’ve decided to add a small mammal like a rabbit, rat, or hamster to your family, the next step is to choose between adopting a rescued or rehomed pet, or purchasing from a reputable, responsible breeder.

You’ll notice that I haven’t listed purchasing from a pet store as an option. That’s entirely intentional, for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to the following three: More →

Many people seeking a new pet bypass the adoption option for one reason or another. While there are certainly some situations in which purchasing from a reputable, responsible breeder is ideal, consider this list of five myths about pet adoption before bypassing rescue to look for a breeder.

1. Shelter dogs are all mutts.

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By Gary Speer

Unusual or exotic pets carry responsibilities for care and keeping than your run-of-the-mill family cat or dog. But don’t worry, if you’d prefer a snake or turtle, tiger or crocodile, or simply a perky gerbil or hamster, it certainly can be a good choice for you. You just need to plan ahead, and you must start that planning before you shop for your dream tiger or ferret — and the more unusual or exotic the pet, the more important it becomes to do your planning or pet homework. Here are 5 basics to consider before buying that unusual, uncommon, or exotic pet:

1. Check local/state/federal laws and regulations for pet ownership. If you plan on getting a gerbil, a hamster, or exotic fish, chances are that local laws won’t matter, and your biggest issue will be related to pet care and keeping the peace in your home/family. But if you’ve always wanted a pet tiger and now have lots of land and adequate facilities, you really need to be sure you are allowed to keep tigers in your neighborhood. A simpler but unusual pet you might want would be a rabbit or even a chicken. (Don’t laugh — where do you think all those Easter chicks go?) A rabbit or two in the backyard, or a carefully guarded chicken may not seem to be an issue. If your town or city has laws against keeping livestock on your property, your unusual pet becomes a pet legality issue.

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By CS Swarens

Recent years have seen an increasing trend regarding the popularity of exotic pets online. Since most people are not free to travel the world in search of the perfect exotic pet, it will be beneficial for you to learn just how to find exotic pets on the internet. Fortunately, finding exotic pets online is not nearly as difficult as some people would make it out to be. However, it is not quite so simple as performing a Google search for “exotic pets online” either.

Unlike common domestic animals, there are often a great number of restrictions regarding the importing, sales and even in some instances, the ability to own exotic pets. Some animals that were previously considered to be exotic are not quite so mysterious, exotic or anything other than just another animal anymore.

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By Tonia Jordan

Often people look for a pet that is out of the ordinary. Sometimes a normal cat or dog just won’t do! Though, it is always wise to know what you’re getting into. Here, then, are the top five non-traditional pets:

5. Scorpions

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By Lance Winslow

Exotic Pets are great but they can cause severe problems to eco-systems if not kept in check. This is because introducing an exotic pet into the wild near your home could cause it to eat everything in site with no predators and with an abundance of food and no enemies it will start reproducing rapidly.

There are numerous examples of such from snakes and lizards to ferrets and large animals of prey. Why even the New York Sewer System is said to have alligators down there that prey on lost pets and perhaps homeless people, who knows. Urban legends, oh sure some are but there have been many captures by city workers and animal control professionals.

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By Jessi Clark-White

We all know how special interest groups can blow things out of proportion – like the nonexistent “Exotic Pet Crisis.” If you listened to some animal rights groups, you’d think keeping exotic pets is cruel, dangerous, and even bordering on treason! Before you buy that agenda, consider that a junior high student once made a convincing case for banning dihydrogen monoxide: colorless, odorless, and tasteless, it kills thousands of people every year.

Most deaths are caused by inhalation, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Dihydrogen monoxide is also known as hydroxl acid, is the major component of acid rain, may cause severe burns, contributes to land erosion, may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes, and has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

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