PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

“Should I get one rat, or two?”

That’s a question I hear asked very often, and, unlike most pet questions, it’s got an easy answer. Get two! Or, better yet, three, or as many rats as you have the time, space, and money to support! Rats are gregarious animals and need the company of their own kind in order to be happy. In fact, most good rat breeders require that babies be adopted in pairs.

In the wild, rats live in groups of hundreds. They are social animals that do not leave their colonies at adulthood, but simply expand their foraging radius and the size of their colony’s nesting area as the colony expands. Activities like play and social grooming help rats’ brains to develop. Studies have shown that social grooming is so important to rats that baby rats raised by a mother that does not lick and groom them grow up to be unfriendly and less intelligent than rats raised by a mother who is attentive.

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By Donna Newnham

Getting your cat neutered is a serious decision to make for both you, and your pet. The term neutering applies to both sexes of cat - castration in males, spaying in females. It can be done anytime after six months of age and involves the removal of the testicles in the male cat and usually tying the fallopian tubes in females, though vets may vary in their practice towards females. It involves a general anesthetic for either operation but on the whole the cat will recover quickly, though the operation and recovery time is longer in a female than a male. The female cat will usually have dissolvable stitches that will come out on their own, although you will have to keep a close eye on their wound for a while. Male cats normally do not need aftercare with the exception of the night after the anesthetic.

There are many good reasons for getting your cat neutered:

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The decision to spay your female dog is a very serious one, just like the decision to neuter your male dog. There are benefits and risks whichever option you pick.

Spaying is essentially performing a hysterectomy on your dog, removing the uterus and ovaries to prevent pregnancy and menstrual cycles. Female dogs have a ‘heat’ about every six months, during which time they’re fertile and eager to mate. Removing those sex organs eliminates the possibility of pregnancy. But it also causes her body to reduce the hormones that cause heats as well.

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Neutering a male puppy may be common practice, but it is still serious surgery and carries risks and benefits. Weighing them carefully will result in the best decision for you and your pet.

Neutering (spaying is the procedure for females) is a surgical procedure that removes the testicles. That act has a number of consequences.

Neutering, of course, removes the ability of the male to produce sperm making successful mating impossible. At the same time, however, it causes the body to reduce testosterone and other hormones that motivate mating behavior. Males don’t get aroused, and the standard behavior is lowered or eliminated altogether.

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Many people get a rabbit for a pet, thinking they can just put it in a cage. They take it out on the rare occasions they feel like it. But that isn’t very beneficial for the rabbit and provides the pet owner with more problems in the long run. Rabbits are not mechanical toys. They require care.

One area where owners will often short that care is in seeking the services of an experienced veterinarian, one with a knowledge of rabbits. Many vets are excellent with dogs and cats but have few opportunities to treat rabbits, so their skills are limited. Many owners will throw up their hands and simply let the rabbit die when it’s ill then get another. A regrettable situation.

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