Help for Choosing a New Pet
Monday, August 17th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
How do I go about choosing a new pet for the family? What is the ideal pet for the household? Good start by collecting information. This is crucial as a pet is for life, so be 100% sure, otherwise do not have one.
However there is such a large choice of potential pets to pick from, all of them can be engrossing, but have different advantages and disadvantages. You can choose from a dog, cat, gerbil, guinea pig, fish, spider, snake and the list is never ending.
You need to involve all and sundry in the assessment, it needs to be a complete family decision. Due to its significance I propose you discuss and write down your aim for desiring a pet. Add to it on a large sheet of paper, with a column for the pet, some columns to rank each pet. The considerations for a pet include, time (yours), cost (pets are pricey), pet care, space requirement, ability to fuss, interest, collective activity, any phobias, other points.
Pets take time, some need more than others. High maintenance animals are those that require regular exercise such as dogs and horses. Dogs originated from wolves and still have many of those characters. They are used to regularly covering large areas every day to search for food, so most breeds have need of a minimum an hour or two a day walking. This needs to be part of a regular schedule and done everyday. Others may need a lot of grooming, changing water etc. A cat sitter often spends a lot of their visit to grooming long haired cats, though the cat sitter and cat enjoy it. You may want a certain animal, but do you have the time for him? Be honest with yourself and the potential pet.
Expenditure, think of expense. There is the potential cost of the pet to start with, which for a pedigree pet can be expensive. I would like everyone to consider taking a salvage pet, there are more and more of these at the moment as people are unfortunately abandoning them to the pet charities – is this an opportunity for you to help out? The other starting costs include cages, leads, grooming aids, blankets / beds. Then there are the weekly pet costs, food, which for a large animal can be substantial. I strongly urge you to have your pet sterilized, many pet experts and studies have indicated that you will have less behavioural issues with a neutered animal. There are routine vet expenditure such as vaccinations, however some are impossible to plan for. Because of this I strongly propose you to take out pet insurance, so you can cope with any unexpected accidents that may occur. There are routine costs for flea treatment etc. These costs mount up.
Is your house large enough for the pet? Some animals can be exciting, but you may not be able to fuss them, what is the most important for you? No pet has it all. Can you pick up the animal? Rats are remarkably interesting, but a few people do not like the scaly tail, or the idea of one.
You may want to review the summary table, do you have the time for walking the dog during the week due to work pressures, but this may pay for a regular dog walker. Not enough space for the horse, use stables, but watch the cost.
So finally you have chosen a type of pet, there are lots of different types and breeds to decide on, looking at hamsters there are five basic types, with very diverse features. There is also the choice of numbers, some animals are better off alone, others as a pair because they need the company. Then there is what sex, some animals have very different behaviour between the male and female. Male rats are lazier than females and urinate more.
After all of these decisions, I would propose you to organise a pet test drive. Find someone with a similar pet, that you can look after for a few days, or even be a pet sitter for them for a couple of weeks during the holidays. Talk to the owner about the costs, the effort that is required, and do not forget the pleasure that the pet gives. An alternative is to do some pet charity work.
Pet breeders are very knowledgeable, so visit and discuss with them.
I hope this helps, go and enjoy a new pet.
