3:15pm
Rats? No. Chinchilla? Maybe.
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After thinking about and researching rats for a month, I decided against owning a pair. While they sound like unbelievably fun pets, there were a couple of things that kept me from adopting them. First, they are prone to diseases, such as cancer and a condition called myco, which most rats have and which can become bad if they’re stressed. Owning rabbits who have a condition called pasteurella and a rescue cat that may have feline herpes has made me very wary of animals that have innate diseases that may manifest when sick. It’s sad that so many animals have these diseases latent in their bodies. Shelter cats often have feline herpes, most rabbits have pasteurella, and most rats have myco.
Now I’m looking into chinchillas, and trying to find accurate information about them online. Because they aren’t as common, it appears websites about them are incredibly contradictory. Some sites say for them to be on wire floors; some not. Some say to feed them fruits and vegetables; some not. Perhaps the most surprising thing was discovering a website that claimed to be expert saying to never let them out of their cages! And the chinchilla books that have been published recently have all received very poor ratings by reviewers on book websites.
In the meantime, I’ve found a local reputable breeder and am looking forward to starting on another journey of research, research, research! With the Internet around, there's no excuse for any of us to be uninformed when we adopt a new pet.
