Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Best 1st time Pet (DS7)?

May not be a question that should be posted here but you all have given me such great advice on every other question I've asked I thought I'd seek your opinion on this one as well

My DS7 has started asking for a pet and I'm wanting to know what you feel is the best (ie: easiest) pet to start a child out with?

Info: looking for something other than a fish; dog is out, wife doesn't like them; cat is out, sister-in-law is allergic to them; snake and tarantulas are definitely out; and pet rock not exciting enough.

Thanks for any and all advice.

TripleB

Personally I find cats to be the least amount of work, followed by fish. If those are out you are looking at something that needs it's cage cleaned frequently.

Rodents actually require a lot of work and smell very bad if it's put off. Out of all of the rodents I kept, mice were my favorite. They were easier to take care of and they were not great at escaping. I recommend keeping any rodents in a glass aquarium (the "long" ones, not the regular "high" shape) with a metal mesh lid that clicks on well. Hamsters especially will get out of any plastic cages designed for them.

Depending on the work you are willing to put in and the amount of interaction you will want with the pet, rabbits and ferrets are good pets that can be litter trained and that can be out and about in the house, but only supervised unless you want some very unpleasant surprises.

One of the easier non-mammalian critters I ever had was aquatic frogs of some sort. They required about the same amount of maintenance as fish. I kept them in an aquarium with a low level of water and some aquatic plants and rocks and stuff. I honestly don't even know what they were.

Some lizards can be easy enough, but getting started can be expensive. Anoles are cute and probably the easiest reptiles to keep and they don't need a lot of expensive equipment.

And yes, my house was practically a zoo

The "best" first time pet is most likely whatever pet appeals to your family for whatever reason

I agree with most of Panzer's advice too - plus would add that if you have one person in your family you *know* is allergic to cats I'd be leary of getting a cat thinking at least that person doesn't live with you (if they don't)... because we've found in our family that people who have seasonal allergies etc can find they also have more allergy symptoms when living with cats.

Other animals I had as pets as a kid were turtles, snakes, salamanders, frogs, parakeets and hermit crabs. Turtles are really easy - they eat salad-type food and can't get out of their cages. Parakeets were fun but really messy and as a kid I hated cleaning their cage. You might check and see if there is a reptile-pet-rescue group in your area

FWIW one of my ds' favorite pets when he was your ds' age was a plecostomus (algae eater) - we made many attempts at keeping a fish tank and were generally unlucky with most of the fish, but the plecostomus was great and really kept the tank clean!

Have fun figuring out who your next family member will be

polarbear

I think that turtles are great - my son's school keeps a few turtles in aquariums and they seem like very little maintenance to me. They eat a lot of spinach and lettuce and seem happy with little interaction.

I have heard that parrots are wonderful and fascinating companions that meet all your requirements. I have also heard that due to their intelligence and long lives, they take a serious commitment. But my friend who has one loves him so much.

She also has a turtle (tortoise? - it's a box turtle) that she swears is a great companion, and pretty easy to care for.

Side note: I know you said "dog is out" b/c your wife doesn't like them. But could you tease out what she doesn't like and eliminate that? We weren't really ready for a dog, but a little rescue guy landed on our doorstep, and he has been a godsend to DS7. At the time we got Pup, DS was just a really sad little guy, struggling with who he was and why life seemed so hard for him compared to other kids. DS really started a huge turnaround shortly after we got Pup. I'm sure there were many factors, but the unconditional love from that dog had to help.

Caveats - Pup came to us at almost 2 years old and was already house-trained. He is a mutt and so incredibly healthy, smart and easy to train. He is smaller (16 pounds) - but not yippy or snappy. All these things add up to him making my life net-easier (due to DS7's generally improved self-confidence, happiness and ever-present playmate) rather than net-harder (due to grooming, feeding, cleaning or whatever).

Apologies if this dog stuff is useless. But I have been amazed how well it's turned out for us even though we weren't really ready when we got Pup.

Hope you find your new friend soon!

Sue

We tried fish - really more complicated and more work than I expected, and the kids lost interest quickly. We now have a pair of gerbils - they're cute, you can interact with them (unlike the fish), and not too much work; their tanks don't smell - we clean once every 3 or 4 weeks; and they love/need to chew stuff, so we have a great place to dispose of unwanted cardboard or secret documents! ;-)

If you decide to try gerbils, read up about them first, and don't get a plastic cage - they'll chew through it (we have a glass tank for them).

http://gerbilforum.proboards.com/

Of course, now that we have fish and gerbils, DD still really, really wants a cat. I hear about this every day.

I meant to ask some of the same questions Suevv asked about dogs. There are also so many types of dogs - a true rainbow of personality types, some much higher maintenance than others I am terribly biased as I've always had dogs, but fwiw, like Panzer, I grew up in a zoo and it's the dogs that meant the most in my life and that have been the best part of my children's lives too. My kids have had hamsters, fish, the plecostomus, etc - but it's our family dog that is truly a part of the family and that they interact with, have huge feelings for etc.

polarbear

ITA about the dogs. People and dogs can have a pretty close bond that likely has an evolutionary basis (and they take up less room than equine pets).

FWIW - I grew up with dogs but never had one since I married b/c they were "out" for DH. But DH changed his mind when he saw what Pup had already brought to our son in just the few days after he landed on our doorstep. (And of course DH loves, loves, loves Pup now and is all smiles when he teaches Pup a new command).

Right now we just have a cat, and DS and I are both allergic. She is older and has a very skittish personality, so we run an air purifier and take Allegra and just deal with some symptoms. She is not allowed in the bedrooms and that helps a lot.

I love having a cat though. If we go away, even up to 5 nights, we just put out a lot of food and water and she takes care of herself. It's so easy having a cat I almost don't even think of it as a responsibility.

That said, we will not get another when she is gone. I have been willing to suffer through allergies my whole life to keep pets, but I don't think it's my place to make that decision for my son. My cat is almost 15 and has thyroid issues now and some minor heart problems, so sadly I don't think we will have to suffer allergies for too many more years.

I am also allergic to mice, mites, feathers, and molds... and that's out of the few things they actually test for. I definitely think I ended up allergic to every animal I ever kept in my bedroom The animals they tested for that I am not allergic to were dogs and rats, 2 animals I never had in my home. (Our dog was a work dog on the farm and while I spent a lot of time with her, it was all outdoors)

I also forgot about turtles. Box turtles are easy, I had one for a while. It was a nice, gentle pet and more interesting than might be expected. Don't catch your own though, they can have salmonella. I knew someone who kept a snapping turtle in a tank for a long time too, but I wouldn't say that it made a good pet!

In my opinion dogs are the most work, someone has to let them out constantly, even driving home over lunch and sometimes waking in the middle of the night. All of my friends who have dogs have ruined floors as well. Plus you can't go anywhere without finding someone to care for them, which is difficult if you don't have family nearby. So I definitely think of dogs as one of the higher maintenance animals.