Pets Outside the Box

Here at Country Care Pet Hospital, we know that dogs and cats aren't the only loveable pets around! Here are some examples from our out-of-the-ordinary patient community:

Hamster
•These small rodents are crepuscular, which means they are most active around sunrise and sunset.
•A hamster’s incisors (front teeth) never stop growing! Constant chewing keeps these teeth from growing to an unmanageable length.

Guinea Pig
•These animals are neither pigs, nor are they from Guinea!
•Once they get to know their owner, guinea pigs will sometimes whistle to greet them.

Skunk
•Skunks are omnivores, and often attack beehives because they eat honeybees!
•There are 10 species in the skunk family, also called Mephitidae, which means “stink.”

Rabbit
•While rabbits and hares can be called "does" (females), "bucks" (males), and "kittens" (babies), they actually belong to their own group of animals called lagomorphs.
•A "binky" is a fun rabbit behavior in which the rabbit jumps and spins!

Ferret
•Ferrets are in a family called mustelids. This makes their closest relatives minks, weasels, and otters!
•Hunters domesticated ferrets over 2000 years ago to assist them in rabbit hunting; the ferret would be released into one rabbit hole, and a rabbit would then emerge from a different hole with the ferret in hot pursuit. For the past 30 years, ferrets have been popular pets, now coming in 3rd place after dogs and cats in the pet popularity contest.

Chinchilla
•Chinchilla hair is so fine that the nerves in a human hand will not detect it (try petting one with your eyes closed to test this!)
•The red blood cells of a chinchilla carry more oxygen than those of other rodents. This is an adaptation for living at high altitudes; they are native to the Andes Mountains in South America.

African Hedgehog
•A group of hedgehogs is called an array.
•Hedgehogs are friends to gardeners - they eat caterpillars, slugs, and beetles without harming the plants!

Bat
•The smallest bat in the world is called a bumblebee bat, and is only 3 cm long. The largest is the giant gold-crowned flying fox, at 55 cm long with a wingspan of 1.8 meters!
•Bats are the only flying mammals on earth; their distinct wing shape is formed from their metacarpals and phalanges - the same bones that create our hands (as well as dogs’ paws and dolphins’ flippers!)

Parrot
•Some parrots can live over 80 years – something to think about when choosing these colorful birds as pets!
•The Kea is the world’s only alpine parrot, and makes its home in New Zealand. Most parrots live in tropical environments.

Snake
•Snakes gather scent data with their tongues, then the information about the scent is detected by the Jacobson’s organ, located inside the mouth.
•Some species of snakes never stop growing! Their growth slows as they get older, but they grow each time they molt, or shed their skin.

Iguana
•Iguanas are excellent swimmers, and have been known to hold their breath underwater for up to 28 minutes!
•Half of an iguana’s body length is tail! They use their tails as defense; using it to strike predators, and even detaching part of their tail to make a quick escape!

Iguana
•Iguanas are excellent swimmers, and have been known to hold their breath underwater for up to 28 minutes!
•Half of an iguana’s body length is tail! They use their tails as defense; using it to strike predators, and even detaching part of their tail to make a quick escape!

Gecko
•Nocturnal lizards, geckos have eyes that are 350 times more sensitive to light than our own. They have a special lens in each iris that enlarges in the dark.
•In a defense mechanism called autonomy, geckos can release their tails, which continue to wiggle after detachment and can distract a predator while the gecko escapes. Afterward, a gecko will return to the scene and eat its detached tail if it is still there; they store excess nutrients in their tails for use in times when food is scarce.

Turtle
•A turtle’s spine is actually attached to its carapace, or the top part of its shell.
•It’s difficult to tell the difference between male and female turtles until they are sexually mature, which can take up to 20 years for some species! In adult turtles, the male’s tail is many times larger than the female’s.