Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jun 19;7(6):47.
doi: 10.3390/ani7060047.

ExNOTic: Should We Be Keeping Exotic Pets?

Rachel A Grant  1 , V Tamara Montrose  2 , Alison P Wills  3
Affiliations

ExNOTic: Should We Be Keeping Exotic Pets?

Rachel A Grant et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

There has been a recent trend towards keeping non-traditional companion animals, also known as exotic pets. These pets include parrots, reptiles, amphibians and rabbits, as well as small species of rodent such as degus and guinea pigs. Many of these exotic pet species are not domesticated, and often have special requirements in captivity, which many owners do not have the facilities or knowledge to provide. Keeping animals in settings to which they are poorly adapted is a threat to their welfare. Additionally, owner satisfaction with the animal may be poor due to a misalignment of expectations, which further impacts on welfare, as it may lead to repeated rehoming or neglect. We investigate a range of commonly kept exotic species in terms of their suitability as companion animals from the point of view of animal welfare and owner satisfaction, and make recommendations on the suitability of various species as pets.

Keywords: amphibians; degus; exotic pets; guinea pigs; parrots; rabbits; reptiles; rodents; welfare.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Smith K.M., Smith K.F., D’Auria J.P. Exotic pets: Health and safety issues for children and parents. J. Pediatr. Health Care. 2012;26:e2–e6. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2011.11.009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clutton-Brock J. The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, UK: 1995. Origins of the dog: Domestication and early history; pp. 7–20.
    1. Hu Y., Hu S., Wang W., Wu X., Marshall F.B., Chen X., Hou L., Wang C. Earliest evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2014;111:116–120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1311439110. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Warwick C., Steedman C., Jessop M., Toland E., Lindley S. Assigning degrees of ease or difficulty for pet animal maintenance: The EMODE system concept. J. Agric. Environ. Ethics. 2014;27:87–101. doi: 10.1007/s10806-013-9455-x. - DOI
    1. Mitchell M., Tully T.N., Jr. Manual of Exotic Pet Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences; Maryland Heights, MO, USA: 2008.

LinkOut - more resources