Welfare of Exotic and Nontraditional Pets

Animal welfare concerns, as described in the Overview of Animal Welfare, affect all species of animals. Many exotic and nontraditional pets (pets other than dogs and cats), such as rabbits, rodents, birds, reptiles, and others, have very specific needs regarding housing, diet, behavior, and social interactions. Because of these special needs, nontraditional and exotic pets face a wide variety of animal welfare issues.

Exotic animals can be roughly divided into domesticated and nondomesticated species. Many nondomesticated exotic species are wild animals. Several domesticated exotic species are kept as pets.

Owners might have different expectations of a nontraditional or exotic pet than of a traditional pet, and they might be less educated on the needs of a niche pet. Most welfare issues in nontraditional pets, especially in exotics, are related to husbandry issues, such as the following:

• diet

• housing (space, substrate, location)

• veterinary care

• social interactions (with humans or conspecifics)

Small mammals, such as rabbits, rats, mice, and guinea pigs, are social and domesticated animals but vary in their ability to live peacefully with conspecifics in a small cage. For example, some rodent species, such as hamsters, do better when housed alone, as they are territorial and fight if housed with others. On the other hand, other rodent species, such as degus, are very social and become anxious or aggressive when housed singly.

Psittacines are often kept individually in cages that are too small and with little human interaction or environmental enrichment, even though in the wild they live in flocks and can fly miles per day. When these birds are housed in small cages and deprived of the ability to interact with other birds, at least two of the Five Domains of animal welfare (environment and behavior) are compromised (1). Birds can also develop abnormal repetitive behaviors, including feather-destructive behaviors, when their environment is not optimized to provide for foraging activities (2).