Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anybody keep pets to provide company/friendship? I basically only have one friend outside work, who I don't get to see very often, and live hundreds of miles away from my family. So I tend to get very lonely, especially at weekends.
I'm thinking about getting some animal company to provide a bit of company and fun around my flat, and several people have recommended rats. It seems a good idea as they're fairly cheap to keep, small enough that I could keep two (I wouldn't want to leave one on its own all day), and apparently very tame and loving. I could also fit a decent-sized rat cage in front of my window, which faces North so they'd get plenty of natural light but not too hot. People who've kept them tell me that they're a bit like little dogs: a lot smarter and friendlier than their bad press suggests, and happy to cuddle in your arms while you're reading etc.
The idea of having animals (other than spiders, moths, and the occassional silverfish) in the flat would take some getting used to with my cleanliness obsession, but it does seem like something that could help. Instead of coming home to an empty flat I'd come home to a couple of little friends. And I could know that every single weekend I could spend as much time with good friends as I liked, albeit small and furry ones.
Does this sound realistic to those of you who keep pets or am I taking too much of a rose tinted view?
Zem :)
Hi there
Years ago my friend had two pet rats called Itchy and scratchy. they where really clever he had tought them to use a litter tray just like a cat and they would just roam about his livingroom and itchy would come if he called him for a treat and scratchy would sit on your shoulder and chat away in your ear if you fed him peanuts. they where really clean aswell and if Andy never cleaned out their cage they would do it themselfs and cuck all their bedding out of the cage. if you are going to keep rats you must get two as they would get very lonely if left on there own and of course get two of the same gender and don't use sawdust in there cage as this can harm their skin newspaper is better and they will rip it up themselfs and make their own bedding with it. And if you can spend about an hour a day playing with them then then will be happy. The only down side to them is that they don't live very long about a year to eighteen months but they are great fun and clean and love to interact with people by playing games and learning tricks as they are very smart. I think that they make an ideal pet