Pet

This page is about domestic animals. For several meanings of the acronym PET, see PET.

A pet or companion animal is a domesticated animal that is kept by humans for companionship or for the beauty of its appearance or utterances, rather than for economic reasons. While in theory one could keep a blue whale as a pet, in practice a small number of species of mammals and birds have dominated the pet scene for a very long time. Fish have joined them more recently. With the exception of iguanas and non-venomous snakes, few reptiles and amphibians make good pets. The glofish, a genetically modified zebrafish with a bright red fluorescent color is the first genetically modified (GM) animal to be engineered as a pet. A pet can be acquired from a breeder, an animal shelter, a pet store, and sometimes from people who have too many due to births. See also Dog adoption.

Table of contents

1 Pet species 1.1 Mammals 1.2 Birds 1.3 Reptiles 1.4 Amphibians 1.5 Fish 1.6 Arthropods 2 See also

Pet species

Mammals

\n*Horses\n*Dogs\n*Cats\n*Rodents, including hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, gerbils, chinchillas, degus, flying squirrelss and rats\n*Rabbits\n*Ferrets\n*Hedgehogs\n*Alpacas\n*small pigs\n*Monkeys\n*Donkeys

Birds

• Budgerigars (parakeets)\n*Cockatoos\n*Macaws\n*other parrot species\n*Canaries and other finch species\n*Doves\n*Cockatiels

Reptiles

• Lizards\n*Iguanas\n*Snakes\n*Turtles\n*Crocodilians, including alligators, crocodiles, caymans, gavials (can usually only be kept as pets when they are young)

Amphibians

• Frogs\n*Toads\n*Salamanders\n*Newts\n*Caecilian, a wormlike amphibian that lives underground

Fish

\nSee: Aquarium

Arthropods

• Ants\n*Cricketss\n*Tarantulas

See also

\n* Digital pet\n* How to choose your pet and take care of it \n\n\nsimple:Pet\nCategory:Pets