Situation guide
Partner or housemate moving in — pace the introduction to keep pets secure.
A hedgehog can live well in a household spanning several generations, but it is nocturnal, solitary and carries Salmonella and hedgehog ringworm without looking ill. This guide sets out where the cage goes, who should handle and who should clean, how to lift a spiny animal without dropping it, and why a cool room at ni
A dog living with both young children and older adults faces two different risk pictures, and most households plan only for the bite. The injury that actually happens is a fall, and the poisoning that actually happens is a dropped tablet. How ageing bone, thin skin, anticoagulants and lost hearing change the maths, how
Rabbits and children can share a home, but not on the terms most families expect. This guide explains why a struggling held rabbit can fracture its own spine, why going limp is fear rather than affection, how to build a child-free rabbit territory and a floor-level contact model, what is realistic at each child age, an
A parrot and a small child cannot be made safe by good behaviour on either side, because the bite is faster than the child and the bird reads height as status. This sets out the three zones a household needs, how far back a cage has to sit, what a child can safely do at each age, the warning signals to teach them, and
Lizards do not experience jealousy. A behaviour change after a new partner or pet moves in is a stress response to altered heat, light, schedule and handling. Check temperature and UVB before interpreting behaviour, cut handling to zero for two weeks, and escalate on weight loss or three weeks off food.
A parrot shares your air completely, and the risk runs both ways. Household fumes from non-stick coatings, aerosols and diffusers kill birds at concentrations people do not notice, while dust from dried droppings and feathers causes psittacosis and bird fancier's lung in people, both of which doctors routinely miss. Co
Cats pass on only a handful of infections, and each one travels by a single route: faeces, fleas, a wound, or direct contact. Flea control, daily tray emptying and hand washing close nearly all of them. Rehoming a cat is almost never the right answer, including in pregnancy.
A parrot that attacks a new partner is defending a pair bond, not feeling jealousy. The drivers are hormonal state, cage territory and the way people touch parrots, and all three can be changed.
Whether a bird works in a house with children, adults and older relatives is decided by four practical things: how loud it is at dawn, how much feather dust it produces, how much damage its beak can do, and how long it will live. This compares the common companion species on those points and covers the respiratory, inf
A new adult in the home rewrites your pet's sense of territory, routine and people overnight , unless you slow it down. Here is how to pace the introduction so your dog, cat or small pet feels secure, not displaced.
Bringing a baby home is a huge change for your dog. Starting during pregnancy, this nine-month plan walks through training refreshers, gradual environment changes, sound and scent introductions, and safe first meetings, so your dog greets the new arrival calmly rather than with stress.
Nearly every hamster injury in a family home follows one chain: a child wakes a sleeping hamster, it bites in reflex, the child lets go, and the animal falls. This sets out where the enclosure should live, why all handling belongs on the floor inside a pen, which parts of the cage are never a child job, what a child ca
