Having Cats and Other Small Animals

David · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 82

I was in the pet store today looking at the lizards and the hamsters, and I really thought they were cool, but I wasn't sure if it would be such a good idea to get them since I have 3 cats. Has anyone done this?

squirrel · Joined: 22 Jun 2004 Posts: 155 Location: Bucharest, Romania

My cats would attack anything that moves, so... :)

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

I had a friend that had a cat and a hamster, and the arrangement seemed to work ok. She had a special ball that she could put the hamster in, so she could let it outside its cage and the cat wouldn't be able to get at it.

cocodrilo · Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 93 Location: Japan

I think my kitties would think anything smaller than them and furry I brought home would be something to dismember.

Peor · Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Posts: 45

I don't know about hamsters, but rats can be kept with other animals.

Here a pic of a rat with a dog (it's a too large pic, so I will post it as a link): http://www.evolvingtype.com/teddy/archives/images/Berkeley%20Dog%20and%20Rat.JPG

Of course, not alway a rat can be kept with other animals. Just like you can't always keep dogs with cats and vice versa :)

The main thing is keeping the pets seperated and keeping a watchful eye on them, if you let them out. Perhaps making a sort of boundary so that they can't go to each other. You can take multiple sorts of pets but you have to very catious, as you know :)

bmason · Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 77

We have had birds which were hung from a cage so they were safe but also had rabbits we kept in a cage which they sometimes tried to stick paws in to get at them but the rabbits would defend themselves in the cage so the cats did not do much.

If you get a hamster you would probably keep them in a cage and the bars are usually very close together to keep the hamster from getting out let alone a paw getting inside to do any harm I would think. The most the cat would do in that case is watch, maybe sit on the cage but if the cat will pry and try to get at it just make sure the cage is not on something that it could be knocked off like a table and fall because then the cage could break and then the cat would get them.