An Introduction of Sorts

I plan to cover a wide variety of topics regarding animals and my opinions on many issues surrounding animals considered pets. I hesitate to use the word domestic, because there are certainly many wild animals that end up in rescues as well. I consider myself an animal welfarist and an animal advocate. Just to be clear, I do NOT believe in animal rights, nor do I support PETA or other radical organizations. I believe animals should be treated with compassion and humanely, which includes practices of good husbandry, but I believe that advocating a total end of man’s use of animals now only hurts the cause for humane treatment because it is too radical for our times.

I believe very strongly in the “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” Compassionate education does far better than shame and humiliation. When you use honest compassion, not a false kind, you lull people into not being defensive and render them much more open to your suggestions. Most people do NOT want to be cruel, but many are ignorant to the damage they do. Keep in mind that the defensiveness of inhumane methods isn’t just about you telling them that they’re wrong, it’s also about guilt. People don’t like being ignorant. Educating them in a way that shows that they aren’t the only one, and don’t have to be ashamed for the past as long as they change the present, can really bring out the best in most people.

I am an animal lover who has had pets my entire life. I have mostly rescues. I do rescue but I am not a rescue, nor am I affiliated with any official rescues. When I have time and money I take in critters and even fosters. Currently I have 10 rodents, 8 of which are rescues; the other two are degus whom I bought at a petstore before degus became common in this area…a mistake that I will never repeat again, and a topic for a post all its own.

My favorites are rodents. I do rodent rescue for several reasons. One, because it’s a needed thing. There is barely enough coverage of rodent rescues, often one rescue covers several states. There is no shortage of rodents in need and it’s interesting the variety that there are. Two, because unlike cats and dogs, if a rodent end up in the wrong hands they often suffer the cruel fate of finding themselves live-fed to another animal (I advocate f/t diets for meat-eating reptiles, as do all herp vets nowadays, understanding that there is a (very)rare reptile that won’t accept it even after all of the tricks). Here's 6 of my girls (RIP Reese, the PEW)

I am planning to cover everything from dogs and horses to rodents and exotics. If it seems that my information is heavily biased towards rodents it’s only because that’s what I have the most experience with. I encourage well thought out comments on my blog, especially if you disagree with something that I’ve said. Don’t keep it inside, share! I try to edit my posts for grammar and run-on sentences but I study biology, not English—there’s bound to be slip-ups.