Companion animals

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

The term "Companion Animal" is often employed as a politically correct name for the word "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 florescent color is the first genetically modified (GM) animal to be engineered as a pet.

Pet species

Mammals

• Dogs
• Cats
• Rodents, including hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, gerbils, chinchillas, degus, flying squirrels and rats
• Rabbits
• Ferrets
• Hedgehogs
• Alpacas
• small pigs
• Monkeys
• Donkeys

Birds

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

Reptiles

• Lizards
• Iguanas
• Snakes
• Turtles
• Crocodilians, including alligators, crocodiles, caymans, gavials (can usually only be kept as pets when they are young)
• Tuatara, a lizardlike reptile related to dinosaurs

Amphibians

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

Fish - see Aquarium

Arthropods

• Ants
• Crickets
• Tarantulas

See also

• digital pet
• How to choose your pet and take care of it