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	<title>Vet Blog &#187; Rodents</title>
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	<description>The Web Magazine For Pet Owners.</description>
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		<title>Hamsters As Pets And How To Look After Them.</title>
		<link>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/hamster-care-and-why-hamsters-make-great-pets</link>
		<comments>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/hamster-care-and-why-hamsters-make-great-pets#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:50:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rodents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/hamster-care-and-why-hamsters-make-great-pets</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hamsters are one of the most popular pets in the world, and are definitely the most popular pet from the rodent family. Hamsters make great pets for people of all ages because of their cleanliness and cuteness, and hamsters are also relatively inexpensive and easy to take care of. A hamster usually makes an ideal pet for children and helps teach responsibility. The average lifespan of a hamster is approximately 1-3 years, and for this reason some people claim that caring for a hamster is a good way for a child to eventually learn to cope with loss. There are many different kinds of hamsters, but the one most commonly kept as a pet is the cute Syrian hamster breed. Syrian hamsters are the largest kind of hamster, and they can be found in a lot of pretty different colors, in long-haired or short-haired variety. The long-haired Syrian hamster is sometimes called a Teddy Bear hamster. A full-grown Syrian hamster usually grows to about four to six inches long. An important thing to know about Syrian hamsters is that you should never keep more than one per cage, because if two Syrian hamsters are forced to share the same space, [...]<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/hamster-care-and-why-hamsters-make-great-pets' addthis:title='Hamsters As Pets And How To Look After Them.' ><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Chinchillas As Pets, History and How To Look After Them</title>
		<link>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/chinchillas-as-pets</link>
		<comments>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/chinchillas-as-pets#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rodents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/?p=86</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Chinchillas are small rodents belonging to the Chinchillidae family, they are almost the size of rabbit, in the wild they are found in the Andes Mountains of South America. When I first came to South Woodham in 1983 they were very popular and quite expensive to buy, we see less of them now but they are still around. There are two different species of chinchilla, Chinchilla Lanigera and Chinchilla Brevicaudata. Although they look almost the same the tail and ears of Chinchilla Brevicaudata are shorter, and its shoulder and neck are broader. The Chinchilla Lanigera species can be kept as pets, their standard color is grey but they can also be found in ebony, beige and other colours. Chinchillas are an endangered species in the wild but having said that they are sometimes kept as domestic pets, but they are very shy animals and so are not good with small children. Because of their fragile bone structure, they should be handled with care and that might be the reason why chinchillas don&#8217;t like it when people hold them in their hands. The life span of chinchillas is about fifteen years but when kept in captivity some even been known survive [...]<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/chinchillas-as-pets' addthis:title='Chinchillas As Pets, History and How To Look After Them' ><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<title>Rats and Ratatouille</title>
		<link>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/rats-and-ratatouille</link>
		<comments>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/rats-and-ratatouille#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:42:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rodents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/?p=48</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; &#160; As promised here is my rat follow up article &#8230; I have recently read that demand for rats as pets has surged recently thanks to a film called &#8220;Ratatouille,&#8221; the hero of which is a gourmet rat named Remy who demonstrates his culinary prowess in a romp round Paris. Much the same thing happened with donkeys after the release of &#8221; Shrek &#8220;, no animal should be bought on an impulse but I suppose rats bought on the spur of the moment will be easier to look after than donkeys! Seems like &#8216;Ratatouille&#8217; has done wonders for the image of rats, which is good as their previous image what with the plague and everything was in need of a makeover. As I have always said rats actually make very good pets in my experience. These aren&#8217;t sewer rats we&#8217;re talking about they are pet rats, or fancy rats as they&#8217;re sometimes called, and they have been domesticated and bred in captivity for at least 150 years. Rats are very intelligent animals, some authorities consider rats to have intelligence close or equal to that of dogs, they are capable of learning to come when their names are called and [...]<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/rats-and-ratatouille' addthis:title='Rats and Ratatouille' ><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guinea Pigs And How to Look After Them.</title>
		<link>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/guinea-pigs</link>
		<comments>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/guinea-pigs#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:06:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rodents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/?p=55</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Guinea pigs as we know them today originated in South America and several related species can still be found in the wild. The ancestor of the common guinea pig we have as pets is thought to be the Restless Cavy, this species lives in large family groups and occupies the tunnels dug by other animals. Before the Spanish conquest of South America guinea pigs were kept for their food and in some parts of Peru this practice continues to this day. The first pet guinea pigs were probably kept by sailors who brought them to this country, they were then sold as rare curiosities for the sum of one guinea, which accounts for their name. Incidentally this was quite a large sum of money in those days. Guinea pigs make a docile though somewhat unresponsive pet, but they are most unlikely to bite. The average life span of a guinea pig is between six and eight years, they can breed from ten weeks of age onwards and the litter size averages out at three or four. They are very well developed when they are born and are weaned at three weeks of age. I see many guinea pigs at my [...]<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/guinea-pigs' addthis:title='Guinea Pigs And How to Look After Them.' ><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Rodents as Pets</title>
		<link>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/rodents-as-pets</link>
		<comments>http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/rodents-as-pets#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:02:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rodents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/?p=60</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On reading this article I suppose the persons concerned will recognise who they are, I have been trying to think up a suitable label for the culprits but find myself unusually lexicographically challenged. I must phone up Father Jack Hackett from the Father Ted television series to see if he can think of a suitable phrase to describe them … <div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://vetblog.co.uk/vetblog/rodents-as-pets' addthis:title='Rodents as Pets' ><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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