Prerequisites to Keeping Pets for Show, Breed, Companionship

If you love animals, wouldn’t you do anything to make sure the stray and the orphaned are accommodated in the best way possible, preferably in the comfort of your home? You’re short on luck, though, unless you live in the great outdoors or you have acres of land to convert into a preserve. You can take in and domesticate as many animals as you please, but you have to ensure local laws allow you to keep the specie you’ve adopted and nursed. This wouldn’t be a problem if you’re after the usual fare of pets, like cats, dogs, or rabbits, but what if you want to assume responsibility for exotic species, those not indigenous to your location? There are rules you have to comply with and these differ by the locale. The basic principles remain between these, though.

Registration, Tagging, Neutering

Photo credit: Eric Sonstroem (flickr.com)

Cats and dogs must be registered with local authorities. The requirements vary by state, but some require you to register the animal, tag it with microchip, and then have it tattooed once desexed or neutered. Microchipping a pet is the best way to tag it. A veterinarian will insert a chip as small as a grain of rice into the animal’s flesh; this chip contains information of ownership, your name, address, and contact, as well as the pet’s breed and specie. The data on the microchip is synched with the local registry so the animal is easily verified if it gets lost and found. Neutering or desexing is recommended but not required, but the animal is marked with a tattoo on the inner ear to indicate such.

Permits for Multiple Pets

You’ll need permits for keeping multiple pets in your home, and this applies to birds as well. You can only keep several animals in a kennel or cattery, all of these must be duly registered as well. Your purpose for keeping cats and dogs determine the requirements and your responsibilities. In Brisbane, for example, you can keep up to ten cats or two dogs as pets, if the species are not kept for breeding or show purposes. Fees and documentation are required otherwise. The rules on keeping poultry and fowl species also concern the available space in your property. You can keep up to twenty fowl animals if you can cover for the 800-meter free space, as much as six fowl animals in smaller properties. Your local council has the final say on whether or not certain species are allowed to keep, depending on the circumstances.

Proper, Comfortable Accommodations

It’s important that your pets are kept in comfort and convenience. This shouldn’t be a problem if you have a sizable back yard to begin with; you can set up the kennel and cattery as temporary shelters. You’re allowed to let your pets roam your property so long as it’s fenced. Some animals always need to be confined, though, particularly birds of flight. You’ll have to build a decent aviary to accommodate the species. You can find aviaries if you’re planning to keep and tend to species of birds on your backyard. In the long run, you can’t really convert your property into a preserve for animals, but you can ensure all that are under your care are accounted for.

Related Resources:

How to Build an Aviary (videos.huffingtonpost.com)

7 surprising ways to save on pet care (edition.cnn.com)