Lifestyle Pets
What is a lifestyle pet?
We all know what lifestyles are, and what pets are. But what about lifestyle pets? Lifestyle pets are animals which require an entire way of life in order to fulfill their needs. You may need to change most of how you spend your time, allocate a sizable chunk of your budget to the animal(s), and possibly change how you style your hair and cook.
A pet is a lifestyle if you have to change how you spend most of your free time, money, and/or major aspects of how you do day-to-day things, like cooking and styling your hair.
The Horse Lifestyle
Let’s start with an animal you likely already recognize as a lifestyle: horses. When someone owns a horse, they may gain the title “horse boy” and “horse girl” or “Cowboy” and “Cowgirl.” They have a certain dress attire they wear around their horses and to ride. Horse owners may get up early in the morning to feed, water, and exercise their horses. They spend much more time outside caring for their horses. Horses are also very expensive to keep. You can pay over $500 per month easily. Learning to ride takes years or decades to become an expert.
Pasture Maintenence
If they don’t board, they need to take care of their pasture. Pasture maintenance requires removing and preventing poisonous, harmful weeds. And encouraging growth of nutritious plants. It can require having multiple pastures to rotate horses through, so grass is not over-eaten. Owning a barn is another thing a non-boarder may have to maintain.
A Horse of Many Words
Horses come with an entire vocabulary: tie downs, saddles, bits, stirrups, reins, hocks, teeth floating, poll, frog, lead changes, colic, and many, many more. Knowing not only the meaning of these words, but all their ins and outs, is important.
Time, Effort, and Money
Horses are a lifestyle because they take up a huge portion of people’s time and money, and are not something you can just set aside, like a hobby. They can also be a source of income for eventers, trainers, and many other equestrian professions. Someone can wake up in the morning, care for their horses, go to work surrounded by horses, and come home to their horses.
You might say, “Okay, but horses are the only animals like that.”
That’s not true. Livestock is similar, requiring a lot of time and care every day. But the next big one is birds.
The Bird Lifestyle
People who’ve owned birds will also tell you they are a lifestyle. One major reason for this is the biology of their lungs and how birds breathe compared to a mammal. Avian breathing is extremely efficient, more than any mammal. Their system of breathing gets more oxygen per breath than we do. However, it is also less discriminate. Where some molecules struggle to or can not enter our bloodstream, birds absorb more per breath. Their smaller body multiplies this, because smaller animals need a smaller dose of toxin to reach their LD50 than humans. An LD50 is the dose where a toxin will kill 50% of the exposed population. Unfortunately, this makes them much weaker to toxins, which we expose ourselves to every day without noticeable effect.
Teflon Toxicosis and Airborne Toxins
In order to own a bird, you need to toss everything teflon to eliminate the risk of teflon toxicosis, which kills in minutes. This includes: nonstick pots and pans, microwave popcorn bags, crispy microwave pizza boxes, coffee makers, blenders, rice cookers, coffee makers, griddles, cooking utensils, some stove top burners, deep fryers, crock pots, microwaves, and waffle irons. Removing all these significantly changes how most people cook. It is possible, although difficult, to find teflon free versions of some cooking items. Bird owners must be on a constant watch for teflon with new items coming into their home.
However, cleaning is not safe either. Pine sol, bleach, phenols, and ammonia are no-nos. Hair styling products like hair straighteners and heat curling products also contain teflon, so they’d be tossed too. No more using the self-cleaning function on ovens. Recreational drugs like cigarettes, vapes, hookas, and bongs would also need to go. Candles and air fresheners? Also forbidden. You’ll need to check the brand of lightbulbs you’re using to ensure they don’t have teflon, either. Heat lamps are also a big one. Have I mentioned something you’re not willing to give up yet?
A Lifestyle Pet Of Many Needs
This isn’t even dipping a toe into bird safe plants, diet, time required and how to train, behavior, social requirements, species need variations, and more. Parrots need two hours, minimum, of time outside their cage per day. Three hours or more is the best. Parrots also need “chop” or fresh veggies chopped together, to make sure they get all their nutrients and enrichment. Wing clipping is unhealthy for them mentally and physically, so they need to be flighted. They should not be potty trained because it can cause health issues, so they will poop everywhere.
Planning a vacation? Hold on a minute! Your bird still has all these needs, whether or not you’re there to provide them. Finding a bird-savvy person to watch or check on your bird is much more difficult than a dog or a cat. Some bird owners cannot find bird sitters, and are unable to take vacations.
They are also destructive and need a lot of enrichment, which they love to destroy. Between free time, cleaning, repair, training, and more, they are very demanding pets which should not be chosen without careful consideration.
So, birds are a lifestyle because in order to keep them safe, you must change the way and what you cook, how you clean your house, how you style your hair, how you make your house smell good, your drug recreational activities (breaking that cigarette/vape habit and no more smoking weed), and more. Then, you’ll need 2-3 hours minimum of your free time reserved for free flight in your house. To make free flight safe, removing toxic plants, bird-proofing the house, and turning off ceiling fans are only a few of many necessary steps.
The Dog Lifestyle Pet
Dogs can also be a lifestyle because of the time, skill, activity, and energy they demand. This is more prominent in active, work-driven breeds like Belgian malinois, german shepherds, border collies, Australian shepherds, and many Alaskan breeds, including the husky. These job loving pups require many more hours of training and more intensive exercise to become well-rounded dogs with good attitudes and few to no mental or behavioral issues. While vet care is easy to find, a talented trainer is more difficult.
Active lifestyle for an Active Pet
That untapped energy is instead directed to developing bad habits and property destruction. This could give the dog the label of “destructive” or “dangerous” if they choose a guard dog job, when they’re just a Belgian Mal. needing more stimulation, training, and exercise. Do not pick an active, working dog breed if you do not already have a lifestyle they can easily fit into.
Don’t think you can change your lifestyle in under 24 hours if you find an adorable, high drive puppy. Change your lifestyle for a few months. If you commit to it, then get the dog.
With border collies and other herding breeds, there are work and show breeds. Work breeds need more exercise and stimulation, being less laid back than show breeds. Regardless, be prepared to offer both show and working breeds 1.5-2 hours or more of daily exercise and time for training. The more toys a dog destroys, the more you’ll pay in replacing them to prevent the dog from destroying something else.
A Lifestyle Pet Needs Training
Do not depend on training a dog to settle to replace fulfilling their genuine exercise and stimulation needs. The bigger a dog is, the more you will spend on food every month. Of course, increasing the number of dogs you own will also increase training time, even if all dogs exercise together. Training is a constant, ongoing thing, and even the best trained dogs will slip up sometimes.
Dogs are not always a lifestyle, however. Less work driven, more lap-centered dog breeds demand less time and exercise compared to their hard working cousins.
Unusual Exotic Pets and Wildlife
Other, less common, exotic species can also be a lifestyle due to their demanding and/or specialized care needs. Finding sitters for unusual exotics will be almost impossible, and so will vacations be. Vet costs shoot up, often beyond the price point of more common exotic pets. Vets are also harder to find and may require traveling hours to access. Depending on species, food can also become very expensive. They can demand most of your home time, and more.
Wild, undomesticated animals demand more time and care. It is more difficult to find a vet who will treat them. So much, in fact, you might reach out to local zoos for resources to get checkups, vaccines, and other care. Many exotic animals will not do well indoors, and need a lot of space outside to perform natural behaviors. It will also be much more difficult to find care guides, and you will do a lot more of your own research to find out how to replicate their wild environment and learn their behavior.
Below is one group of wild animals which is regularly captured and kept, meaning there is more readily available information. It shows you more about how much more demanding a wild animal is to keep and care for compared to domesticated animals.
Birds Of Prey
Owls, hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey are lifestyles. They will never be pets. They are lifestyles because of the long, hands-on training the owner needs to go through before getting a falconry license, the diet they require, the animal’s intensive training, the hunting partnership, and more.
Your Beliefs
First, your beliefs. Do not seek out a bird of prey only because you desire it; that is a pet mindset. A bird of prey is not a pet. They are fully capable of tearing your flesh just as they do other prey, and if they did, they would be protected and defended for their wild nature and, often, their endangered status. They are wild, respect that at all times.
Apprentice and more experienced falconers capture their birds from the wild. They gain the bird’s trust and train them to work with humans to hunt. During the time they are captured, all their needs must be cared for. This involves veterinary, flight time to maintain muscle, ongoing training, food, and more. Vacations will be nearly impossible unless another falconer will watch your bird while you are gone.
A bird of prey is a falconer’s hunting partner. Your bird will be catching and killing wildlife. Rabbits, pigeons, and other small prey. They may need help to dispatch these animals. You will need to learn and know the hunting laws, and have the required hunting licenses. If you are not comfortable hunting, falconry is not for you.
But the key priority is conservation. Not the hunt or keeping the birds, but a genuine passion to secure the future for birds of prey.
Training
Second, your training. To get a bird of prey, you must apprentice under an experienced falconer. Which means you have to find a falconer willing to train you. In Illinois, you must be at least 14 years old to begin. Once you have a mentor, you will still need to purchase books teaching about raptor behavior, health care, diseases, physiology, identification, falconry equipment, terminology, techniques, laws and regulations, facilities, and ecology. Despite having all this, your first bird is still 6-12 months away.
Completing your apprenticeship to become a general falconer requires 2 years, minimum. Becoming a master falconer takes 5 more years. This makes a total of 7 years of training and learning about birds of prey. Remember, most bachelor’s degrees are only 4 years.
Did I mention many things in the bird lifestyle will also apply to birds of prey if you intend to keep them inside for any period? Their system for breathing is the same.
Cost
The first year alone will have you spending about $2,000. From there, you will eventually need to spend another 600-1,000 dollars for tracking equipment. This excludes ongoing costs, license renewals, and permit renewals.
A quick search around online has one person saying they spent tens of thousands over 10 years in the lifestyle. They mention falconry isn’t part of your life, it is your life. It is not something you can do as a side hobby. You will eat, sleep, work, and falcon. If you expect anything less, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Falconry not only has financial costs, but extreme time costs. Be prepared to go all in if you want an owl, falcon eagle, or other bird of prey.
Unusual Exotic Pets and Wildlife
If you’re considering a lifestyle pet, prepare to do considerably more research than for other small and exotic animals. Their care and needs are often much more complex and demanding. Do not go so far you can not back out until you are certain you can commit. Find people who already have these animals and learn directly from them. Volunteer at rescues and sanctuaries that keep the species. Foster a working dog before you adopt. Lease a horse before you buy. Capture a bird of prey you can release later before you buy one from a falconer that can not be released. Dip your toe in the water before you go all in. Not only for yourself, but for the animal’s wellbeing.
And I say it again and again, only because it is so important and yet so overlooked and under done…. Research! Do a bleep-ton, there is no over chewing the cud here, there is always more to learn. The more you know before you start, the better. It is better to learn something that is a deal breaker before you start than when you have goats escaping the fence and climbing on your truck.
