Caring for pets, beyond dogs and cats
Time, responsibility and managing Passover key to ownership
This might be Elena Davis’ final guinea pig.
After caring for several of them — along with fish, frogs and a bird for the last eight years — she’s pretty sure she’s done.
“It’s a fun pet,” she said. “But I think it’s the last one.”
Davis is allergic to cats and dogs. When she and her husband got married, they committed to a pet-free household. Then they acquired a ferret, and then they got fish.
When the Davises had children, they kept the fish and then got other pets.
Most of the animals were “low maintenance,” but that doesn’t negate the time and attention required.
“Be prepared for what’s involved,” Davis said. “Just because something’s cute in the pet store, your kids might still lose interest in it.”
It’s important to remember that even if you spawned the next Jane Goodall, there are factors to consider.
“When you go away, you have to deal with someone caring for your pet,” Davis said.
And then there’s Passover.
“Depending how strict you are with the food, it can be an issue,” she said.
Chametz (fermented products from the five grains: wheat, spelt, barley, oats and rye) are forbidden on Passover.
In previous years, the Davises have fed their animals special fare. The Squirrel Hill couple have even brokered transactions with neighbors to avoid owning problematic pet food or an animal that derives benefit from chametz on Passover.
“One year, we tried feeding matzah to fish,” she said. “It didn’t go well.”
Up the road, fellow Squirrel Hill resident Yikara Levari has five birds in her house. The first two she got in June 2020.
Levari’s husband, a physician, was seeing patients mostly through telehealth visits at the time. One of his patients had a remarkable bird, Levari said.
The Squirrel Hill couple acquired two. Two years later, they got another, “for the heck of it,” Levari said.
The Levaris adopted two more birds, which made five — and the need for a new enclosure.
Levari said her house often sounds like the National Aviary.
“The birds are always singing and chirping,” she said. “People notice it, but we like it.”
Rabbi Akiva Sutofsky and his late son Yitzy used to bird watch in Frick Park.
Yitzy would also find snakes and grab them from the water, his father said.
The family ended up buying a corn snake.
“It’s very beautiful, sort of a creamsicle color,” Sutofsky said.
Mostly found in the eastern United States, corn snakes can grow 24 to 72 inches long, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute.
The Sutofskys feed their snake frozen pinky mice.
“It’s super-friendly,” Sutofsky said of the snake. “It’s very docile, never bites, loves to be held.”
Sutofsky also cares for a crested gecko.
“They are unbelievable jumpers,” he said.
Social media agrees. Videos of crested geckos jumping — either in real time or slow motion — flood TikTok and Instagram.
Having been a pet owner for years, Sutofsky has advice.
If someone is ready to take the leap and acquire a reptile or even another type of pet, it’s important to remember these animals are living creatures that require attention and responsibility, he said.
The Jerusalem Talmud offers similar instruction: Within tractate Ketubot, Rebbi Eleazar the caper grower explained, “No one is permitted to buy domesticated or wild animals or birds unless they have food prepared for them.”
Thousands of years after the Talmud’s compilation, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation delivered similar guidance. Among its recommendations for future owners the AVMF states, “Avoid impulsive decisions when selecting a pet,” and “Recognize that pet ownership requires an investment of time and money.”
“You can’t just have them sit in a 2-foot-by-2-foot cage for 10 years,” Sutofsky said. “You got to take care of them.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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