My Pet Prairie Dog

I am a retired American who now lives in Penang, Malaysia. I have always loved animals and I have always had pets of one kind or another. When I was a child I had hamsters, lizards, snakes, chickens, turtles, frogs, fish and of course cats and dogs. Before I moved to Malaysia I had a dog, who was my constant companion. He sadly died on my birthday about a year before I moved. It was probably a good thing, as it would have been to difficult for me to bring him with me.

When I was preparing to move to Malaysia I often thought about the pets I could have. I have always wanted an elephant, but that desire was still unfulfillable here. I even thought of living in Thailand so I could have an elephant. It still would be impractical. A few months after moving here my roommate, Kevin and myself adopted a cat, Nero, from the local SPCA. I made frequent trips to many different pet shops just to see what was available. I must say I did see some monkeys and lizards,which I am sure were not legal. They also were not very well taken care of. I would never buy a pet from any of these unscrupulous shops.

One day when Kevin and I were browsing in a local pet shop he became enthralled with something he had never seen before. I went over to the cage and saw 6 prairie dogs! What the heck were prairie dogs from the western US doing in Malaysia? I don't think I ever say Kevin so excited over an animal. Well we ended up buying one and naming him Chichi. We brought the little guy home with his brand new cage. I have never heard of anyone keeping a prairie dog as a pet. I explained to Kevin that in the plains states ranchers and farmers actually shoot them, as they are considered pests. I really don't know how anyone could shoot them though.

Kevin and I searched the Internet looking for information on keeping prairie dogs as pets. Surprisingly we found quite a bit. We learned that as they grow older the tend to get quite fat. This I know for sure because ChiChi has become a butterball, even though we try to control the amount he eats and give him plenty of exercise. Another thing learned was that they are burrow animals and don't like to climb. Well ChiChi loves to climb. He climbs all over his cage and hangs from the top. When he is on the floor he always climbs up the furniture to sit on our laps. We have to watch him carefully as he tries to climb up and over the sofas and chairs. When he is running around on the floor he always follows us and wants to be picked up. We have to get him to run after us for him to get proper exercise.

We did discover the reason why prairie dogs are called such is that they actually do bark. Whenever we get off the elevator and head towards our apartment we can hear ChiChi bark. When we wake up in the morning he barks and when he wants attention he barks. We learned that prairie dogs can be very territorial and protective of their owners. This is very true. When strangers come near his cage he goes ballistic and makes a chattering noise. If anyone would dare put their finger in his cage I think it would be bitten off. If someone approaches him while he is outside his cage he runs to Kevin or myself and stands his ground. His favorite thing is just to sit on our laps and have us pet him. He can sit like this for hours, whereas Nero hates this.

One concern we had was about Nero and ChiChi getting along together. When they were first introduced to each other Nero thought ChiChi was a plaything and ChiChi just ignored Nero. Now the two of them are very used to each other. Nero tries to play with Chichi, but ChiChi continues to ignore Nero. They can be left alone and unsupervised without any worries.

I never in my wildest dreams would have thought of keeping a prairie dog as a pet. After having had ChiChi for over a year I can say that prairie dogs make excellent, affectionate and easy to care for pets. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a different kind of pet.