Customer Reviews

Great Pets!: An Extraordinary Guide to Usual and Unusal Family Pets

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unlike most pet books "Great Pets" offers very serious and consise pet care information in a very easily followed format. I bought 'Great Pets' in the 70's from one of the book clubs that are designed for children. It formed the foundation of what I know about raising animals. The results over the years have been amazing.

I now have canaries that have been with me for years. I have had dogs, cats, ferrets, alligators, fish, turtles...and more. Not all at once by the way. My vets have been quite suprised at the care, health and longevity that my pets have experienced.

'Great Pets' set this foundation. To the author I am greatful. Not only is it filled w/all sorts of information about pet care, but, you will find plans for building anything from an insect cage to chicken coop to goat house. If you are serious about having good healthy pets for you or your children stop reading this and scroll up and hit your 'one-click' or add to your shopping cart.

It is a darn shame this book is out of print. It is definately worth updating and re-publishing.

I saw this book while browsing at a book store recently. I flipped to the section about rats, since I have several of my own as was curious about what the author had to say. I have to admit that I was pleased when the first thing I read was that most cages sold in pet stores are too small for rats (which is often true). However my attitude completely changed after that sentence.

Instead, Stein recommends keeping your rat in a 10-gallon aquarium or a homemade cage made out of two 8" x 11" cake pans and wire. Not only are both of these an inappropriate size for even one rat, glass aquariums are rarely the best choice for keeping a rat.

Stein even goes on to say that you do not need to put anything in the cage except for food, water, and maybe some paper towels. Rats are extremely intelligent animals and need more stimulation than they can gain from just paper towels. I did not even see anything that mentioned that rats do exponentially better living in pairs or more.

I could go on, but I will just say that I was I was really disappointed to see the misinformation that was being provided by someone who is "nuts about animals". Just because you have kept a lot of animals does not mean you are an expert on any of them. If she was that wrong about rats, how wrong is she about the rest of the animals in the book?

I purchased this book as a kid in the 70's and think it is probably still my favorite book. The author knows what she is talking about and gives great advice on care of "pets" as diverse as crickets and salamanders to goats and dogs! The sections on building homes for pets is great. For kids and adults, this book is an informative and fun reference on animal care and responsible pet ownership!

This book is by an author who has kept hundreds of pets over the years. She knows a lot about the pets that you may never even think of. This book is good for deciding what pet is good or you and a great start on keeping one of the tons of pets listed. It also includes a construction of the homes or cages for each pet, plus a instructional on how to make it. ;-)

There's a lot of pap on the animal/pet book market, but this one rises above the rest. Written clearly and with personality and experience, Sara Stein also includes diagrams on how to construct shelters for the animals in this book. Great job!

I highly reccomend this book if you to are a mass-animal (especially pets) lover, such as my self. This book covers so many awesome pets. It covers a very wide range of pets, from reptilians to rodents! Spot on!:) Get it at your local library if you can't buy it! Believe me, you'll check it out again and again!

I cannot minimize the huge effect this book has had on my daughter's life! She started reading this book when she was about 8, and I would say she has read it about 30 times. She has memorized it and at 13, is a consultant for all my friends when they have pet issues at home. She knows not just how to choose the right pet for any situation, but knows great detailed of the care of animals. Amazing book!!

I ended up enjoying this one the most. It has a bunch of great information that I really needed to read and understand. It has so much information that it can be the only book you will ever need on pets!

I had this book when I was a teenager. I used to love to read through the explanations about animals I knew I'd never have, like spiders or goats. But it was interesting for me anyway. Most lovely, the author's love and respect for all animals shines through. And it's very clever to describe a toad as an "overnight guest." I got a copy for my cousin's kids, who live in the country on the edge of some woods and fields.