A Practical Guide to Impractical Pets [Hardcover]

Barbara Burn (Author), Emil P. Dolensek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1997

This authoritative one-volume compendium deals with pets of all kinds: mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and even insects. It covers such topics as creating a suitable habitat, nutrition, parasite control, breeding, keeping, and general husbandry. In addition, animal lovers will learn many useful and interesting things, including how not to kill their pets with kindness. Overfeeding, underdisciplining, and other forms of mistreatment brought about through ignorance of the animal s real needs are discussed as well. Barbara Burn is a realist who divides pets into three categories: easy, difficult, and impossible. With grace and wit, she alerts animal lovers to what they can tolerate and what can tolerate them. Barbara Burn is the widow of Emil Dolensek, D.V.M., who was for many years the chief veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo. From him she

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan General Reference (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876057245
• ISBN-13: 978-0876057247
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The all-around best book on pet selection and care, January 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Impractical Pets (Hardcover)

This book is the most comprehensive guide to animal care and selection that I have ever seen. It lists pets by category: Easy, Difficult and Impossible, and goes to the trouble of explaining why some animals (listed in the "Impossible" section) just do not make good pets for the average person. There is also a lot of information on the basic care of the species and covers, in all, somewhere around 84 species. Recommended reading for anyone who loves animals.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and imformative., January 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Impractical Pets (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this informative book with interesting facts on how to care for a tropical fish to a hedgehog to a iguana. However, I was worried about a things that were untrue in her book. She listed that iguana has teeth. I have a four-foot long iguana, but it doesn't have teeth! But in any form, this is an excellent book to read and remember.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Impossible pets?, June 24, 2000

By 

WildCat (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Impractical Pets (Hardcover)

As someone who works and lives with "exotic" animals, I found this book to be full of misinformation, both on anatomical and temperment. I have personal experience with a number of species she has listed, some of her "facts" are totally unfounded. Perhaps if you only see these animals in a zoo situation, they may be as troublesome as she contends. However, this is supposed to be about PETS. No, exotics are not for everyone. Yes, you do have to rearrange your life around them. The same holds true about any pet. Several of my friends also read this book, we all felt it was unfairly biased. The hidden agenda seems to be, anything unusual belongs in the wild or a zoo. We share our homes and lives with several "impossible pets", amazing how we seem to be surviving and loving it. The title is totally misleading. It is not a guide, but a tirade.