The Rat: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet [Hardcover]

Ginger Cardinal (Author)

Book Description

Series: Happy Healthy Pet | Publication Date: November 25, 1997

This is our seventh set of Happy, Healthy Pet titles. Like the others, they are books pet owners can turn to for the essential information they need to raise a healthy, happy pet. All books contain information on:

• feeding
• grooming
• housing
• health care
• what to expect from the pet
• basic training

As our series expands and focuses on different kinds of pets, the emphasis remains on making the pet a companion. Owners of more unusual pets will particularly appreciate the expert advice in these books because professional care for exotic animals can be hard to come by. As always, the instruction on the books is from experts—people who know their pets intimately but always remember what it was like to have one the first time.

Happy, Healthy Pet guides are rich with professional quality color photos and are designed to be enjoyable and easy to learn from. More and more people are discovering each year what affectionate, intelligent and charming pets rats can be. Ginger Cardinal already knows. She's the former president of the Rat, Mouse and Hamster Society and a longtime breeder, exhibitor, judge and dedicated companion of these special rodents.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

At last, a book about your rat that emphasizes total care and companionship!

The Rat not only provides you with all you need to know about housing, feeding and keeping your rat in the best of health, but also gives you tips on how to train your pet. You'll even learn tricks to teach your rat! Insight on the history of the rat as a pet and information on the many varieties available are also included.

The Rat keeps you fully informed on your pet's need for attention and how to handle him properly. You'll also learn how to introduce your rat to children and to other pets in the home, and how to choose the breed that's right for you. Best of all, the book is filled with color photos, info-packed sidebars and fun facts to make caring for your pet rat easy and enjoyable.

About the Author

Ginger Cardinal, has been a rat lover since childhood and has raised rats for pet shows for over ten years. She is a charter board member and certified judge of the American Rat, Mouse & Hamster Society, and has written and edited the society's newsletter.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Howell Book House; 1 edition (November 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876054289
• ISBN-13: 978-0876054284
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Animal Care & Pets > Rabbits

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for the novice rat enthusiast, January 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rat: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Hardcover)

The author has a genuine love of rats as pets that we members of "rodentia" can appreciate, she provides illuminating insights into the care, feeding, housing and (very important) providing of entertainment to our precious "ratties" and "rattinas". Her book has proved INvaluable in repect to the references for rat illnesses. I heartily recommend to any rat fancying household. By the way, to the unconverted;they are way better pets for your kids than a hamster.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ultimate pet manual, July 26, 2000

By 

Martha Ambrose (St. Charles, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rat: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Hardcover)

I have almost 50 pets, so I do a lot of reading on my special friends. This book is my favorite book about rats. I recommend it each time I sell a rat at the pet store I work at. It is wonderful to have on hand as a reference and to read just for fun. The chapters on health care and training are especially well done. Anyone who loves ratties should have this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, but lacking in some descriptions, September 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rat: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Hardcover)

This book has much good information about pet rats, but I didn't find some information I was looking for. There were very good tips on how to decide if a pet rat is right for you and on recommended cages and different toys rats like and don't like. We have two pet rats we bought at a pet store that look like the rat on the cover, but I had trouble determining what variety these are based on the descriptions and pictures. Also, the cage size recommendation was only for one rat, so I wasn't sure how big of a cage I need for two rats. In the Feeding Your Rat chapter, lab blocks and dog kibble were mentioned as staples, but the pet store had rat food which appears to be a mixture primarily of seeds and some food blocks. I couldn't tell from the book, whether this mixture of food was good for my rat. It would help if the book covered more information on what is available in pet stores and whether these are best for a pet rat.
All in all though, a pretty complete book.