# Hamster/rats with dogs



## Nellie D (Mar 7, 2013)

Our cavapoo puppy, Rosie will be coming home on the 20th April, so we have been getting everything ready for her. 

I have two rats and two hamsters at the moment, and once cleaned out it takes them very little time to make the cages smell very strongly of urine. 

After reading a book on training I noticed a page about heightened senses (smell/hearing/etc) which made me quite concerned.

So here I am to ask, has anyone got rats/hamsters and a dog... and if so how does your dog react to the smells?
Silly concern I know, I just want to make sure everything's perfect for her


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

We have gerbils - they live upstairs in the kids bathroom - this has always been the case. The bathroom is warm and it means that they are safe from the dogs when we are not home.
Kiki loves to watch the gerbils - we call them 'Dog TV' she sits wiggling with excitement and chatting away to them, while Lizzie is in the bath, or if I am upstairs sorting the washing etc.
Gerbils do not smell as much as hamsters, which we have had in the past - one of our hamsters used to charge around the living room in his exercise ball chasing the GSD we had at the time - like Rhino off Bolt!
I don't think the smell is half as exciting to the dogs as the movement and the noises that small rodents make and their wheel as it wizzes around.
Good luck, I'm sure it will be fine.


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Be very very careful. I say this from bitter experience! Happy dog. Deceased hamster. Horrified child.


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## NikkiB (Jan 16, 2013)

We have guinea pigs and we introduced them straight away as they are kept in an open top cage on legs in the spare bedroom. Samson loooooves watching them and they will touch noses through the wire which is very cute. But i would never leave him alone with them as they are animals after all!! But he doesn't seem to bother too much about them now at all even when they are really smelly on clean out day! He always goes with me to feed them and watches them running around and squeeking and it's just become part of the routine and he's just not bothered with them.


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## flounder_1 (May 12, 2011)

We had a guinea pig that lived indoors when Lolly was a puppy. She paid it no attention unless it was in it's outdoor run in the garden - when she would bark and bark and circle the run going mad. Needless to say - the poor elderly guinea pig didn't go out in its run very often once we had Lolly.

The guinea pig is now in piggie heaven but we have a giant African Land snail which has been with us since August and just this week Lolly noticed it on the side of it's glass tank and barked and barked at it! What a daft doggie she is!!!


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## Chintzy (Feb 10, 2012)

We've got 2 gorgeous little grey and white ratties. Adorable sweet things. Apple has always ignored them. She barely gives them a look and they are in a cage on a low table. I wouldn't trust Apple for a second though when the ratties are out of the cage. One thing really helps, a plastic bottle with coins in it. When Apple was young we used to shake a bottle/coin rattle when she kept nipping. It was a last resort but it really worked. She's terrified of it. When we clean out the rat cage and they are loose on kitchen island we keep the bottle near them. One day the rats pushed the rattle off the island and Apple now thinks ratties are very scary!!!! Her ears go down and she slinks past them. We are still very vigilant though as ratties are quite brave and don't seem to be scared of Apple!!!! FYI We have discovered a fantastic grey coloured bedding called Back 2 Nature and we barely get a whiff out of rattie cage now. Even when daughter doesn't clean for 2 weeks!!!!! We also use a wood based cat litter. It might help as our rat cage used to smell strongly only after a couple of days when we used shredded cardboard. You can buy in PAH or Amazon.


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