Kathy of Studio City, owner of ferrets named Pogo, 4, left, and Bro, 2 years old. Ferrets are illegal to own in California.
(Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Tom Wharton, of Warwick, R.I., kisses his 21-year-old pet cockatoo, Tootsie.
(Steven Senne / Associated Press)
Katherine Emerson with Neil, her 17-year-old Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, at their home in Sierra Madre. Emerson won a court ruling allowing her to keep the pig. The decision was that the pig was not classified as a hog, which would be illegal to keep as a pet.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Caring for a bearded dragon takes some specialized knowledge. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)
Lynn Vonderhey walks her yearling camel, Cocoa, and her Australian shephard, Chrome, at her home in Jefferson Township, Pa.
(Butch Comegys / Associated Press)
A desert iguana is handled at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) reptile rescue center in Brighton, England.
(Carl Court / Getty Images)
Nepalese children Juna Gurung, left, and Nati Gurung hold their pet goats at the Shree Buddha Secondary School in the village of Sirdibas in Gorkha District on June 14.
