When You Can't Have a Dog or Cat in Your Apartment

The "Expandable Pet Tunnel" is apparently perfect for a cat, ferret AND rabbit.

The lead article in the NY Times Real Estate section is for anyone who has ever wanted a pet in your NYC apartment, but whose building or allergies prevent them from getting a dog or cat. There are apartment dwellers out there whose pets include rabbits, chinchillas, and a 5-foot-long iguana "who wanders freely" in his owner's apartment, even "reliev[ing] itself in a paper-towel-lined bathtub."

Some buildings are simply very strict about prohibiting dogs, so some tenants are left to finding ways around the rules. One family decided (okay, the dad wasn't consulted at first but he's been won over) to get a rabbit. Pounce gets the run of the two-bedroom Upper West Side co-op and is "lot more petlike than...expected. Plus, he's pretty much litter-box-trained, save for "occasional misfires [that] take the form of odorless hard pellets about the size of an M&M."

Of course, many pets outside of dogs, cats and birds aren't allowed by the city's health code, which you can read (PDF) here. Prohibited animals include hippos, grizzly bears, pumas, pandas (!!), and...iguanas. One real estate lawyer tells the Times, "It's much easier to harbor a pet in the building if it's not a dog. Unless the animal is a nuisance, the buildings in general are not going to enforce the rules." But she had this cautionary tale: "We had a case a couple of years ago where a rent-stabilized tenant had a lizard that ate crickets. The crickets were shipped in by mail, but somehow they got out all over the building and they had a huge cricket problem."