Seeing this video led me to wonder what other presidents had for pets. Of course there's a Wikipedia entry about it.

John Quincy Adams had silkworks and an alligator; James Buchanan had an eagle; Nixon had a few dogs, including of course Checkers the cocker spaniel; and Teddy Roosevelt had a one-legged rooster, a macaw, a badger, a rat, some guinea pigs, a garter snake, and a bunch of dogs. Apparently no president was pet-less.

I suddenly believe in American exceptionalism.