History Main / LabPet

* The Medic's doves from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' are never used in any of his experiments, but they do hang around the lab. One of the birds, named Archimedes, has a habit of tunneling through the innards of the patient Medic is currently working on.

* ''{{Literature/Felidae}}'' has an interesting variation. A lab using cats as test subjects for an experimental "glue" for wounds takes in a stray that appeared at the door, deciding to use him as a mascot. After countless failed experiments, dozens of dead test subjects killed by the glue, and a cut in funding, the head scientist opts to use the mascot as a test subject. Miraculously, the glue, and the scientists believe they've made a breakthrough. Turns out that this particular cat, now named Claudandus, has a mutation that allows him to absorb the substance harmlessly, making him the ''only'' animal they can use for their experiments without killing him. As such, he went from a pet of the scientists to enduring countless painful experiments, ultimately leading to [[spoiler: his StartOfDarkness]].

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lab_pet_5.png]]]]

* ''Webcomic/Spinnerette'' Inverted: Dr. Demikhov turned his pet dog Laika into a cyborg by [[https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/issure-32-02 grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba]].

* ''Webcomic/Spinnerette'': Inverted: Dr. Demikhov turned his pet dog Laika into a cyborg by [[https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/issure-32-02 grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba]].

* ''Website/Spinnerette'': Inverted: Dr. Demikhov turned his pet dog Laika into a cyborg by [[https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/issure-32-02 grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba]].

* ''Webcomic/Spinnerette'': Inverted: Dr. Demikhov turned his pet dog Laika into a cyborg by [[https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/issure-32-02 grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba]].

* ''Webcomic/Spinnerette'': Inverted: Dr. Demikhov turns his pet dog Laika into a cyborg by grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba.

* "Webcomic/Spinnerette": Inverted: Dr. Demikhov turns his pet dog Laika into a cyborg by grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba.

* "Webcomic/Spinnerette": Dr. Demikhov turns his dog Laika into a cyborg by grafting her head and tail onto a Roomba.

* In an episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' Sam leaps into a lab chimp in the space exploration lab, being prepared to go into space. His experimenter gets attached to him, and complains when he's transferred to helmet testing - which is basically "put a helmet on a chimp and bash its head with a giant hammer."

* In the short-lived Creator/WarnerBrothers series, ''WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain'', Elmyra from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' acquires WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain as pets when Acme Labs goes bankrupt.

* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Bev adopts a pit bull named Earl that had escaped from the science lab. [[spoiler: Her husband sends poor Earl off into space, in an attempt to get rid of him, but two StarfishAliens return him to Bev.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'''s feline judge Judd is [[ImpliedTrope implied]] to have been this to his former owner, the Professor. His unusual fur pattern and intelligence, coupled with the fact that his owner is known to have been a brilliant scientist, suggest that Judd may be the product of some sort of experimentation. Furthermore, when [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt land-dwelling creatures faced extinction due to rising sea levels]], the Professor [[HumanPopsicle cryogenically sealed Judd away for 12,000 years]] -- as ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' reveals, the capsule Judd was sealed in is also capable of cloning him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' Mojo Jojo started out as the professor's lab pet.

* ''Film/NightOfTheLepus'' has this as its set up: the Scientist's daughter has grown attached to one of the test rabbits, and she swaps him with one from the control group. When said rabbit escape, it leads to the invasion of giant rabbits.

* In the 2001 family film, ''Race to Space'', Billy, the son of a NASA scientist, befriends one of the chimps being trained for space missions.

* Music/DoctorSteel is shown in two of his videos keeping lab hamsters as pets. One dies, giving him a moment of grief. ([[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments But only a moment...]]) While he's shown as being fond of them as pets, he's apparently not ''too'' attached to them (either that or he's not very good at naming pets); the second one seen has the imaginative name "Hamster 65".

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lab_pet.jpg]]]]

* ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'': Lindisfarne, the daughter of Kevin and Kell, has two mice as lab animals she wants to use in a school project on carpal tunnel. Of course, she [[http://www.kevinandkell.com/1996/kk1022.html plays this straight]]

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Film/StarTrek''. [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Admiral Archer]] allows his pet beagle to be used in a teleportation experiment... with unfortunate results. [[spoiler:(WordOfGod has it that this will likely be a BrickJoke later in the film series.)]]

* Music/DoctorSteel is shown in two of his videos keeping lab hamsters as pets. One dies, giving him a moment of grief. ([[CrowningMomentOfFunny But only a moment...]]) While he's shown as being fond of them as pets, he's apparently not ''too'' attached to them (either that or he's not very good at naming pets); the second one seen has the imaginative name "Hamster 65".

''Occasionally'' a work will invert this trope: a character will take a beloved pet and use it for experimentation. Often this can be used to show what a heartless JerkAss the character is, or that the character will simply do anything ForScience.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}, Chuckie is given a new allergy treatment, which works for a while, but proves to be only a temporary solution. To make up for it, the allergist lets him keep her lab mouse, "Cheddar."