For parents and kids:
- Tips for living with dogs and cats
- A point to remember when dogs and kids interact
- Precautions to take with small pets
Look Out It's Walking on Two Legs
Keep the dog or cat's food dish where a child younger than three years old can't sample the wares. Believe it or not, the concern here is not that the baby might eat something harmful -- pet chow is fairly nutritious and digestible -- but that the child could choke.
Mommy, Look What I Found!
Keep all pet medicines in a child-proof cabinet, particularly the heartworm medicine, which looks like brown bread pellets or gum balls.
If you have a small child, or if a toddler spends a lot of time at your house, don't buy those round kitty treats that look like gum balls and are the perfect shape for a toddler to choke on.
These Snacks Weren't Meant to Be Shared
To discourage your young child from habitually munching on dog biscuits, keep pet treats on a high shelf. But don't panic if a baby or child picks up a dog biscuit and gnaws on it -- as long as the treat isn't broken into pieces so small that the youngster could choke. The ingredients won't harm the little one.
See, Dad? Bowser Really Likes These Treats!
Babies have a charming habit of giving people food to a dog or cat in undreamed-of quantities or of handing out every treat in the box. Monitor the children and pets when they're together. It doesn't take a super smart cat or dog long to figure out how to take advantage of a youngster.
Nice to Come Home To
Children who come home from school to an empty house feel much more secure and loved if a pet is waiting for them. If you don't have children, consider loaning your pet, especially a well-trained dog or playful cat, to such a household for the after-school hours.
Bowser Will Be Expecting You
If you work outside the home during business hours, or if the child's home is strictly "no pets," consider loaning the youngster a key to your house. You'll be training a potential pet-sitter at the same time. Of course, you'll need to check with the child's parents first. You'll also need to lay down (and write down) ground rules about which areas of the house he may use and how long he should stay (probably 30 minutes or so). And make sure the youngster knows emergency phone numbers and how to lock the doors behind him.
For parents and kids:
- General tips for living with pets
- A point to remember when dogs and kids interact
- Precautions to take with small pets
Grumpy Old Dogs
Remember that an aging dog might not be able to handle the same boisterous treatment he could even a couple of years ago. When a child starts walking and can pursue the dog, establish a "dogs only" area where your dog can keep away from sharp pokes and too-hearty thumps without resorting to nips and growls of his own.
For parents and kids:
- General tips for living with pets
- Tips for living with dogs and cats
- Precautions to take with small pets
Incredibly Inedible
Keep gerbils, hamsters, fish, water turtles, and frogs out of baby's reach. A baby might squeeze the tiny animals and hurt them. But it's even more likely that the tyke will pop a tiny creature into her mouth. If this happens, call the pediatrician for advice on whether the baby bears watching.
Screen All Visitors
Install on top of the fish tank a tight-fitting screen that clicks into place. Available from fish stores, these screens keep toddlers from dipping in to terrify the fish or pull out seaweed, snails, or gravel for consumption.
But Mom! You Said We Should Share
Other pet accoutrements are small enough for babies to choke on and fascinating enough to lure little folks. Keep small cat toys, seed sticks for birds, hamster pellets, charcoal for the fish tank, and similar objects out of children's reach.
