Children & Pets

[jennifer5799]

note: I decided to put this down here since I am including all types of animals - please feel free to move it if there's a better place!

I would like to know for those of you who have children, what are their ages and what responsibilities do they have when it comes to animal caretaking? Or if you're still young, what do you do (and/or what did you do when you were younger)? Or little brothers or sisters, etc...

I have 2 children, ages 6 & 10. Neither of them do much with the animals - they're "my" animals for the most part. My son (the 6 yr old) does share some responsibilities with the cat, but that's rare (giving her the occasional can of cat food if I run out of meat, or if we're having a fasting day, since kittens can't go as long as dogs without food, plus she's just a pig and eats more than my biggest dog, I think, LOL). They're too little to walk them, they're too young to handle the raw food, because of the raw food the yard doesn't need cleaned up. Usually the most that they do is to put them in their crates or pick up their toys. And play with them of course!

[meli]

I have young ones to..two daughters 6 and 8 who will be 7 and 9 in Oct./Nov and a 16 month old who will be 2 in DEC. My dogs are MY pets and so will be the ferret(s). My daughters are great with the dogs. They feed them, take them outside and love to watch me bathe them.

My son as small as he is..is surprisingly great with the dogs. He loves..and I mean loves animals. I do plan on teaching him on becoming very familiar with my future ferret(s)..and I do take him to the pet store to catch some looks at the hamsters and guinea pigs. I've grown up with animals my entire life ranging from rabbits to mice, snakes to iguanas, cats, dogs so yea I pretty much know whats in store ha ha

I know my son is small, but I've taught my daughters around his age to deal with small animals *supervised* and unsupervised. They've had their fair share of gerbils and hamsters from my sons age till last spring. They're gerbil of almost 3 years died..they were devastated. So I'm pretty confident with them.

Sorry wandered off there lol but umm when they had their gerbil they helped feed, clean and played with him. He never bit them and was extremely gentle as oppose to our hamster (she would bite)
So when I do get my ferret(s) I plan on teaching all 3 kids the basics and will let my older ones help feed and interact playfully and gently with our future family member(s)

[Forum Administrator]

Hey Jenn, what about having the kids help you brush/groom the ferts? Or maybe they could help you make bedding for them. If the ferrets have a cage why not have them help you clean the cage?

Sorry I dont have more ideas, I dont have any human kids, just the furbabies.

[meli]

Ya I'm sure kids would love to make stuff for em..or even brush them!

[moddedmama]

I have two kids, my daughter is 7 and my son will be 6 in less then a month, they help out with little stuff, scooping the cat box, getting fresh water when it's needed, of course I always ask them to, they are too young to remember on their own. My animals are 'mine' so to speak, I don't think that any child should have full responsiblity of a pet. My daughter wants to get her 'own' pet rat. So I made a deal with her, that if she saves enough of her allowance to buy the cage and bedding and food and other necessities and if she kept her room cleaned, then I would allow her to buy her own rat. And I would buy the second since they are social animals. I figure by then if she meets the requirements she will have shown enough commitment and responsibility to care for a pet. But in the end it would still be MY responsibility at this age to make sure she's reminded every day to feed and water and make sure the cage is cleaned out. But I think the earlier kids are taught these things the better. My dog is simply too big for either of the kids to take for walk or anything, he and my son are almost nose to nose, hee hee. They love to play with the ferrets and the rats though, and I think it's great. It irritates me when I see ads for cats or other pets that need a new home, simply because baby is on the way.

[buzzonesbirdie]

My oldest daughter just turned 6 in may and the other is going to be 5 in aug. The 6 year old has to make sure that the cat has food and water(she is my cat person) and to check the ferrets water and let me know when they need more(she cant and is not allowed to open the cage for reasons that include searching for 7 ferrets for most of the night one sunday). My 5 year old has to make sure that the dogs have food and water. Both of them help me when i clean the ferrets cage by putting the new bedding init. They help me walk the puppies(they always want to walk them so i double leash the puppies and give one leash of one dog to one child and i hold on to the second leash of each puppy) But in the end they are all mine, inlcuding the ferret that is my hubby's and the two dogs that are my stepsons(all he does is pay for their needs i do everything eles).

And the most important thing of all they play with all of the animals