Daily Paws

Pet news, tips, entertainment and opinions from VetLocator.com

Archive for August, 2012

Daily Paws Picture of the Day: Caption this!

Friday, August 31st, 2012

Daily Paws for Ashburn Virginia

Daily Paws Picture of the Day: Hamster

Thursday, August 30th, 2012

Daily Paws for Ashburn Virginia

Kitten Nibbles Ears

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

Daily Paws for Ashburn Virginia

Daily Paws Picture of the Day: Peek-A-Boo

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

Daily Paws for Ashburn Virginia

Children and Pets – Safety Tips

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Work of a therapy dog: Stella visited her fost...

Children learn wonderful life lessons from pets.  Most parents know this and most experts agree.  So your job is to pick those pets that are right for your children, your household and your life.

When picking a pet,  choose one he can help nurture, feed, and care for.  This helps develop good habits and attitudes in children.

The pet’s safety is also important so consider that too when choosing.

Young children shouldn’t be left alone with a pet because they could unintentionally hurt the animal. A child under five doesn’t have the ability to control his temper and should always be monitored while around the pet.

The best pets for children less than six are fish, gerbils, hamsters, budgies, and Guinea pigs. Rabbits don’t make good pets for smaller children because they are sometimes temperamental. Reptiles aren’t good for children under school age because these kids are more prone to contract salmonella.

The tasks your small child does to help take care of his pet should be appropriate to his age. When younger, he could help you clean the animals bowls or help clean the cage. When your child is older, the responsibility of brushing a cat or brushing and bathing, a dog is more appropriate. When older, he could apply the ear mite medicine to the pet’s ears.

Birds need more daily maintenance like cage cleaning and fresh water and food. They are easy to feed needing seeds and pellets and sometimes fruit.

Fish are also a good choice.  The majority of fish are cheap and easy to maintain and most of them are easy to feed and a simple aquarium will do. Parents will need to be sure that the water temperature, nitrogen level, and the pH balance are correct, when the fish belong to small children and older children can learn to check these things on their own.

Rodent pets such as mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils are basically inexpensive, simple to house, and are low maintenance. Be aware some rodents bite, chew on stuff, and some are escape artists. They are fun to watch and some like human attention.

Have fun choosing a pet, and enjoy it as your children learn the lessons pets help teach.

 

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Daily Paws Picture of the Day: Excuse me, do you have the time?

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Daily Paws for Ashburn Virginia

Poll: Is it dangerous to feed a puppy or a dog raw meat?

Monday, August 27th, 2012

Read this article  –  http://bit.ly/MuYgKC

[polldaddy poll=6491848]

Cute Baby Tiger Gets a Bath

Monday, August 27th, 2012

This 3-week old baby Amur Tiger is being hand-raised by zoo keepers at the Minnesota Zoo, after its mother stopped caring for her. To substitute for its mother’s cleaning tongue, they decided to give him a nice little rinse.

Daily Paws Picture of the Day: Can you see the love in mom’s eyes?

Monday, August 27th, 2012

Daily Paws for Ashburn Virginia

Poll: Are cats better than dogs?

Friday, August 24th, 2012

Read this article: Why are cats better than dogs (according to the Internet)?

[polldaddy poll=6485465]