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| Thursday, August 03, 2006 |
| When is the best time to get a pet for your kid? |
Question: When's the best time to get a pet for your kid?
Answer: If you're more than a few months pregnant or have a baby or toddler, I suggest waiting until your child is older than 2 before bringing a new dog or cat home. Adopting a pet is a big commitment of time and resources, and the added responsibility can be difficult for new parents. You'll spend as much as three hours a day training and exercising a new puppy, and up to an hour with an older dog. Keep in mind that your child probably won't be mature enough to help out with a pet until he's 7 or 8 years old.
As far as cost, you can expect to spend up to $400 a month on your pet for food, training, and other expenses — especially in the first six months, when you'll be buying supplies and going to the vet more often. Buying a dog or cat can set you back anywhere from $100 to $200 for a shelter animal to $2,000 or more for a purebred (plus extra costs for spaying or neutering, vaccinations, and microchip identification).
If you still have your heart set on getting a new pet now, consider a dog or cat that's a "young adult" — from age 1 to 5. Dogs and cats in this age range are best with young children. They're not as excitable and prone to rough play as puppies and kittens, and they're not old enough to suffer from arthritis or other health problems (which can make pets crotchety and add to your responsibilities as a pet owner). Also, many young adult pets at shelters have lived in foster homes, where they've been trained to live with families. But no matter where you find your pet, be sure to choose one that's comfortable around kids.
By Nikole Sledd, animal behaviorist
Nikole Sledd received her bachelor's degree in animal science from Cornell University and has been training animals for more than ten years. She offers private training, group classes, and behavior modification programs for family pets in the San Francisco Bay Area through her Oakland, California-based company, Creature Teachers. In addition to helping individual clients and teaching group classes, Nikole trains, cares for, and finds permanent homes for a continuous cycle of foster animals. She is "owned by" two shorthair cats and two big mutts, all former rescue animals.
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posted by SGPETS @ 1:42 PM  |
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