http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081006/ap_on_he_me/med_exotic_pets


Came across this on Yahoo! just now. I'm not sure what I think about this article. Just thought I'd share and see what others thought.

Yeah I just read this myself and was pretty peeved. I mean, like guardian said, it should be common sense that a child under 5 shouldn't be unattended and doesn't really have the responsibility to take care of these pets themselves, but the parent's should be teaching proper handling practices rather than just rehoming their animals.

Plus it's going to start a wave of exotic pets being thought of as dirty and gross, and our animal shelters will be filled with them if people take it to heart

In my mind, any doctor who subscribes to this train of thought gets a red flag immediately and I do not use that doctor ever. Its would tell me without a doubt that the doctor has done absolutely no medical research and should not, in my opinion, have a license to practice until they show they've done some research. Its just like the doctors who tell people they can't have cats when pregnant. Aren't doctors supposed to know that the risk of getting sick from your cat while pregnant is so small it's almost non-existent and that all people have the same risk of catching something from the cat even when they aren't pregnant? People need to start taking their doctors/teachers/whatevers' opinions with a grain of salt and cross-reference everything that is said to them.

Hmm. I have a 5yr old and 4 yr old. We have 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 rats. I tell people that they are family pets. My kids are WAY too young to care for an animal, and they are pretty responsible for their age. They help out; my 4yr old feeds the dogs, they each take a leash when we walk the dogs, and the 5yr old picks up rat poop after we've played with them out the cage. But if they forget that's fine, because it's MY responsibility overall.

I have also made sure the pets we chose are a good fit for our family. Like when we wanted a 2nd dog, sure I would have liked a different kind, but I went with a dog that was a better choice for ALL of us.

I think that our pets have taught the rewards of patience to the kids.

It's not that they think you are at higher risk of getting sick while pregnant, it is that toxoplasmosis is really only harmful when you are pregnant.  Once you contract it, you will have it in your blood for life, which isn't a big deal.  If, however, you contract the disease while you are pregnant it can actually be dangerous.

That being said I certainly didn't get rid of my cats while I was pregnant, I simply asked my husband to take over all litter-scooping responsibilities since I didn't know if I already had toxoplasmosis

I have to agree with well.. most everyone here.  Who, in their right mind, leaves their young kid to play with / care for an animal alone?  My kids have jobs regarding the pets and plants. I think it is great to teach them responsibility, but a parent has to make sure that things actually get done and get done right!

I do think that it teaches them responsibility to care for a pet, though.  My daughter, for example, waters two plants that she has claimed for her own every morning.  Once she had been diligent about watering her plants for a long enough period (two months) she was allowed to get a pet fish.  Every morning when she wakes up, she feeds the fish.  I think it is important (and I'm not saying that pets are the only way to accomplish thing) for children to feel like they have something important to do that is also rewarding to them.

This makes me very unhappy. We had a rat when I was two, she was the most wonderful pet to have with such a young child. Having a dog or cat is far more dangerous with young children. (although, I think animals of all kind should be a part of every child's life!) Grrr

I grew up with an iguana named Dave. I think animals of ALL species when your young is a fantastic thing.

i also had a guinea pig, hampsters, chameleons.. (i forgot the exact type) a hedge hog and a chicken before i was in the 3rd grade. <.<

I think the take-home message from the journal article should have been that pediatricians should be asking about pets in the home and educating parents about the potential risks.  And that animal contacts should be in mind when evaluating ill children.

The news article mentioned a case of a young infant getting salmonella and being hospitalized for a month because of it.  He got it from the free-ranging iguana in their home.  It is probably very reasonable to educate parents that some animals pose a risk of salmonella and should not be allowed to free-roam in the parts of the home where your infant is on the floor.  But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have an iguana at all.  I wouldn't have free-ranging rats in the nursery either, but that doesn't make it dangerous to have a secured rat-room in another part of the house.

And I agree Rattiemama -- stop telling me how to raise my children.  The whole premise that edicts from government or organizations should replace responsible parenting just bugs me.  Responsible parents make sure their kids wear bike helmets -- so we better pass a law to make them do it.   Sorta like the whole mentality we're moving to that if there is something, anything that we think people should learn before becoming adults, it needs to be part of the school curriculum since a certain percentage of parents won't bother teaching their children those things.  Or might (gasp!) teach them something different than the official sanctioned opinion.  There's some sort of universality of what "good parents" do, and somebody somewhere is going to make them do it.  And the rules for "good parents" keep going deeper and deeper into our lives.

YAY! One more stupid excuse for people to abandon their pets. Aren't enough pets already abandoned because of the media telling them that once they have a baby, they don't have time to take a shower, sleep or eat, let alone take proper care of a pet?! Good god, we have a 10 month old son, and we're 3 months pregnant with our next baby, and we have "exotics". Am I going to get rid of them because some idiot tells me that these pets carry bacteria? No, however, some idiots out there will. I'd rather have my kids grow up "immune" to these pets, understand and respect ALL types of animals and learn that they need to wash their hands after touching the pets (as well as anything else that is icky, like other children, toilets, etc). People who shelter their children from everything are going to end up with sickly kids because they've never been exposed to anything to build an immunity to it. Besides, if you're worried about contracting disease/illness/bacteria, then keep them out of schools, daycares and such, where they'll come into contact with 50 times more icky HUMAN transferable diseases, bacterias and illnesses. *Sigh* Gosh, stupid things like this get under my skin.

What surprises me there is that AFV actually showed this and someone in production must have thought it funny 

And, to top it all off, don't you get like $100 if your video makes it to TV?! God, let's all be idiots, put our children in danger and allow them to kill animals, and we can win money and get our kid on TV! *Sigh* The human race is doomed. :/

My thoughts