Animal Safety For Kids
Animal safety for kids, guidelines and rules.
Kids are naturally drawn to animals. In order to help make “man’s best friend” your child’s best friend, it is important to take into account the guidelines for the safety of your child around animals.
Having a pet can be a very positive and rewarding experience for a child. Children learn responsibility and compassion through carrying for a pet, and gain a wonderful companion as well.
As a parent, you must be the one to decide the appropriate time to introduce a pet to the family based on your child’s age, behavior, maturity and interest.
In making such a decision you will need to determine how much of the animal’s care you expect the child to be responsible for and/or how much you intend to be responsible for.
Recognizing your pets moods.
The most important lesson to teach your children is to always treat animals gently and with kindness. Animals that are in pain, afraid, or feel threatened are most likely to bite or scratch to protect themselves.
Animals, like humans, have times they just want to be left alone. Help your child learn how to recognize your pets mood and give him/her some space when they would rather be left alone.
To ensure animal safety for kids, teach your child never to pull an animal’s ear, tail, or feet when playing and do not wrestle roughly with animals. Children should never restrain animals against their will.
Your pet is a family member
Family pets adjust to children when they are treated as part of the family. Keep your pet’s immunizations, preventive meds (heartworm), flea and tick treatment and check-ups current. It is to the benefit of the animal's safety for kids to guard against disease.
Use a microchip and/or tag with up to date contact information, so if your pet is ever lost, the odds of being found and returned home safely are greatly increased.
Animal Safety Tips for Kids
● Never approach an unfamiliar dog
● Not every dog that wags it tail is friendly
● Ask the owners permission before petting a dog
● Approach a dog slowly and carefully
● When meeting a new dog let them come and smell you first
● Know where the dogs in your neighborhood live
● Never run from a dog or scream
● Be calm and remain motionless when approached by an
unfamiliar dog
● If you are attacked, give the dog anything you have
● During an attack cover your neck and head with your hands and
roll into a ball
● Never play with a dog unless supervised by an adult
● Report stray dogs or dogs displaying unusual behavior to an
adult
● Avoid direct eye contact with a stray dog
● Do not disturb a dog who is eating, sleeping or caring for puppies
● Do not make loud noises around dogs
● Never tease a dog
Protect your pet: Summer Safety Tips
In many parts of the country, sweltering summer temperatures routinely top 100 degrees. People and animals alike are stressed from the heat and it’s important to make an extra effort to keep pets cool, comfortable, and healthy. Dogs get lots of media attention during the summer, but cats and other creatures (including humans!) are at risk too.
1. Keep your emergency information with you at all times. When an
emergency situation happens, it’s not the time to start frantically
searching for your veterinarian’s phone number. Keep important
numbers and medical information for your pet up to date and in your
wallet or by the phone at all times.
2. Get to know your pet so that you can recognize an emergency. Learn
to take your pet’s pulse, count resting breaths and pants when
exercising,and ask your veterinarian how to take your pet’s
temperature. Knowing what is normal for your pet will help you recognize
an emergency soon enough to take action to minimize danger.
Normal temperatures for cats and dogs are around 101 degrees.
Anything over 103 is an emergency.
3. Never leave an animal in a parked car . Even when it’s only 80
degrees outside, the inside of a car can heat up to more than 120
degrees in just minutes. Leaving the windows partially rolled down
won’t do the trick. Even if you plan to be in the store for “just a minute,”
your pet is at risk of a heat stroke.
4. Keep animals out of direct sunlight during the heat of the day, roughly 10 am
to 6 pm. Dogs can only regulate their body temperature by panting and
by a tiny amount of evaporation of sweat through the pads of their
feet. When overheated, heatstroke can occur and lead to brain damage
or death. Older, younger, overweight, and snub-nosed breeds such as
bulldogs, pugs, shihtzus, etc. can have an especially difficult time with the
heat. Also, long-haired breeds may need a summer trim to keep cool. Just
remember not to shave the hair too close, creating a risk of sunburn and
skin irritation. We humans can pull on a pair of shorts and a tank top,
while our dogs or cats are still wearing a full set of furry “coveralls.”
A good rule of thumb is, if you’re uncomfortable, your pet is uncomfortable.
5. Know the signs of heat stroke. Symptoms of heat stroke in dogs
include excessive panting, drooling, rapid pulse and fever. Immediately
run cool (not ice cold) water over the animal and wrap with cool
towels before transporting your pet to the veterinarian. Try offering
your pet ice cubes to lick to begin to re- hydrate. Panting in cats is
not normal, and if it lasts more than a few minutes, can be a sign of
distress. See number 9, “kitty quirks” for more information on cats and
heat stroke.
6. Prevent sunburn. Animals can get sunburned too, especially short-haired
dogs, or dogs and cats with pink skin and white hair. Limit your
pet’s exposure when the sun is unusually strong, and ask your
veterinarian about an appropriate brand of sun block such as a
nonirritating, zinc oxide, that can be applied to his or her ears and nose
30 minutes before going outside.
7. Always make sure animals have access to fresh water and shade.
Try spraying down favorite shaded areas a few times during the
day to create an outdoor “evaporative cooling system.” For outdoor
dogs, try filling a kiddie pool with water and leaving it in the shade.
Just be sure to change the water often to make sure you don’t
inadvertently raise a new batch of mosquitoes.
8. Avoid strenuous exercise with your dog on extremely hot days, and
do not exercise during the intense, mid-day heat. In hot climates,
veterinarians recommend limiting activity to the early morning or
late evening, about an hour after the sun has gone down. Be sure
to bring along water, make frequent stops to allow your dog to rest
and hydrate, and keep activity to 20 minutes or less. Remember that
your dogs are eager to please and will keep going until you tell them
to stop.
9. Test the heat radiating from the sidewalk or street for yourself. These
hard surfaces absorb and hold heat. If it’s too hot for you to stand on
in your bare feet, it will be too hot for the sensitive pads of your pet’s
feet as well. And, while it’s never a good idea for a pet to ride in the
back of an open pickup truck, the same principle applies. Place your
hand against the bed of the pickup truck. If the metal surface is too hot
for your hand, it’s too hot for your animals.
10. Understand kitty quirks. Cats exhibit many of the same symptoms as
dogs when stressed by the heat. Early signs of heat stroke can
be panting that lasts more than a few minutes, anxiety and pacing,
increased heartbeat, respiratory distress or hyperventilation, lethargy,
and an increased body temperature. And, oddly enough, cats affected
by heat may actually drink less when they should be drinking more.
Add ice cubes to their water bowl, or encourage kitty to drink by dabbing
a little water at the corner of his or her mouth.
Winter Safety Tips
Brrrr—it's cold outside! The following guidelines will help you protect your companion animals when the mercury dips.
1. Keep your cat inside. Outdoors, felines can freeze, become lost or
be stolen, injured or killed. Cats who are allowed to stray are exposed
to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other cats, dogs and wildlife.
2. During the winter, outdoor cats sometimes sleep under the hoods of
cars. When the motor is started, the cat can be injured or killed by
the fan belt. If there are outdoor cats in your area, bang loudly on
the car hood before starting the engine to give the cat a chance to escape.
3. Never let your dog off the leash on snow or ice, especially during
a snowstorm, dogs can lose their scent and easily become lost. More
dogs are lost during the winter than during any other season, so make sure
yours always wears ID tags.
4. Thoroughly wipe off your dog's legs and stomach when he comes in
out of the sleet, snow or ice. He can ingest salt, antifreeze or
other potentially dangerous chemicals while licking his paws, and
his paw pads may also bleed from snow or encrusted ice.
5. Never shave your dog down to the skin in winter, as a longer coat will
provide more warmth. When you bathe your dog in the colder months, be
sure to completely dry him before taking him out for a walk. Own a
short-haired breed? Consider getting him a coat or sweater with a high
collar or turtleneck with coverage from the base of the tail to the belly. For
many dogs, this is regulation winter wear.
6. Never leave your dog or cat alone in a car during cold weather. A car can
act as a refrigerator in the winter, holding in the cold and causing the animal
to freeze to death.
7. Puppies do not tolerate the cold as well as adult dogs, and may be
difficult to housebreak during the winter. If your puppy appears to be
sensitive to the weather, you may opt to paper-train him inside. If your
dog is sensitive to the cold due to age, illness or breed type, take him
outdoors only to relieve himself.
Does your dog spend a lot of time engaged in outdoor activities? Increase
his supply of food, particularly protein, to keep him, and his fur, in
tip-top shape. Like coolant, antifreeze is a lethal poison for dogs and
cats. Be sure to thoroughly clean up any spills from your vehicle, and
consider using products that contain propylene glycol rather than
ethylene glycol.
8. Make sure your companion animal has a warm place to sleep, off the
floor and away from all drafts. A cozy dog or cat bed with a warm blanket
or pillow is perfect.
9. Like coolant, antifreeze is a lethal poison for dogs and cats. Be
sure to thoroughly clean up any spills from your vehicle, and consider
using products that contain propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol. Visit
the Animal Poison Control Center more information.