I'm REALLY upset! :(

[RubyMutt]

I can't believe that mother is so ignorant Poor chicks, I hope she doesn't get that boy a kitten

[CathyBogart]

Originally posted by carole

Now a 4 year old can have a kitten, they are old enough to learn how to treat it, its up to the parents to do so, and obviously in this case it is not going to happen.

I don't think that any four year old is responsble enough to take on the care of a kitten. The PARENTS yes in some cases, but how is a four year old going to know how to litter-train a cat?

My boyfriend's five year old nephew was taught how to act around animals, and he still isn't allowed near mine. His mother trusts him with her African Grey, but he can't touch any of my animals. I had started to change my mind on this, but when my mouse peed on him the kid THREW MY MOUSE DOWN.

Kids + Pets = BAD. Almost without exception.

My comment came mostly from working in a pet store and daily observing kids banging on the cages, screaming at the animals, or being rough with them when I take them out, even after being reprimanded by parents and myself. People also seem to think that they can leave their kids in the pet store while they go shopping. WTF?! I'm not a baby sitter!

Yesterday a kid tried to push over a cage full of feeder mice. He darn near succeeded too! Once a mother was holding her kid up and encouraging him to feed potato chips to the Amazon Parrot. I asked her to leave and not to return.

My mother taught me early on how to interact with animals, and since I always loved them so much she had a lot of teaching to do. ^_^ She still did not get me a pet of my own until I was eleven. I am not glad for that, because even at eleven I was not as good of a pet owner as I should have been.

[carole]

now wolfchan and others you mis-interpreted what i was trying to say, maybe i should be clearer, i did not mean a kid of 4 can be totally responsible for kitten on its own obviously it needs the supervision of the parents, i meant they can learn to interact with the pet and help care for it with the parents being the caretaker.
Well yes some kids do things like u mentioned in the pet store, but donot tar all kids with the same brush. thats just ignorance on your part, i am sure there are many other mothers and fathers out there who will back me up here, i was raised on a farm and i learned to interact with all sorts of animals at a very young age and i have passed it on to my own children.
saying kids and pets= BAD is simply not always true, and a very biased and unfair comment., and very judgemental.
I am just as horrified as you are about the chicken and the kitten, i really hope she does not get this child a kitten, but its the parent you should be mad at not the child, they are only 4 and learn what they live.