8 Pets That Pose Major Health Threats to Kids

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Fact or Fiction?: Pets Protect Children against Allergies
Pets may or may not help fend off developing allergies but they will help keep the house from being antiseptically clean.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-pets-protect-kids-against-allergies

Anna Haynes of CA 2:43PM October 06, 2008

I wonder if there's any connection between pets and enhanced immune systems of children. By exposing children to these animals does it help them develop immunities such as the milk maidens and small pox.

Miguel of CA 2:40PM October 06, 2008

I'm going to kill my cat and fish and put my kids in a plastic bag (with a straw for a breathing hole)...

DaddyO of CA 2:38PM October 06, 2008

WFT is this article supposed to be helpful? Let's all just stay inside because it's safer than outside. Forever. Don't drive, you could get killed. Don't eat eggs, you could get salmonella. Don't talk, you could allow germs into your resperitory system. OMG is this what "journalism" has fallen to?

Fraidy Kat of PA 2:37PM October 06, 2008

since when do parents go out of their way to get their kids a monkey or a "big cat, raccoon or other wild animal" as a pet?? i would hope that the vast majority of parents would have more sense than that....

concerned denizen of CA 2:36PM October 06, 2008

Why are there no references to the frequency of these problems? Another ersatz news item? Kids have had these pets for years and they have never been the source of concern before. Of course that was before all these mothers were chasing their kids around with antibiotic wipes and preventative treatments for colds etc that do nothing but weaken immune systems and make people more suseptible to disease as time goes on. I say phoooey on this hoo hah!

BigEd of VT 2:32PM October 06, 2008

As for dangerous animals, you didn't include the deadliest on your list, the one that has done world damange, death, and ruin: the Human Being.
Here's the animal that should be at the top of the extinction list. Thank you.

Leticia Gormley of PA 2:30PM October 06, 2008

I've only read of one case where a ferret was accused of attacking an infant, and after the animal was disposed of it was determined that the house had a rat infestation and rats had actually attacked the child. They do try to sneak under the covers and lick or nibble your toes, it's very tcklish, but I've never had one actually break skin. I know it could happen, but I've just not experienced it with ferrets I have known.
Ferrets, while not the best pet for children, do make great pets. They are very curious and will try very hard to get outside, but once outside they don't have the homing instinct that a cat or a dog has. The next house looks just as much like home as your house and that house may not be ferret-friendly. It takes a very vigilent owner to have a ferret.

Theresa of AR 2:00PM October 06, 2008