Cats and Children

 Are your kids ready to own a ca?. If so there are few things you have to make sure that they do and don't do for the health and safety of the animal.

DO encourage your children to take responsibility for feeding your cat on time. It is a good way to teach them discipline Always check every single day to make sure that the animal has been fed he or she is doing this as required or your pet could starve to death. Just because you are teaching your child responsibility does not mean your child is ultimately responsible for the pet – you are!

DO encourage your children to clean out your cat's litter box every day and empty it for you. This teaches them that along with the fun of owning a pet comes a few chores.

DO teach your children how to groom the cat. This is a message to the cat that the child is the boss. It also strengthens the loving bond between you and your children.

DO discourage children from teasing children or showing a lack of respect for its body parts. If your toddler cannot grasp the idea that pulling on a cat's tail causes it distress then it is time to find another home for the cat.

DO encourage children to leave sleeping cats alone. Cats need a lot of sleep to be emotionally help.

DO encourage your child to only speak to the cat in a soft, gentle voice. If the cat tries to swipe, bite or gnaw on a child, instruct the child to say no and set the pet down.

DO not hesitate to take your child to a child psychologist immediately if you find it abusing or torturing the animal in any way. This kind of behavior is often a precursor to serious mental, psychological and social disorders that need to be treated early.

DO not hesitate to find the cat a good home if the relationship between your child and the cat is not working out. The cat will easily adapt to a friendly environment and be happier then in one where it has to suffer abuse from a family member.

DON'T let your children kiss your cat on the mouth. This is a good way to catch a virus or a cold.

DON'T let your child handle a kitten that is less than three weeks old. Often kids can't keep their hands off the mother and the kitten. Handling the kitten too early not only compromises its immune system but also traumatizes both the mother and the kitten emotionally.

DON'T let your child mistake the litter box for playing in his or her own sandbox. Conversely don't allow your cat to go in your children's sandy play areas.

If for any reason you think your child may abuse a cat or is not ready to do any of the things recommended in this article then it is probably best not to have one at all.

Understanding Baby Formula

The only way to cure a baby whose colic is caused by an allergy to milk is to take the baby off of milk and put him or her on a hypoallergenic formula. The problem is that the market is glutted with all kinds of different formulas. How do you know which one is best for your colicky baby?

Most mothers feed their baby a standard based formula. Standard infant formula is made of cow's mill protein. This can cause some confusion for parents who are told to never give cow's milk to a baby before her first birthday. This is because milk protein is very irritating to the young human intestinal tract.

As the vegetarians say, ' I am not a baby cow!'

When companies make this formula they break down the cow casein and why protein and modify it in a way so that it is nutritionally appropriate. Still your child's body may react to the proteins in standard formula. In fact this type of formula is one of the biggest villains when it comes to causing colic in babies all over the world and why donations of formula to third world countries are also frowned upon by some experts in children's poverty.

This is because formula is not a universal solution to hunger. If it is the wrong type it can make a child sick – as in give it severe colic.

In order to create formulas for the protein allergic infant manufacturers go a step or two further with milk protein, They heat and treat it (called hydrolyzing) the protein to break it down into smaller chunks. After protein is hydrolyzed the body has difficulty recognizing the cow protein and the baby does not have the allergic reaction. These formulas are the hypoallergenic formlaes.

The drawback of these formulas is that they really smell. This is because when proteins are broken down they cause an odor. The odor is often compared to old, cold hamburger that has been stored at the back of the fridge for a few weeks.

If your baby doesn't like the taste of this type of formula then you can try adding a drop of vanilla extract or a half packet of NutraSweet Sugar substitute to make it taste better. Don't add sugar to it as it can cause diarrhea.

Yet another drawback is that this formula is really expensive. The cost of standard hypoallergenic formula runs from about $350 a month for a typical infant.

Some babies cannot tolerate the hypoallergenic formula, which means you have to go to a super hypoallergenic formula. In these formulas the proteins are broken even further down. Sometimes these formulas are also called completely hydrolyzed formal. It contains not a trace of intact protein.

These super hypoallergenic formulas are even more expensive then the hypoallergenic ones. They are also even smellier. However for the infant that has an inflamed intestine this formula may be just what the doctor ordered.

Soy does happen to be a fine nutritional alternative to breast milk and standard formula if your baby can tolerate it. However soymilk can also cause acid reflux symptoms if your child just happens to be allergic to soy!