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.

Does Your Baby Have GERD?

Before you can understand GERD you need to comprehend what GER is.

GER is describes a continuous every day normal function. Very simply, gastro esophageal reflux (GER) describes the physiologic condition in which stomach contents come back up from the stomach into the esophagus. It is a physiologic process, which means it is normal. In fact all babies have reflux and so do you. It is normal for the stomach to occasionally push its contents up into the esophagus briefly every now and then. It is how often that the stomach does this that makes it a painful thing.

In a healthy baby GER doesn't cause problems. The acid that makes up the refluxed material can irritate the esophagus and upper airway so much that symptoms develop.

When symptoms interfere with a baby's day-to- day activity reflux is referred to s gastroesoophageal reflux disease (GERD). Doctors may refer to it as pathologic reflux.

The difference between GER and GERD is key. It helps us discriminate between a normal function and an abnormal one. Babies with GER spit up but don't suffer any consequences. This is your average happy, healthy growing baby with wet burps.

On the other hand babies with GERD typically face problems relating to feeding, growth or breathing as a consequence of their reflux. These are typically identified, as sick babies ho need medical attention. So while all babies have some degree of GER fewer suffer from GERD.

Everyone including you and your baby experiences reflux during the day. However as an adult you do not need a burping cloth.

Babies' reflux is due to elements of infant physiology and anatomy, which may lead some credence to Dr. Harvey Karp's theory that there is a 'fourth trimester' that a baby experiences outside the womb. (Karp is a very famous contemporary pediatrician whose advice is dutifully followed by many parents.)

The theory is that usually a faulty stomach valve causes GERD. It is faulty in a baby because it has yet to develop.

This valve in question is at the bottom of the esophagus. It is a ring of muscles called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) that helps keep stomach contents where they belong.

In babies the LES does not stay squeezed closed. When this happens stomach contents are allowed to flow back into the esophagus. By the time a baby is six weeks old these muscles grow stronger and less regurgitation is likely.

The fact that reflux can go on more than one or two months o face tells us that reflux is due to more than just a LES issue.

On of the major factors contributing to reflux in infants is the delayed emptying of the stomach. Under normal circumstance a liquid meal should be gone from a baby's stomaching approximately a half an hour to an hour. During the first months of a baby's life the stomach can be inefficient at emptying and milk has a tendency to sit in the stomach longer than it should. This is because the baby just has slower intestinal motility and there is nothing anyone can really do about it except cope with it and be tolerant until the baby's digestive system is more mature.