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.

Breast Fed Milk Allergies

Just because your baby is being breastfed does not mean that it cannot develop a milk protein allergy. While it may occur less frequently than formula allergies the babies nonetheless can have symptoms of milk allergy. The suspicion on the part of a pediatrician that the baby might be allergic to breast milk is why most doctors recommend that a new mother start the infant on formula.

Many mothers think that when their child develops an allergy to breast milk that he or she is actually allergic to her milk. This is a common misconception and a true allergy to your own mother's milk wold be very rare indeed. The baby is, in actuality allergic to certain proteins in your diet that you have digested and that eventually end up being secreted into your breast milk. . Sometiems if you eat less of these protiends the child is still able to tolerate the breast milk. This means that you as a mom have to be careful about what you eat in order to make sure that your breast milk does not cause colicky symptoms in your infant.

The treatment for mil protein allergy in the breast fed baby is dietary retraction of the offending proteins. While some lactation experts will recommend broad sweeping restrictions most babies will do just fine with the restriction of the milk proteins casein and whey. This translates to mean that you can't drink milk or eat milk products like cheese or yogurt. This is because it is the components in cow's milk that are likely making your baby colicky and sick.

The foods that contain casein and whey that you should avoid are

· Milk
· Butter
· Half and half
· Sour ream
· Yogurt
· Ice cream
· Cottage cheese
· Custard
· Curd ghee
· Nougat
· Brown sugar flavoring
· Margarine
· Deli meats
· Chocolate
· High protein shakes
· High protein flower
· Nondairy creamer
· Cheese

Your baby usually shows signs of improvement after just a few days of clearing your diet of milk proteins. Some babies may take two to three weeks for the complete healing of the intestinal inflammation. The key is to be patient and give it enough time. Many babies really do settle down after the two week period.

If you change your diet and the baby is still sick then you will no longer be able to breast feed the child. The main treatment for the milk allergic baby is to take him or her off milk and feed him or her one of the hypoallergenic baby formulas. There are all different kinds of formulas on the market that do not have a trace of these proteins and once your baby starts drinking these the symptoms usually disappear altogether. Removing intact cow's milk protein from the baby's diet serves the role of making baby feel better as well as confirms any suspicion that milk allergy was the cause of the colic in the first place (if the symptoms are relieved!)