What do you recommend as a first pet for a child? I have a little brother who is 3, and we have no pets in the house. I was wanting to get ideas for first pets.

A dog. But not a fragile little dog like a chihuahua or something. And nothing so huge the child is going to try to ride it like a pony. A cocker spaniel is a good choice. Or really any medium sized dog.

Whatever dog you get, go to the Humane Society or local animal shelter to adopt a pet. They need homes where they can be loved and cared for. You can ask if they have a dog where maybe the owner was too elderly to take care of the dog anymore or maybe the owner passed on. Those dogs are usually the ones that were house broken and really loved. Good luck on the new pet if you get one.

DCMerkle

My first pet was a goldfish and it died the next day. I guess my parents had the foresight to know I was not prepared to care for an animal. Whatever you get, make sure it's something you can care for cause odds are good it's going to end up being your pet.

Any dog, there normaly so good with little children. My little daughter loves are dog and our dog is so gentle with her

I think a bunny or guine pig would be a great choice. I used to have both as a kid and I think they are just adoreable, cute little house pets :) Not as much responsibilty as a dog. And sorry to say, with little kids, I wouldn't get a dog from the shelter. We've got ours from there when the dog (lab) was a year old. Now that my son is 1, our dog started growling, barking and snapping at him ( without that my son was doing ANYTHING). So our dog is actually going to a new home this week, because of this. If it needs to be a dog, i'd take a puppy. So they can grow up together and you will know for sure, that there not might have been a dark past in the dog's life, which might cause some seriouse problems one day :(

Whatever dog you get, go to the Humane Society or local animal shelter to adopt a pet. They need homes where they can be loved and cared for. You can ask if they have a dog where maybe the owner was too elderly to take care of the dog anymore or maybe the owner passed on. Those dogs are usually the ones that were house broken and really loved. Good luck on the new pet if you get one.

DCMerkle

I actualy like this idea. If I were ever to get a pet, I will definitely look into this.

I think a bunny or guine pig would be a great choice. I used to have both as a kid and I think they are just adoreable, cute little house pets :) Not as much responsibilty as a dog. And sorry to say, with little kids, I wouldn't get a dog from the shelter. We've got ours from there when the dog (lab) was a year old. Now that my son is 1, our dog started growling, barking and snapping at him ( without that my son was doing ANYTHING). So our dog is actually going to a new home this week, because of this. If it needs to be a dog, i'd take a puppy. So they can grow up together and you will know for sure, that there not might have been a dark past in the dog's life, which might cause some seriouse problems one day :(

My first pet was a bunny I got for Easter when I was 7. We got a puppy the next year, but he belongs to the whole family not just me. We didn't get him from the humane society though, my aunt's cocker spaniel had puppies and she gave us one. His name is Corky.

I still feel that is good, because the puppy needed a home also. Any animal needing a home is good enough in my opinion.

My first pet (on my first Easter) was a sweet little bunny. I don't remember it but, there's pictures of me and the bunny.
So, sounds like a good first pet to me. :D

We had 2 cocker spaniels and a cat when my son was born and they were all very good with him. As for my daughter it was just the cat because the two dogs had passed on. :(

We had 2 cocker spaniels and a cat when my son was born and they were all very good with him. As for my daughter it was just the cat because the two dogs had passed on. :(

Oh, how sad about your dogs. :( Sorry to hear.

How does your cat react with kids? I've heard bad things about cats around babies, but I don't believe it's all true with all cats. My mother-in-law gave away my husband's cats when he was a little boy when his sister had her baby. I don't know if it was just because she didn't want the cats around the baby, or if she was just tired of the cats. And my grandma always said a cat could take a baby's breath. Never really got that either... I think that may have really been an old wive's tale. But anyway..... (yeah, I talk a lot, its okay to think it LOL)

Awwwwwwww sorry to hear about the loss of you dogs. :(
Did you get a new puppy for the kids?

Since he is only three years old, then something that does not take a lot of attention is something I would recommend. Just making sure that the older people in the household make sure that pet is fed will be the key. Dogs and cats require much more attention than fish and hamster do. So that might be something to really think about.

Pets are a big responsibility for anyone, even more so for children. Since this child is so young, you will want to make sure that you choose a pet that others will take care of or something requiring very little care.

I like dogs. And not ankle biters. A medium to large dog for a toddler. I'd be worried about rodents, birds, even bunnies, or animals that are small and not really able to get away. We got my son a lab/heeler mix. They act like litter mates. Things can sometimes get out of control because my son is the holy hand grenade of antioch. But our dog (just turned 1) loves him, plays with him, lays on him, licks him, follows him everywhere, and you just won't find that companionship with any other animal.

I think everyone in my family, all first pets were cats. I don't think we ever had any dogs, until the last 5 years or so. I guess we are just cat people. :) A bunny sounds like a great pet, a friend of mine had a chicken as his first one (and named it Hippie).

The first pet I ever remember having, was a hand me down pet. My sisters cat, who was maybe born a year or two before me. I got her when I was about 2-3 and had her until I was 18 when she passed. Good cat, was fixed and declawed so no worries about scratching the baby when I was younger. I think when I was 5 I had some fish too, but they never entertained me as much as that cat did, that cat was my best friend growing up. I'm happy now knowing that we have an (almost) 2 year old cat and our daughter is 9 months, so she will have that pet bond also. :)

my very first pet as a child were two baby ducks. My dad built me a pin out in the backyard to keep them and my mom would take me in the kitchen everyday to help her chop up all their veggies to eat and then we'd go out and feed them. Most days we'd also get them out and fill up the inflattable pool and let them swim around.

I loved them ducks, then when they got to full size I guess Mom and Dad got tired of having to mess with them because they took me and them out to the local lake and we released them. Looking back now it makes me sad because my guess is they were so dependant on us to feed them that they probably starved to death out there :(