Are certain kinds of pets better than others, especially for young kids?

For kids under age 5, experts say to steer of these pets, which can bite, trigger allergies, or spread disease and infection:

• reptiles (turtles, snakes, lizards, iguanas)
• rodents (hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, chinchillas, hedgehogs, prairie dogs, mice, rats)
• amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders)
• ferrets
• baby poultry (chicks, ducklings, goslings, turkeys)
• monkeys
• illegal exotic animals

Still, kids may get up close and personal with these kinds of animals at places like zoos, petting zoos, pet stores, and county fairs on family or school outings. But caution and precautions are key to keeping little ones safe as they explore and observe. Whenever young children interact with these animals — ands other common bacteria-transmitting ones like cattle, sheep, and goats — it's extremely important to:

• closely supervise
• encourage kids not to kiss the animals or put their hands in their mouths after touching them or being in or near their enclosures
• make sure they wash their hands really well and/or use hand sanitizer afterward, whether they actually touch the animals or not. Kids under 5 in particular should be supervised to make sure they're washing their hands well.

Of course, no pet is perfectly safe. Even beloved cats and dogs can still bite, scratch, trigger allergies, and carry infections, too — but they are better choices than other animals.

Yes, most definitely some pets are better than others and yes specially for young kids.Lets say we have two pets, now we all know how nice pets are but not all of them could be nice as they look.One parrot and one dog, this parrot can sometimes go crazy and the dog can as well, the parrot maybe uncontrollable on the other hand the dog is always loyal and can be controllable and knows when to be nice with kids and people or no.