at what age would you allow and encourage a child to be solely responsible for a pet that requires attention and bonds back like dogs, cats, roddents and some birds. cailen has a pony and they are close but without a lot of our help she couldn't look after it.

For smaller animals, like mice, fish and budgies depending on the child, around 10 years of age you can establish a routine of feeding once a day, cleaning out the cage/tank once a week/fortnight and encourage your child to stick to that routine.

For larger animals, from around 12 years of age they should be responsible enough to feed the cat or dog, clean and fill up the water bowl each day, walk the dog, let out the cat etc.

For very large animals like goats, pigs, sheep, cattle, horses etc. from around 16 years of age they should know what to do with each of those animals.

Most of all make sure your child actually wants a pet before buying them one and make sure the pet is easy to handle eg, smaller dogs as opposed to large ones, domestic cat as opposed to persians etc. And with very young children (infants, toddlers and preschoolers) never leave the pet alone with the child until the child understands what a pet is and never while the child is sleeping.