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A paperback original
The decision to include pets as a part of your family can
be fraught with uncertainty. How do you know when the time
is right? How do you select the right pet? Choose a proper
diet? Avoid common injuries? Provide adequate exercise? Avoid
allergies? Share caretaking responsibilities? Not share germs
or parasites? Whether you are ready to take the plunge or
just beginning to explore the possibility, Can We Have
One? is an essential, convenient resource for parents
considering pet ownership--or pet owners considering parenthood.
Veterinarian Lynn F. Buzhardt and social worker Sue D. Steib
combine their expertise and experience with emerging scientific
evidence to offer practical and easily implemented recommendations
for critical issues related to raising children and pets together.
With engaging warmth and humor, they explore bringing a new
baby into a pet-owning couple's household, selecting the right
companion animal for your family, managing child-pet interaction,
coping with the loss of a pet, and more. The authors focus
on dogs and cats, the most common pets in American households
and the ones with whom children and adults are most likely
to form the strongest attachments.
Pets require a lot of their caretakers, but they give much
more in return. Can We Have One? explains all the
adjustments to anticipate and the pitfalls to avoid, helping
you provide a happy home for your pet while allowing your
children to get the most out of the pet-child relationship.
Lynn F. Buzhardt, DVM, has practiced veterinary
medicine together with her husband for more than twenty-eight
years. They live in Zachary, Louisiana, and have two adult
sons who are proof of the benefits of growing up with pets
in a healthy environment.
A policy and practice consultant to child- and family-serving
organizations, Sue D. Steib, MSW, PhD, has
held a lifelong interest in the human-animal bond and its
effect on human adjustment. She lives near Jackson, Louisiana,
with her husband and their two Shelties and two cats. | 
