On a sunny school day afternoon I was invited by Dr. Sixto Carlos to speak about responsible pet ownership to a group of young ladies from the Immaculate Concepcion Academy (ICA) in Greenhills, San Juan.
The audience was actually members of their school’s pet owner’s/science club and the seminar was actually the activity they had for their school’s club and organization week.
The seminar was an opportunity for me to relive my days as a member of “Pet-Aware”, an organization that myself, Dr. Carlos, and some other friends founded some years ago wherein we visited schools to teach children and young adults about responsible pet ownership.
With the growing increase of public interest in adopting animals for pets Pet Aware may make a comeback to help these new pet owners, especially the
younger ones, the true meaning of responsible pet ownership.
The lecture that we presented to the young students of ICA showed the different ways of how to care for their pets and included such topics as proper feeding and nutrition, maintenance of their pet’s health and hygiene, signs of illness and disease, and safety and security for both themselves and their pets.
The lecture included several important items to remember as pet owners such as foods that are harmful for your pets, the importance of pet vaccination, and even showed a video on the dangers of Rabies.
It was very heartwarming to see that many of the club’s members were already pet owners themselves but were very open to learning what we shared with them.
The young ladies of ICA were very accommodating to us and were very
happy to tell us about their own pet stories as well as ask questions of how
to take better take care of their pets even after the presentation.
We ended our short but wonderful stay at ICA with hopes that we have shared our message of true pet responsibility to a new generation of pet owners. I look forward to making more of these lectures with Dr. Sixto Carlos and the staff of Makati Dog and Cat Hospital to share this message
with the new generation of pet owners.
Benedict de Borja
pateros_14@rocketmail.com