DOMESTIC ANIMALS

2.0 Domestic Animals

• Domestic animals are the animals that are kept at home. They include cow, donkey, chicken, duck, horse, rabbit, cat, dog etc. 
• Domestic animals are important to human life because:
  • They provide, meat for food, milk,  o security, eggs,  o manual Labour and  o May be sold to generate income. 
  • Some animals like cows, donkey, horses and rabbits produce wastes to make manure. 

Animal welfare

• Domestic animals are of great use to us. They should be treated well and showed love. 
• To care for domestic animals,  o They should be kept clean and  o Given medication for good production. 
  • Food and water should be provide pastes and 
  • Parasites should be controlled and treated to ensure good health among domestic animals. 
  • Water should be given to them and  o They should be protected from extreme temperatures.

Uses of animals

Cat

• Its kept for beauty
• Provide safety against rats at home

Rabbit

• Provides meat
• Kept for beauty at home

Dog

• Provides security at home
• Used for transport
• Provides companionship

Pig

• Sold to give us money
• Provides pork and bacon

Fish

• Is a source of food

Camel

 Used for transport  Provides milk.

Horse

• Used for sports
• Used for riding
• Used during war

Camel

• Provides labour when ploughing land
• Used for transporting goods and people
• Provides fur

Bees

• Gives us honey
• Pollinate our fruit crops
• All domestic animals are important to us. Some domestic animals provide beauty at home, others provide security while others provide us various food products such as meat, milk and honey.
• Some domestic animals also provide us with transport.
• Various communities in Kenya use some of the domestic animals during cultural ceremonies e.g. the Somali community use camels as payment for dowry during marriage ceremonies.
• We should therefore love and take care of all the domestic animals. We should also encourage other people to treat them well.