My girlfriend and I have a 7 year old nephew who lives with us, and baby twins (they're a bit over 3 months old).

My nephew adores animals, as do I. He has a pet fish, but he really wants a pet he can play with. Like any 7 year old would say, he says he'd take care of it, but I know my girlfriend and I would probably be stuck with a lot of the work (although he takes excellent care of his fish ). Now I actually want a pet as well, so I don't mind hugely.

But the question is what pet? I was thinking about a dog. Would a dog be unsafe in the house with baby twins, and there's also the drag of having to train a dog. Whatever it is, I think we'd adopt (cheaper and I prefer to adopt anyways). I was also thinking of maybe a rat.