Animal empathy does have a duration (much shorter than a summons) and yes, the animals will desert when it wears off. They're probably not happy about being forced into helping you.
Regarding Bard/AA: If you took Bard just to qualify for AA, then no need to worry about spells. This is enough to get you AA when you meet the other requirements. If you're looking to increase Bard for some extra spellpower, though, then you do need to beef up your Charisma, which must be equal to 10 + the level of spells you want. Bards get up to 6th level, so your charisma would have to be 16 if you want to go that high.
Nightowl2
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