Guest guest Posted October 19, 2003 Report Share Posted October 19, 2003 Hi Lynn! this is one of my favorite subjects....I believe you know I have two cats, a fish and a snail...I highly recommend the cats. As long as they are not " killer cats " ! (as my mom calls my one cat...) Shadow is a little bit aggressive and tends to hiss at when he gets too close; Shadow is rather autistic-like actually. He is 11 years old; very set in his ways, likes to be touched only when HE wants to be touched, he is obsessive about his food, his routines are totally predictable...he is a beautiful long-haired Maine Coon cat and the only messes he makes is with hairballs. Regina is my 10 year old sweet/affectionate little kitty. She sleeps on my legs or my head every night. Both of my cats were rather settled in their ways before joined the household, so they had to adjust to him. He grew up respecting them, as we taught him very carefully NOT to touch Shadow's tail, just to walk around him, and how to pet Regina real carefully. He loves them and includes them when talking about his family. He had to draw pictures of his family at preschool last week and they were right there in the picture with us. Having pets that are sort of " fragile " has made him learn something about safety- if he does something that he shouldn't, e.g. grab Shadow's paw or something like that, and he gets scratched, well, then he learns safety around animals. I sort of wish that we had a dog for him to be able to rough-house with more, but he has fun playing with our cats too. We don't let him feed the fish because #1 he did once, and the whole bottle went into the tank and #2 the flakes have lots of gluten in them, so he appreciates the fish but has no passion for them. I have started " letting " help me with scooping the cat litter boxes and feeding the cats/giving them water, etc. Teaching some good lessons in caretaking and responsibility, respect for living creatures, and how fun they can be to play with and to love...so I am totally a fan of getting animals for your kids. has always loved animals and says he wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up, so he probably will be... I would recommend that you either get a young kitten to grow up with Jagger, or a young juvenile who is very affectionate/easy-going, etc. No full-breed cats or tempermental ones! Good luck with your decision. Oh- and perhaps not a long-hair either, even though they are beautiful- they tend to be more work and are definitely more messy with hairballs and allergens! stephanie Expect a miracle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 19, 2003 Report Share Posted October 19, 2003 Hi Lynn, We have two doggies and Trevor didn't notice them after he became "Autistic"....... But did before..... Now with his many improvements, he hugs our larger dog regularly, he sits in the recliner to watch a video and Molly hops up with him. He pets her and loves her dearly. Our little dog is older so she's more afraid of him than him of her. He's recently even made attempts to interact with our neighbor's dog in which he also didn't notice before and also tries to pet my dad's dog when we visit. My sister has my nephew who is 9 with Autism and she has two cats. Because they don't demand any attention from him, he doesn't acknowledge them. He does however notice dogs because they are usually jumping on him or trying to lick him or play with him. They seem to draw him out of his shell a little more. Hope this helps. - Sandi Need advice on pets Does anyone out there have a pet? We are considering gettingsomething for Jagger, but not sure what. He doesn't really approachdogs, sort of stands and looks at them, so I don't know if he willeventually warm up or freak out. He will pet a cat. Today in the petstore he was looking at birds and seemed to enjoy them. I personallydon't want the responsibility of having to walk a dog and find asitter if we go away for more than a day - - nor do I want to clean upbird poo-poo off the walls, so a cat seems like the easiest (I think).SO, please tell me what you have and how your child has responded tothe pet. Also, did your child's feelings change toward the pet fromwhen you first got it, be it better or worse.Thank you!LynnSupport Everyday Miracles by shopping online at IGIVE.COM, where a portion of every purchase is donated to this support network. Proceeds received will be used for a variety of functions, such as educational activities, therapy, famiy outings, etc. http://www.igive.com/EDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 19, 2003 Report Share Posted October 19, 2003 We dont have a dog ourselves, but my dad has a small pomeranian and my sister has a small beagle. My son likes both of these pets and he probably would do well with one. I dont have a personal bias against having a dog, but our yard is not fenced right now and our house and yard is small. If and when we get a dog it will be a smaller dog (although I actually prefer larger dogs) because of the size of our house and yard. Large dogs need and deserve plenty of space where they can run around, they also eat a lot more and make more mess in the yard. The pomeranian my dad has is very sweet and tolerates my son well and is nothing to clean up after and eats very little. Other small dogs may be a good choice too. Our neighbor has guinnea pigs which my son also seems to enjoy. I know he enjoys fish too, but I am not up to learning all about fish right now. There are some good websites that teach about getting a fish aquarium for the first time. You cant pet fish, but there is something calming and pleasant about a nice looking (not necessarily large) fish tank. Personally, I may not get a pet until you can cover them on your health insurance plan......another thing to consider. They can be expensive if they get sick and there is a certain amount of routine health care to keep up with even if they are not sick. If you get a dog, think twice about getting one that requires a lot of grooming, ie. poodles and cocker spaniels tend to need a lot of grooming. I dont mind cats and I think they are pretty easy to care for, but cats are not in general known for being highly interactive - although I have seen some very interactive and affectionate cats that also tolerate children well. I dont have a link for this, but I have seen a website before that helps families figure out what kind of a pet is good for their family type. Some veterinarians probably would have some good advice or helpful information in this area too. I think you can find this information by doing a search on "Selecting the best pet for my family" or something like that. Good luck, Maureen Need advice on pets Does anyone out there have a pet? We are considering gettingsomething for Jagger, but not sure what. He doesn't really approachdogs, sort of stands and looks at them, so I don't know if he willeventually warm up or freak out. He will pet a cat. Today in the petstore he was looking at birds and seemed to enjoy them. I personallydon't want the responsibility of having to walk a dog and find asitter if we go away for more than a day - - nor do I want to clean upbird poo-poo off the walls, so a cat seems like the easiest (I think).SO, please tell me what you have and how your child has responded tothe pet. Also, did your child's feelings change toward the pet fromwhen you first got it, be it better or worse.Thank you!LynnSupport Everyday Miracles by shopping online at IGIVE.COM, where a portion of every purchase is donated to this support network. Proceeds received will be used for a variety of functions, such as educational activities, therapy, famiy outings, etc. http://www.igive.com/EDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2003 Report Share Posted October 20, 2003 We have fish! They are not goldfish, they are all other kids that will stay small and aren't "dirty" like goldfish. Talk to someone at an aquarium shop....they are so wonderful they've taught me alot and the kids just love going there. It started as just 2 big, fat, ugly, inactive goldfish that we received with tank and all from a relative. I might add I was not up to adding fish to our family but wasn't really given an option. Well, would go to the fish tank all the time and just watch....be the fish never did anything - they were too fat. Time went by and eventually they both died. I was a little worry how to handle the death part with my 4 y.o. Since redirection is usually a great tool I decided to redirect him from the death of the 2 uglies to the 8 new, cute, very active little ones. And it worked. The new ones a fun to watch and I find at the tank all the time. He actually brings me the fish food when it's time to feed them and that's not something I ever trained him to do - he just picked up on it. I think he knows they're for him :0) Both kids love the fish and so do most kids when they come over (i.e., Trevor & ). And actually I think "fish" is an easy word for them to say..... does now say fish......we'll maybe it more like ish. I think fish are an easy thing + when you go on vacation you don't have to worry about them - they have a feeder tablet that they can feed off of for 5 days. I wish my dog was that easy :0) -----Original Message-----From: Lynn Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 8:57 PMTo: EverydayMiraclesAutism Subject: Need advice on petsDoes anyone out there have a pet? We are considering gettingsomething for Jagger, but not sure what. He doesn't really approachdogs, sort of stands and looks at them, so I don't know if he willeventually warm up or freak out. He will pet a cat. Today in the petstore he was looking at birds and seemed to enjoy them. I personallydon't want the responsibility of having to walk a dog and find asitter if we go away for more than a day - - nor do I want to clean upbird poo-poo off the walls, so a cat seems like the easiest (I think).SO, please tell me what you have and how your child has responded tothe pet. Also, did your child's feelings change toward the pet fromwhen you first got it, be it better or worse.Thank you!LynnSupport Everyday Miracles by shopping online at IGIVE.COM, where a portion of every purchase is donated to this support network. Proceeds received will be used for a variety of functions, such as educational activities, therapy, famiy outings, etc. http://www.igive.com/EDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2003 Report Share Posted October 20, 2003 Hello Lynn, We have 6 cats (actually had 7 until a couple of months ago when I gave my really old cat to my mom so he could have a quiet retirement away from my " NT " son who loves to chase, play, etc with them). We've had cats since before was born, so to her they have always been around in some sort of mixture. We did get 2 kittens when she was about 2ish. She is okay with the cats and basically has a great understanding with them " You leave me alone, I will leave you alone " although there have been a few cases where she will pet one or chase one. All in all, cats are very easy to take care of and are non-threatening to in particular. We tried a dog for my son when was about 1 ish and it just didn't work, too much work with the potty training, and is now deathly scared of them (although at the time she had the same understanding with the puppy as she does with the cats -- not that the puppy cared!). You can leave the cats for a few days without worrying, also. Just have to make sure they have plenty of food and water. Hope this helps! Tanja > Does anyone out there have a pet? We are considering getting > something for Jagger, but not sure what. He doesn't really approach > dogs, sort of stands and looks at them, so I don't know if he will > eventually warm up or freak out. He will pet a cat. Today in the pet > store he was looking at birds and seemed to enjoy them. I personally > don't want the responsibility of having to walk a dog and find a > sitter if we go away for more than a day - - nor do I want to clean up > bird poo-poo off the walls, so a cat seems like the easiest (I think). > > SO, please tell me what you have and how your child has responded to > the pet. Also, did your child's feelings change toward the pet from > when you first got it, be it better or worse. > > Thank you! > Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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