So, the second most important question regarding Autistics. What do you get your autistic for a pet? Well, it depends but I personally feel that Cats and birds are particularly desirable. I mean, I happen to like both. I would have to impose this limit here: You need to establish first if an Autistic can handle the responsibility of a pet because more often than not, you will be taking care of it. High Functioning Autistics like myself can have pets, but that’s due to a level of maturity that keeps me from smothering pets to death. Autistics really have a hard time of picking up on other people’s emotions but animals are a little easier. Still, like the proper saying in D&D, “Never consume an energy source bigger than your head.”, you should never get a pet that is more than twice the size of the owner. Its a very unwise thing to do.
Dogs are good if you get one of those Autistic Trainer dogs. They are similar to blind people dogs, in that they help you ought. Those with little control can get trainer dogs, but if there is more control than you can have other kinds of dogs. I would not be inclined to get a dog personally, but it may work for you. Just remember, more often than not, you are going to be cleaning up after it rather than your autistic, who may completely forget about doing it sometimes.
Birds are nice because you can get talkative ones. Some are also kind of small and so easy to hold. When starting out, get Budgies or other such small birds as they are good trainer pets for bird owners. If you can’t handle the small birds, then you won’t be able to handle the larger ones. Larger parrots like African Greys or Amazon parrots are very close to a human child in terms of their mental abilities which is their thought processes and emotions. You should check the studies done with Alex, an African grey parrot. Also, be sure you can handle the dropping and loose feathers since there will be some of that to deal with. Birds lose feathers at times and so you will need to do some cleaning as well as with the droppings.
I like Cats a lot. They are usually cute, the source of much entertainment and they can be really good companions. They can be also extremely dangerous so you should think hard and read up on cat behavior to help you out. A cat is a fairly independent creature when it doesn’t want food or to play with you, while it should want to play, always feed it properly. Cats are easier to play with/interact with people, since they don’t have a bunch of issues as much as people due. People are filled with lots of stress and what have you, then they decide they need to share that someone else even if the person really doesn’t care. I know I usually don’t.
I don’t think any other kind of pet is really good choice because it requires more from the parent/autistic than can be safely handled. The exception would be mice/hamsters/rats(maybe) because they can have cages with exercise materials put in to let them do self-play.
The main argument against dogs is this: They can tend to freak out when you aren’t around more so than birds or cats will. This is the result of extensive human breeding which makes dogs considerably more docile. Some breeds are more laid back and relaxed and make the better dog pets.
Still you should choose this on your own, and if you want the most easy pet, then get a goldfish. Just don’t get a cat as well.
russgamer 