Every year RJ Scott does a monthly Autism Awareness blog hop. Part of that tour is to mention some autism facts. Mine was taken from the National Autism awareness Fact Sheet.
Autism Fact “Autism greatly varies from person to person (no two people with autism are alike)”
I’m happy to participate in this event because as some of you might be aware of my younger son is on the spectrum. The fact above couldn’t be more true. I have met many children with autism and their struggles are different for each child. Autism is considered a spectrum for its ability to manifest in many ways. Some have only minor learning disabilities while others can’t speak at all. My son is luckily highly functional but that doesn’t prevent him from having to struggle to get his ideas out. Often he has problems collecting his thoughts enough to convey what he wants to say.
After many years of effort by various teachers and at home my son has learned many valuable coping mechanisms and has made impressive improvements. We are very proud of him.
RJ told me that animals are the focus of this year. In our house we have three cats and a dog and although my son doesn’t do a lot of interacting with them other than to grumble when they take the spot he wanted on my office couch, I know he appreciates their innate companionship. I see him sliding his fingers through their fur when one of the cats plops down beside him and enjoying their fluffy texture.
CONTEST
Share your favorite pet or child story for a free copy of one of my ebooks and a $20.00 GC to Amazon or your favorite ebookstore.
Amber Kell's Blog 
Thank you for taking part in the blog hop, Amber. I’ve always lived with pets, they are full members of my family. Very recently (four months ago), I lost my beloved kitty, Lula, and I’m still mourning. She was my baby, I found her at a rescue shelter, but in fact she found me. I went there to look for another cat, who would ignore me all the time. Lula, on the other hand, kept trying to climb my legs and catch my attention. She knew I was her human, and she was right. I took her to my flat and she turned it into our home. She gave me five wonderful years…. You see, I’m crying now. Pets always give us love, and ask for nothing but attention in return. I miss her so!
My brother is autistic and struggles with social anxiety, about 6 months ago he rescued a cat. Buddy was the most standoffish wound up cat you would ever be likely to meet but with time, patience and love from boy to cat and from cat to boy we now have a cuddly, happy cat and a boy who’s willing to try new places and people. They are just beautiful together!
My favourite story about my son is with our two dogs. He named both of them. Girlie for our jack Russel and diamond for our labrador (because her ears are triangles. Both are females. Now Girlie is a girl due to her name. But for the life of us he will not accept that Diamond is a girl dog.
My favourite pet story is about my rabbit Specks. When he was a baby, just after we got him, he stayed in my room in a small pet carrier. So for exercise, I would let him out to hop around on my bedroom floor with all cords either picked up or block away with boards so he couldn’t chew on them. I would sit on the floor or lay on the floor while he was hopping around and on occasion he would climb over me. Specks is still with us and is now so big that it is hard to believe he was ever so little.
Thank you for participating in RJ’s Autism Awareness blog hop.
My son is autistic, and contrary to a lot of people on the autistic spectrum, he is terrified of dogs and cats. Well, I should say, he was afraid. He is now thirty years old, and he has outgrown his fear, but when he was just a little boy, going to the petting zoo or visiting friends with pets was a nightmare.
my grandson is on the spectrum and has trouble with emotions. animals are one of the things that he doesn’t understand how to interact with. that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t enjoy watching my cats and laughing when our male tries to make our female play with him
I also have two on the spectrum. They’re not as severe as some but definitely struggle daily. My youngest daughter has a stuffed cat that’s very much part of our family, her name is Chocolate. She goes where we do, eats what we do, and everything.
One of my favorite memories is of our iguana, Paquita and our cat, Tiger. When Tiger first came to our house as a kitten, he was curious about Paquita. He would want to be around her and play with her. She was very patient and tolerant. He would snuggle up with her and lie down with his paw around her and they would take naps together like that. It was just so adorable. Tiger eventually died from kidney failure at the age of 6 and Paquita died last year from old age but the memories remain of our precious pets.
We had a cat , Tess. When we got her she had been a barn cat. She was terrified when we brought her home. Not of us..oh no she had immediately bonded with our youngest son who was about 5 at the time. It was the new surroundings that scared her. When we brought her into the house she immediately ran down to the basement and hid. We’d go check on her, make sure she was eating and using the facilities. 😜 Then one day when we were all in the livingroom, there she was, in the doorway just looking at us. No one said anything and my youngest just patted his blanket covered legs. She slowly walked over to him, jumped up and laid down. From that point on they were connected at the hip. She’d spend nights with him and sleep on his bed, during the day , waiting for him to come home from school…..until she passed away the year after he graduated high school. We still miss her terribly. A quiet, loving animal , devoted to ” her boy”.
When my kiddo was just learning to crawl she would get really close to her puppy (dog is only 3 months older than kiddo) and she would grab the dog’s tongue and pull or stick her fingers in the dog’s eyes, nose, or ears. Our sweet puppy would just lay there and take it until she had enough. Once the dog had enough she would go hide in her cage and pull the door to so kiddo couldn’t get in.
My favorite pet story has to do with my granddaughter. She was three, and at the time we had a very large cat named Hobs. Hobs had gone behind a chair to get away from her. She decided to scoot her butt in after him. A minute later you saw her butt scooting back out. She stood up, came over to me with her hand on he cheek, looking so sad and just said, “Hob’s hit me”. It was just too cute.
I’m so glad to participate in your event this year. I have to mention our 4 yr old Cocker-spaniel Atticus who we got as a 5 month old puppy. Since the day we got him he just was not a dog we could cuddle with or hold in any way. We can run our palm along his sides as he walks by you but he never sits or lie down for longer than a minute (no kidding) I’ve never seen him sit or lie down ( except to sleep at night) he does not even take a nap during the day he only paces the perimeter of the room he’s in. He does not like to be cuddles or held in any way.
He is otherwise a sweet dog I just want to hold him but he won’t let us.
Thanks for the post and giveaway! My favorite pet story is about my BFF’s dog. She was a wonderful dog and submissive to an alpha personality. It drove my friend nuts that her dog acted more submissive to me than her. When my friend had her son, we saw this dog become incredibly protective of her son. She sat between anyone new (or not family) and the baby. It was amazing to watch. Years later that same dog watched over my baby as he slept in another room.
My dog Kinzy (whippet) was already 10 when my first child Athena was born. When Athena was 2 she was so insistent that she was going to ride poor Kinzy! Kinzy decided she would let Athena ride her back probably thinking she’ll just leave me be when this is over! After that Athena took over her dog bed which was really a cat bed the only kind Kinzy liked!! They just layed there together and snuggled each other! Athena and Kinzy were best friends and absolutely inseparable!!!
I had moved to Alaska with my cat a beautiful long haired calico named Muddlemore we lived in a tent for a year out on the muskeg the first time she stepped out and got her feet wet that was it for a year she never left the deck. We moved into town that Spring I had room-mates and I told them don’t let her out for the next few days until she gets settled but she did get out and the neighbors dog chased her into the trees. She never came back. I looked and finally heard that she was chased into the jail yard that was up the road from us after that never heard about her again. I even got the prison to set a couple of live traps but no Mud. I think or at least I hope a guard took her home with him. She was 12 at the time I still miss her after all these years.
My favorite pet was my uncle dog Shelby. He was a golden retriver that we would watch when they went on vacation. He was a quite dog that would walk you up by jumping you in the bed to take him for his morning walk instead of barking.
my dog wasn’t a huge cuddler, she’d like to cuddle up to you but didn’t want you to do it to her so much (no hugs for her). of course this was great at night when she’d be up on the bed taking up all the room, all had do was rest up against her real close or rest a hand on her & she’d move over if not off the bed. however, when I broke my ankle that seemed to change for some reason. maybe she got a new appreciation for “mama”, I’m not sure. but after that she’d accept hugs or let me use her as a pillow for at least a little bit before being annoyed and moving. of course it also meant it got a lot harder to make room on the bed at night since she’d no longer quickly move aside as she had in the past when she was being a bed hog.
cute kitten that likes to snuggle
I’m not really sure I have a favorite pet story. My Buttons (toy poodle) constantly provides us with entertainment. He’s about 16 now and still likes to play and run around the house.
Kittens are cool and I would love to own a owl.
My first dog, the one I could really call my own, was a little thing, crazy and full of energy. She was very protected of me, followed me around everywhere. Sometimes she made me mad -as mad as a dog can do to a child- but I loved her so much. I had her for 17 years and I still missed her. She was one of the best.
We have a nearly 1 year old german shepard called Bella. She likes to patrol at night and watch over us all or sleep on the end of one of the kids beds. She also loves to help me wake them up by snuggling under the kids arms. I’ve always grown up with dogs and enjoying seeing my kids getting to experience it all too. Bella is very protective of the kids and I but is a sook and baby around my hubby 🙂
I’ve always had pets so it’s hard to pick one favorite story but one of the more recent ones was from a small hike I took my dog on. I wanted to get out and he saw the hiking shoes and decided he wanted to go even though it was raining (he is not a fan of the rain). I decided we would try Council Crest in Portland; hoping the trees would provide some cover. He did pretty good with his rain coat on but every time we came across someone on the trail, he would get super whiny and his ears would get super droopy as if he was trying to tell whoever we saw that I was torturing him. He’s not as quick to get excited with the hiking shoes, but he starts jumping around when the leash comes out.
I have always wanted a cat but my husband wanted a dog. So for his birthday and anniversary I got him a pomeranian. Molly is so sweet but love to jump on u. About 4 years later I told him that she needed a playmate,and we should get her a cat to play with. He told me it was up to me. So one day we went to Walmart and this older lady was sitting by her car and she had a sign saying free cat. I went over to her and she told me someone had threw her out and she wanted a good home for her because she could not keep her. She gave her to me and I was so happy that u can get almost anything from walmart. I name her tigerLilly and she became a part of my family. Even tough she tries to ride molly back. I have been blessed to have them in my life. I did find out later on that tigerLilly was a boy
So I have 4 dogs and 4 cats, all indoors along with my mom, my sister and I. When we moved into our house (remodeled farmhouse) 5 years ago, we only had 2 cats and 3 dogs but it was still a circus that winter when we found we had shrews invading our house. Let me tell you, I will never forget the sound of a pissed off shrew being chased by 2 cats and 3 dogs around our house!! I was very afraid of the tiny thing but as my sister and I were standing on top of chairs, I couldn’t help but crack up at how all the animals worked together to catch it. It was priceless. The thing even bit one of my dogs on the nose. Needless to say, no more shrews! It is still pretty funny to play a recording of the noise a shrew makes because all the animals jump up and are on high alert 😂 Life is never boring with pets!
I had a pug who the absolute best dog ever, he was a part of the family. There are so many stories I could tell about him but I still laugh thinking about how he was addicted to Mister Softee, which is an ice cream truck in my area. One day I was blow drying my hair and he came running into the bathroom & jumped up on me and ran away. He did that two more times before I turned off the hair dryer to see what was up with him and I heard the music from the ice cream truck playing and him whining at the front door. A few neighbors started buying their dogs ice cream too, so much that the ice cream truck driver bought Milk Bones to put in the dogs’ ice cream.
I love this story about your dog!
Pets are so patient. Our daughter is on the spectrum so *fist bump* down in the trenches with you and your family. Our cat laid still while our children placed a number of foam blocks on her backside.
Marie.Mattingly88@gmail.com
I want to thank you and RJ . I have a grandson who is also autistic i would not have known what was happening to my little man if not for reading the posts from you two. We still had difficulty getting the medical profession to listen and school is a nightmare they just want to put him on a by himself sorry. Thank you both
The only pets I have ever had have been hamsters, the ones I had (only ever one at a time) all had very distinctive personalities, the one that stands out in my memories was called Dusty, he was the most snuggly and affectionate little guy ever, at that time I wore t-shirts with a breast pocket, he would either snuggle on my chest or if he fancied a change would go into the pocket, always with his head peaking out so he could see me, he was exactly what I needed during a very troubled time
We had dogs when both my boys were born, but they were older and did not live for very long after my kids came along. Once the second one was gone, I had a 5 and 3 year old boy and decided to take a break from dogs. We went probably 6 years without one, until I discovered my youngest was terrified of dogs. Any kind, nice and small scared him. We decided that both the boys were old enough to help care for a puppy and that it would be good for them. Our puppy is now 12 years old and my son is no longer terrified of dogs. He still has is wary of dogs he doesn’t know, but our dog has been a great addition to the family.