ASD and Animals (story time!)

Everyone has their prefered animal/animals or you just simply love them all!

I love reading storys about animals and how they help their owners but i also want to hear how (if at all) your ASD has influenced (without or with knowing) your choice of animal/colour/type 

Mine started with a short haired generic old rehomed cat called Cidney when i was around the age of 13, i was easily a bedroom recluse either playing imaginative storys with my animal  teddys, playing pokemon i think it was the GB colour or might have been Advanced/SP, organising my yu-gi-oh cards and watching whichever disney/pixar/dreamworks/lord of the dance/Cats the musical video i had at the time, he became my bedroom dwelling buddy... cutting out some backstory, he was my cat.. it was unconditional love

After Cidney had passed away (trying to keep this minimal without weaving an entire story and then some) i came across Thomas at my college, he had to be rehomed because he kept getting into the public eating area and some customers really dont like cats, so i offered to take him

Thomas was a long haired version of Cidney, except because i was older and not dealing well and spent even more time in my room, i confided SO much more in him and he gave me so much love and reassurance in return, he was a proper fatboys, i cant begin to explain the affection and love he gave and i dont mean anthropamorphic, i mean genuine just wanted to be with me and from the self harming to the suicidal thoughts im not being dramatic in saying he kept me from not being here.

After Thomas passed away (this is pretty much a cat time line) and if i was to go into pouring my heart out about Thomas there wouldn't be enough words in all the languages put together to even come close to describing him so i gave up on cats.... i was having regular melt downs, i was sat for 4 days in my room wouldnt talk, wouldnt eat, didnt want to know and it took a while to truelly get back to functioning, even now i cry my heart out over him, but that was that and i was done....

About 3 months passed and walking in the house wasnt the same, my bedroom wasnt the same it all felt very void... everytime someone so much as mentioned another cat i wouldnt talk or simply said no, then came Luna....  

Abit of a skipped story later, it wasnt until i started reading and researching and looking into ASD that i made a connection and it answered so much for me:

Cidney was ginger and white, ginger tail, broken ginger on his forehead

Thomas was ginger and white, ginger tail and broken ginger on his forehead

Luna is ginger and white, ginger tail and broken ginger on her forehead 

Now im not saying any other different type or colour cat i wouldnt have this experience with but i have only been very recently diagnosed and im workong piecing myself together? And i do feel like although minor to many this is a big thing in my life and the coincidence in it/unknown to me choices are all pretty awesome and the need of having this little ginger and white kitten was overwhelming (and ill be truthfully honest i adore black fluffy cats but i just didnt want one, i didnt want any other)

All 3 cats have been bedroom dwellers, theyve all gotten onto my chest and purred like little machines and even though Luna's young ive already had her "bring me back into the room" when ive been having internal meltdowns, theres no real end point to this, i guess im just nosey and interested this is my second day on the forum and i havent felt as free talking about.. well everything i guess and i would LOVE any storys of any animals and your experiences

(If i havent been clear or havent made sense please tell me ill rectify anything in the post)

(I dont know the rules on pictures etc so please remove anything that isnt appropriate or allowed sorry)

  • Ohh, what a cute couple (with both of them)!

    Glad you decided to have another one moving into your life, it's always sad when pets die, but they give us so much while they are around.

    My cat is white with a few black blotches and a black tail, don't think colour does matter much to me though. I'd known her for 12 years and looked after her when the owners were away, and then she needed a new home about a year ago because her owners got divorced, so it just seemed logical to have her (or is it rather her having me?). So a little granny, and a very sweet character, when I get back after having been away for a few days she will sit on my lap all day :) and then totally ignore the person that was good enough for giving her food and a cuddle while I was away... We are quite similar, we are both very gentle and quiet, don't like loud noises, don't like places that are busy with people, we notice little things that have changed and it throws us a little (not necessarily in a bad way, but we need time to get used to it)... I read a leaflet at the vets the other day on how to make travelling least stressful for cats and it read like a leaflet about autistic people. There are definitely some similarities.

    I'm really glad to have her around, she's been the only living being I was convinced would not be better off without me existing, so I can definitely relate to what you are saying. She also doesn't think I must be going mad if I'm doing something everyone else finds completely stupid.

    Thanks for posting this, I like reading cat stories too!