Focused interest- pets.

Very much so, for most of my life most of my attention revolved around my dogs, who are far more important to me than most of the people in my life if I'm honest. Equally, I find it very difficult to get on with many other people involved e.g. a lot of bullying goes on livery stables, in the world of dog/cat/poultry etc showing and other livestock-related activities.

One part of my problem with this is that some animals can become people's focussed interest to such a extreme degree they they start to put winning rosette's before their animal's welfare (e.g.by continually inbreeding with a big show-winner, or just ignoring genetic diseases because the consequences are too distressing to think about). Some people have a tendency to  hoard animals, which can mean they end up with more individuals than they give individual attention to, or even afford veterinary care for.

Equally, it can be easy to become obsessed by seeing and reporting 'cruelty' in situations where it doesn't exist (e.g. a very shy neighbour/friend who had her very special 'lifetime' horse put down recently because she got so stressed out after the RSPCA kept harassing her to say that some people were ringing them all the time to ask them to check if the horse was seriously ill because it was lying down in the field a lot, which wasn't really that unusual in an old girl of 30+). 

On balance, animals can be a very positive thing for people like myself with ASD, but one needs to be very careful to guide one's 'intense interests' towards areas that benefit the animals' welfare (e.g. in my case, genetics and pedigree research, tracking the patterns genetic disease, and trying to educate others about dangers of inbreeding and hereditary diseases). Also to be kind to other people with or without ASD who keep a number of animals, and not be tempted to find fault with the way they do things.

Its probably only a tiny minority of people who end up going to extremes, but I feel it's important to recognise the warning signs of becoming just a little too focussed on our animals before it becomes too stressful for either them or ourselves.

Very much so, for most of my life most of my attention revolved around my dogs, who are far more important to me than most of the people in my life if I'm honest. Equally, I find it very difficult to get on with many other people involved e.g. a lot of bullying goes on livery stables, in the world of dog/cat/poultry etc showing and other livestock-related activities.

One part of my problem with this is that some animals can become people's focussed interest to such a extreme degree they they start to put winning rosette's before their animal's welfare (e.g.by continually inbreeding with a big show-winner, or just ignoring genetic diseases because the consequences are too distressing to think about). Some people have a tendency to  hoard animals, which can mean they end up with more individuals than they give individual attention to, or even afford veterinary care for.

Equally, it can be easy to become obsessed by seeing and reporting 'cruelty' in situations where it doesn't exist (e.g. a very shy neighbour/friend who had her very special 'lifetime' horse put down recently because she got so stressed out after the RSPCA kept harassing her to say that some people were ringing them all the time to ask them to check if the horse was seriously ill because it was lying down in the field a lot, which wasn't really that unusual in an old girl of 30+). 

On balance, animals can be a very positive thing for people like myself with ASD, but one needs to be very careful to guide one's 'intense interests' towards areas that benefit the animals' welfare (e.g. in my case, genetics and pedigree research, tracking the patterns genetic disease, and trying to educate others about dangers of inbreeding and hereditary diseases). Also to be kind to other people with or without ASD who keep a number of animals, and not be tempted to find fault with the way they do things.

Its probably only a tiny minority of people who end up going to extremes, but I feel it's important to recognise the warning signs of becoming just a little too focussed on our animals before it becomes too stressful for either them or ourselves.