Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional A happy day and a question about pets

You might want to think about getting two kitties (such as a sibling pair), especially if you adopt a kitten. Two kittens can entertain you each other all day long. They also keep each other company when no one's home.

I don't know about pets, but congratulations to your ds and to you! That list of accomplishments is a Big Deal!!

bzylzy, it would definitely be an indoor kitty! As yours and mine demonstrate, indoor kitties live twice as long outdoor kitties. I joke with dh that my cat made a deal with the devil to be young and beautiful forever because she will 18 in September and does not looked or act aged at all!

And I will have to think about getting a pair. A friend of mine did this recently and has been very happy with it. It just seems like going from 1 to 3 is a big step! And Val, one of the shelters I have been looking at online actually requires that they have a playmate less than 5 years old. If you don't and you want a kitten then you have to take two!

And thanks herenow, I am really proud of what he's done in the last few months. I think it has been really good for him to see that he can overcome these challenges. He was actually really ambivalent about the pants thing when I brought it up to the therapist, pretending like he wasn't interested/didn't care about doing it. But he has been so proud this week!

Jsut realized I answered the cat part of the question and left out the congratulations. SO happy for your kiddo!

Being able to navigate buttons is a big deal.

Congrats!!! That is an amazing milestone.

As for cats, try to preview the kitty before you introduce your kid to the kitty to avoid a bad match due to the trauma of leaving a not good fit kitty behind. Most adoption places do know a bit about their animals so ask and be clear what you are looking for even to the point of explaining why. It does make a difference if they know the reasoning. An older cat (at least 2) would have well known preferences whereas a kitten, well you never know what personality they will end up with and you have to train them.

We just adopted two kitties and the four year old male will put up with anything it seems while our old cat (passed over in December) was very much not a fan of the boys. The three year old girl is still skittish, but lets them pet her. They came from a home with kids pretty much the same age as mine and a dog. They had to be surrendered when the boy developed cat allergies.

The other pet we have that is a huge hit with Bear (SPD, seeker with some aversions) is a rat that was rescued from a hoarder. He's not like normal rats, he'll just sit there and let you pet him like a puppy.

If you are looking into rabbits and want one that just wants to be held look at large breed females. The smaller you go the more active they are and males are more active than females. They can be litter box trained and do make good starter pets for kids to take care of on their own.

The pets to absolutely avoid for such kids are hamsters. They tend to be bitey, not particularly responsive to attention and very nocturnal. Rats adjust to the cycle of the household, hamsters as a general rule do not AND they tend to dislike being woken up to be held or played with.

The experience we had with adopting this new kitten, which we didn’t plan, would be something I’d do again in the future or pass on to others.

The SPCA has some animals off-site in foster homes. Our kitten came from a litter that had been fostered by one of the “regular” family volunteers. What my DD didn’t get was a teenie-tiny little ball of a kitten, but a 3-4 month old one instead. BUT...the great part is that there was more time for the kittens to be socialized, handled by humans, be in a home, and more time for their personalities to start emerging and to be evaluated by the foster mom.

Our kitten still had plenty of that awkwardness/eagerness that makes people go “aaawww” over a kitten, but we had the chance of a better match for our family and she popped right into the household. Her personality traits are holding steady.

The other lady cat was 3 or 4 years old when we adopted her. I like the idea of doing this because they went through the trauma of being given up and/or not “picked” so many times. She is a total doll. The male cat of my previous and now passed away pair was also a cat with a past when I got him, and his companion was a kitten.

I'd second that advice about hamsters. Did that when I was a kid, because that's the only pet I could have. They escape and get into all sorts of scary places, and are not affectionate and bite and wriggle away from you. They don't live very long either.

Have fun and congrats to your DS on his accomplishments. My DD is still living in yoga pants and leggings, knit tunic tops and dresses...but girls can get away with that and still blend in. Maybe that's not the best thing in the long run but we're concentrating on other things now.

Have fun choosing you pet!