do they know?

[macabre]

hi
Most of you guys know i have a 10yr old son who is severely disabled.I have just bought my wife a Black Labrador puppy, now i am always cautious when i introduce any pets to my son.However we have two dogs and two cats amongst other pets,all cats and dogs where bought as kittens/puppies.My point is this: I have noticed that when my cats where kittens and my dogs where puppies they all seemed to realise that my son was diffrent, my new puppy is going through the "teething" routine and yet she will never nip my son ,in fact she will play with him and let him play back with her ,but she never nips him. My other pets have all been very protective of my son and will always treat him diffrent from the rest of the family.My obvious question is : Do you think dogs/cats can sense when a child is disabled even though it is their first contact with such a child? also have you ever noticed your pet behave differently towards certain family members?

[El Misfit]

yup. When I'm sick, my dog always lays by me.

[trekgeezer]

I have a 64 year old brother who has been mentally handicapped his entire life and animals have always acted differently around him. It's like they know that there is something different about him.  I believe they can sense things differently than we do because they work from instinct, something we no longer let ourselves trust. 

[Newt]

I was searching 'pets' on the forum and came across this.

macabre: are you familiar with the work of Dr. Temple Grandin?  She is American, so I am not sure how much press she gets overseas, but being in the field you may have heard of her. She has several books out there and does lectures and appearances. She is autistic and has done some ground-breaking (and of course controversial) work on how animals perceive the world.  She consults on the design of animal handling facilities (primarily a euphemism for slaughter houses - the idea being to make them less stressful and thereby more humane for the animals).   Her premise is that animals' minds and perceptions function in ways very similar to autistic humans so she persoanlly is equipped with a unique insight as to how their immediate environments affect them.  If she is correct, it seems that animals are likely to recognize a child or handicapped person as being a fellow being by virtue of their communicating in a similar (understandable?) fashion and with a similar level of response.  They are 'sympatico' - ?  

Just thought it might be of interest on this subject.

(edited for spelling only)

[Flick James]

I like Newt's input here, and from what I've seen and read, Temple Grandin's contribution was unique based on her position, and, quite illuminating and productive. Do we know that her position is correct? That's debatable, but personally I think it has a good deal of weight. There must be a reason that some people can innately commune more readily with nature (not scare animals, be approached, etc) when in her environs than others, and it makes sense that it has to do with those persons' way of dealing with nature. In that way, Temple Grandin's position makes a good deal of sense.

[macabre]

hi
Yes i am familiar with this lady,i bought one of her books and was quite impressed with how she is able to be positive about her disability and how she is able to turn this around and in fact make herself a stronger person mentally.I am a very active person in my community and it always saddens me when parents focus on what their children is unable to do rather than what they can achieve.The life expectancy for people with lissencephaly is very short and we were told that our son Callum would in all probability not live much longer than 3 to 5yrs old,he is now 11yrs old.Like any parent i cherish each second i am with my son and i am very protective of him but having said this i always allow him the opportunity to try anything he desires.I admire any person who strives to achieve the best they possibly can.

[Mr. DS]

A hospital cat in my state only curls up with people who are about to die.   

My past experience shows me certain animals have a very strong connection with humans.  Almost an understanding if you will.  For example, most people I know who own a cat and kids have interesting stories.  Myself I can attest when my oldest was born we had two cats that would get rough at times if you touched their tail.  My kid could be yanking the yell out of their tails and they just didn't seem to care. 

[BTM]

I have to agree with the others, I think animals can sense certain things somehow that elude us human.  Maybe it's some instinct or some sense of smell or something they possess we don't.  I mean, there are dogs that can tell when someone is about to have a seizure, and I've even heard stories of the same dogs "acting up" around "normal" people, only to find said person was on the verge of a heart attack (or had a condition they needed to seek medical treatment for.) 

I do know lots of people (especially kids) with autism tend to get along with animals very well because of them rely heavily on non-verbal communication. 

I have a nephew who's autistic, so I've done a bit of research on the subject.  (No means an expert though.)

[ghouck]

Absolutely. I saw a show about this same question and there were several service animals that led epileptics to safe areas BEFORE their seizure started, before they themselves knew it was coming.