Objective:
Have TsukiMoon get and keep friends.
Help him to use a light touch with people.
Theory:
Animal care teaches our son, TsukiMoon light touch, patience, and helps him have warm feelings for animals. We hope those skills will translate to similar feelings for humans.
On the ground:
We already have a few animals before finding about TsukiMoon's ASD. After we adjusted to the "new normal" we thought that more animals would be good for our son, TsukiMoon We now have 6 critters; 2 cats, 2 rabbits, 1 guinea pig, 1 dog (which acts more like a cat, based on how much she sleeps).
TsukiMoon is gentle with the cats and finds the dog, the sleepy basset hound, boring. The dog is so easy that she makes the cats look difficult, she is boring-- but cute. I have always wanted angora rabbits since watching a fellow high school student; pluck, spin and knit or weave her angora rabbit's wool. After searching around on the internet I found 20+ show angoras recently extracted from the home of a man with cancer who couldn't manager their care. We got two.
As happy coincidence the day we got the rabbits was the day before Easter. Since a bad Halloween experience 2013 we keep TsukiMoon away from candy, two rabbits seemed a good exchange for an egg hunt with fake-dye-dairy-filled candy
I have never had a rabbit. Mr. TsukiMoon whose parents were teachers that brought home the classroom pets rabbits, warned me that rabbits don't make good pets. His died in graphic, unfortunate ways and weren't particularly warm and cuddly. As it turned out we either; we lucked out or angoras are exceptionally nice-- they are great.
These rabbits came from a bad situation, one was skeletal, both were jittery. It was a steep learning curve for TsukiMoon to learn how to handle them gently. As it turns out, rabbits are perfect to teach lite touch. The slightest irregular sensation causes a rabbit to spring away. Too rough when you go to pick them up, their strong back legs kick out forcefully and a quick feedback return. So far, a rabbit never bites.
Fortunately the basset hound, which are breed to hunt rabbits, is only mildly interested in rabbits. She wagged, sniffed, and lost interest. Many a time a rabbit has bounded by the drowsy dog without generating a response. The cats are more afraid of the rabbits are of them. No dead fur friends found in the house, thank goodness.
TsukiMoon loves the rabbits much more then the cats or dog. He likes all the fluff and introduces his rabbits to everyone who comes over. He feeds and waters them when they are in need. He takes the French angora, his favorite of the two (the other is an English angora) up into his loft, where he reads to it.
It is tough to know if the long term effects of the rabbits are better relationships. What I do know is that having empathy and love for the rabbits is a good first start.
French Angora
2 cute buns.
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