Can Animals Have Autism?

Post Reply New Topic

I just thought this and wondered. If animals can have autism. Sure it'll be different from humans. But I just wonder.

It has been asked at least as early as 1966 and research continues.

Sorry to add a bit of light humour to your thread but apparently theres a cure for cat autism which also doubles as ghost repellant

Well most animals don't like loud noises, like fireworks.

There is a children's book, "All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome."

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases ... 030812.php

They can exhibit autistic phenotypes. This is an article describing mice who have had a specific genetic mutation in gene EXT1 that go onto exhibit autistic behaviour. I have MHE described in this article, was diagnosed with it at 3 months of age and thanks to experiments with autistic mice, I can know that my rare genetic disease and autism are related to one another .

I remember years ago back in 1993, I was watching a show about a dog that was strongly attached to a large stick that was almost too big for him to carry. The stick was taken away from him and he was put on some medication. Three weeks later he was given back the stick and he showed no interest in it. I don't remember what the name of the show was. If I was able to remember the name of the show, I'd post a video or some other proof.

My first Siamese cat, Samantha, was definitely unique. She loved music, she enjoyed foods you wouldn't imagine a cat would enjoy and played with unusual toys. (She loved to carry socks in her mouth, white ones that matched the color of her fur-she was a Lynx/tabby point). She was my soul mate cat for 20 years.

I'm sure one of my cats Fındık is autistic.
She has very sensitive senses yet she seems like she doesn't realize when something hurts/injures her.
Very scared of everything, has a timid personality.
Very clingy when it comes to people she loves.
Very very very very very... talkative like some of us are with our special interests.
If you don't take her to toilet and watch her pee she will hold it in until she can't any longer and pees on a soft surface.
She loves soft toys and can distinguish between fabrics.
She eats only dry food and only from one specific brand. She would starve than eat anything else. She isn't even interested in fish or chicken.
She is extremely clever.
She has shut downs when she is scared and will hide somewhere and won't respond to anything until she is calm. If she is somewhere she doesn't know her body will become hard as stone and won't be able to move.
She never ever looks at your face and makes eye contact.

The list goes on

Animals can certainly have some of the traits we think of as those of autism. Dogs usually like being petted, but my dog Viggo wasn't very cuddly, it was only when it suited him or if we were petting other dogs.
He was also lost to the world when he was really taken by a scent or focusing on another dog.
Like many animals, he didn't like change, and changes in routines made him nervous.
Like many animals he was sensitive to sounds (and my turtles were sensitive to lights like firework).
On the other hand, my had very clear dog body language and read other dogs very well.
My first dog Sissi had no interest in other dogs at all, nor people beyond my family.

And of course, most animals see eye contact as threatening.

Whether animals actually can have autism is a very interesting question. Here's one mice experiment.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 140744.htm

Interesting article about whether dogs can autism
http://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/can-dogs-have-autism

I really kind of hope cats and dogs don't get autism. I've had this disturbing thought for quite some time now that if the idiots out there think giving kids vaccines will give them autism and other "horrible" things, then maybe they'll think pets shouldn't get vaccinated, either. Then we'll have a growing and terrifying number of dogs and cats with rabies and other deadly zoonotic diseases, and people will be attacked and horribly killed or infected. Although if an antivaxxer was bitten by their own rabid dog and then they die because they refuse to get the shots for it, I won't be able to help but smile a little at this bit of irony and natural selection of the human victim, although I will feel bad for the true victim, the dog.

In Nova Scotia it's illegal to not get your pets the rabies vaccine. But doesn't mean people don't avoid doing it.

Cats are autistic dogs..

Short and easy answer is yes, and yes it is very different from humans.

It happens probably around the same percentage as it does in humans, maybe a little less because their populations are far smaller (Unless you're counting insects) but that's the other part. It probably occurs more in highly intelligent animals, and may even appear as a defect in ant colonies in the queen (but that's a whole different thing).

I'd assume that, let's say, a Dog or Primate develops Autism or any other disorder commonly found in humans. They'll probably have the same sort of issues: missing social cues, funny body movements or whatever else. I've seen dogs with Schizophrenia, and I've heard of primates with Personality disorders so close to that of humans I'm almost frightened of being around an Antisocial Gorilla lol. They'd manipulate me.