Gift for DC who wants a pet - that isn't a pet!

[Tigofigo]

Title says it all, really.

Not ready to get DC a pet but they have been asking for one for more than a year now... Ideally a physical gift rather than an experience.

Having had all sorts of pets caged and uncared I would say cats are the easiest maybe visit a cat cafe to see how they get on if you are successful try a rescue place you could give them a set of cat equipment.

This is a lovely idea if it's possible. Hedgehogs and frogs are fab!

Cats are great too, when you are ready for a pet.

I wouldn’t get some pet alternative if your not going to get a pet. It’s just disappointing and a let down.

If you don’t want to at Christmas then you can do the whole teachable moment in advance - a pet is not for Christmas it’s for life etc.

And then later in the year get a pet if you want. Don’t recommend a hamster. So hard to control as they just scurry off during play time. And ours was such a biter it was called crunchie.

I vote cat. It is absolute chaos when they are kittens but it will bring you so much joy you have no idea.

hi I didn’t want to get my dd a pet, one year we won a gold fish a the fair, they loved that fish his name was Gerold and he lived for 6 years, didn’t ask for any othe pets during that time, so maybe a gold fish

Tamagotchi brings back memories. I confiscated one, and after the miscreant had gone home I realised I still had it and that it might 'die' overnight. Fortunately, a loiterer was still in the classroom and so I was able to designate her as a temporary foster-mother.

Parent with autistic children (multiple). What an autistic child asks for - they want and nothing will be a decent substitute. If there's no good reason why you couldn't manage an actual pet (child might kill it for example) then I would actually get a pet. We have a small holding so pets and animals don't scare me but a cat may well work well. We also have a tortoise which is very low maintenance. Feed kale, clean out every few weeks, bath once a week. Main ongoing cost is the electricity for the daylight bulb.

Can you get a toy related to the animal experience? Dc wanted a rabbit one year. He got a stuffed toy one along with a note from Santa saying he doesn't bring live gifts. Dc got his bun later in the year.

Hamsters need more room than most people realise and can often be bitey. If you do get one join the Facebook groups for hamster lovers. I would recommend a trio of female mice for good starter pets for kids.

We got a subscription to Guide Dogs for my daughter. They send you a plush puppy and pupdates with a photo of the pup as ge grows to put in an album. Also a calendar at Christmas .
You can do it on the child's name so post is addressed to them.
She loved it.

My DD is likely autistic and is obsessed with animals; they really calm her and are really therapeutic for her. We do have cats, and she has a ragdoll because they are so child friendly and he sleeps with her every night. Cats are easy, just feed twice a day. There are litter trays but it’s not a big deal.

They are a commitment though and you will end up doing the care, so you have to be up for it.
Other options , which we do also:
Visiting animal sanctuaries and she has an adopted donkey that she can view on a webcam. (Zoos are no good unless they have rehoming/ welfare credentials, she thinks conventional zoos are cruel). Same with most farm parks. But she did do keeper for a day at Manor House Wildlife park in Tenby which has good credentials.
She does Equine therapy ( pony grooming and walking) at a local animal rehoming charity - most of the children that go are autistic although it is not specific for that.
Walks in the woods at dusk to spot rabbits, foxes etc. My daughter also loves worms and insects in their natural habitat.

I would personally avoid caged /hutched animals like the plague, too much hard work and the spaces you need to care for them appropriately are huge!

We're not getting a cat! But thanks for all the recommendations for one 😂 I'm allergic. And next door has a barky dog and would bark at it The. Whole. Time.

I love the idea of turning our garden over to nature, however this assumes we 1. Have a garden that isn't incredibly tiny and 2. animals have any way of getting in. Unless hedgehogs can scale 8ft walls I don't think that's going to happen and he's not into amphibious things really. We see lots of nature out and about.

Hmm the kids are rubbish at picking up after themselves so I worry a hamster would end up chewing all their stuff if it got out of their grip.

I just don't think we have ample space for guinea pigs, sadly. I also stress about foxes eating pets outside. Loads of them here.

A fish - could work. In a small tank.

I love the encouraging wildlife idea. Bird feeders are great too. Lots of activity to watch from a window and learning opportunities about food, habitat etc without any of the ownership responsibility.

We also have a small garden with high fences - fortunately not a problem for our avian friends!

I agree and we have birds nest in our little garden, but my DC definitely wants a pet he can stroke and cuddle.

I think I'm going to ask if any our neighbours have pets we can help to look after. It won't be a present though. I'll have to solve that conundrum another way.

If you have room for a small tank, get tropical. Do NOT get goldfish. Goldfish need massive tanks to be healthy (200 litres min) and you’ll spend forever cleaning them out. Tropical are actually really easy to maintain. Have a look at male Betta fish - Google them. They’re lovely to look at, actually have little personalities and only need a small tank with a little filter and heater. Or failing that, go to your local exotic pet shop (if you can get to Manchester, Urban Jungle is excellent) and have a look at tropical frogs. Again, only need a small tank (the frogs are tiny) and if you buy a complete set-up it’s basically its own ecosystem and self-cleaning. You have to maintain humidity and feed them fruit flies but they are very easy to look after.

We started with stick insects, they are very low maintenance as long as you have access to brambles or privet ( from memory).They aren't particularly loveable.
I like the idea of a zoo keeper day though.

Sea monkeys are great fun, they're a living creature but require very little care. You don't even have to clean their tanks because they feed off the algae etc.

Budgies are good, easy to care for pets as well.........we used to have two and their fall outs and making up dramas were hilarious. They can live a long time tho so are a big commitment, we'd had ours at least 8 years when one died and her pining mate died the following day.

Get her a robot vacuum cleaner or a bean-to-cup coffee machine. Mine give me just enough reward to avoid rehoming but are always whining at me and getting into trouble at the most inconvenient times. They require regular maintenance and are very melodramatic: “Attention! Robovac is stuck on a cliff!” - is it fuck!

I regularly tell them they are just like having a pet.

Betta fish?
Only need a small tank.

DS is desperate for a cat, landlord won't allow any pets, I have it on good authority that Father Christmas is bringing him a Perfect Pets Kitten from Build a Bear that makes 5 different kinds of cat noises.

Sea monkeys or stick insects sound like good ideas if you're up for something living.

I have an idea that freshwater shrimp would be fun to keep and you could give them a nice quality of life even in a small tank, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. Apparently they are quite sensitive to water quality.

If you do want to get a hamster I think I got one at 8-9 years old. We got 2 but 1 of them bit my best friend’s little sister and my brother so it went back to the shop. Hamsters can be escape artists.

I had 2 mice at about age 7, they were easier and didn’t bite.

I would avoid robot pets, they are always a disappointment.

I would suggest Sea Monkeys or Triops, technically live pets but super easy and require little to no work at all.

Or if your willing to take on some responsability then an outdoor 'rural' cat (although no use if you live in a tower block in london etc...), they are very low maintence 'proper' pets that only really require access to basic food, shelter and medical treatment should they get hurt or ill. They spend most of the time off hunting and just return for sleep/cuddles so the perfect minimal effort pet.

Both my DC’s have autism, one loves animals and the other doesn’t which makes things tricky. Dd1 has a couple pet snakes (live separately), we have other pets too but she loves reptiles the most. We tried various toys over the years and we had a hamster which she didn’t really handle because it was slightly evil. We have had various insects and giant African land snails which are really easy to care for. Maybe sick insects or a mantis would be doable? They don’t take up much space and are easy to care for.