Guinea pigs are friendly and like to be petted, when they are used to be held. But really, a cat us the easiest pet. It's easier to keep a cat alive than a plant. They basically take care of themselves.

We got a 65lb. australian labradoodle as an emotional support animal for my 10 year old daughter. Best thing we ever did! Make sure they are big enough to not get hurt and handle our overly huggy kiddos.

Depends on the kid. A loves his cat and the cat is pretty mellow with him. He likes his turtle. He doesnt get along well with his grandpas dog or his uncles dogs. And as rough and huggy he is i wont give hamsters or rabbits or tiny fluffy animals. Hes even rough with his cat but the dang thing is so chill he doesnt seem to care. He was ok with his grandmas bird but they would set each other off for screaming

We have plenty of animals. And the dogs are the emotional support pets for my children. I feel sorry for the dogs sometimes. They get over hugged and carried around.

How gentle is he normally to animals that he’s met so far? Small animals are tough because many kids autistic or not want to hold them HOLD them. My daughter had a hamster (Hammy was his name, pissing on cedar was his game!) and the rule was only hold him when we were around together...she woke up in the middle of the night one night and took him out of the aquarium and he wiggled away onto her bed and to the floor! She got scared and quietly went back to sleep (autistic thing to do) Our golden retriever found him downstairs (yup, the little joker went down a flight of steps!). Dog goes nuts, I run downstairs thinking someone was breaking into the house from the way the dog was barking! After it happened again her teacher was asking for a class mascot and my daughter lost interest in it so guess who went on a one way trip to school?
HAMMY!!

We learned a trick or I guess you can say we developed a rule with cats and dogs and autism. The trick: we only rescue just weaned kittens and pups. Why? They are raised only knowing the loud noises and sometimes heavy handed petting autistic kids start off with. Your job is to teach your kid to pet softly and help with the chores. I think pets are a win win for ASD kids, even for LF kids they are aware of the pets. My son doesn’t understand that he is Griffin but say our cats names and he knows the difference between the two of them and there names. Pets are special