Oh my. Add my two cents? That's tough as you seem to have covered it
all, Sukie. This has to be one of the best posts regarding ferrets
utilized as therapy animals, assisted therapy animals, service animals
and the like that I've ever read. So I'm not sure what I could add of
value.

Yes, I agree, I fully trust physicians to make the call in these cases
as to whether or not a therapy animal should be prescribed for a
patient. There is no doubt in my mind that this would never be abused.
It is darn difficult to garner support for various things from
physicians today due to fear of legal issues as it is. They aren't
going to put their practice and reputation on the line by prescribing
things willy nilly. Believe me it would be tough enough with them as
"gate keepers".

I had no idea about the questions of cost in relation to whatever
policies would be chosen. So thank you for bringing that up. Another
cost issue to think about is that by making therapy animals and their
certifications so "formalized", you are opening up the flood gates for
exploitation. I'm sorry, but that's America. People cannot afford
thousands and thousands of dollars for specially trained animals from
specially certified and celebrated places along with transport, etc. I
can just see peoples eyes lighting up with dollar signs here big time
turning this into big business.

Good points about time factors here, especially in regards to the
numbers of possibly saved lives from eliminating waiting periods,
waiting lists, and red tape. I forgot that was an issue.

It was excellent of you to point out how not all animals need to be
"taught" service behaviors or even do so on command. This is something
that is difficult to get across to people and to get them to accept for
some reason. It's a very black and white scientific phenomenon when it
occurs. I've seen alleged animal predictors of seizures and even
finders of cancer put to the test repeatedly on film without fail. So
how could it be denied?

I think most ambiguous, and understandably so, would be the use of
animals as assisted companions for therapy or even service such as the
case was with my son Sean and his ferret Rocky. However, once again, a
set pattern of personal history is enough evidence. So in his case, I
can't possibly see Rocky ever not being considered or excluded as a
therapy animal. But, to some outsiders of the animal and special needs
world, it would certainly be debated.

I never did formally try to label Rocky as therapy animal or a service
animal. I SHOULD have. Boy how it would have helped so many. I was
exhausted from the fight back then regarding autism and Rocky brought
relief and peace. So I basked in it rather bringing on yet another
battle to my family. I instead shared the story over the Internet and
in a magazine. I also printed off stories for doctors and schools. I
can tell you despite what was sitting in front of them, they definitely
still had a raised and questioning eyebrow over it all. That really
hurt(s). Badly. I didn't want to open myself up to more "begging" (when
you have a handicapped child your job is basically to beg and fundraise
for help the rest of your life) by asking doctors, etc, to "prescribe"
Rocky. We are blessed that this community got used to the site of the
tiny ferret in my beautiful little boys arms whereever he went. We were
blessed that his schools DID recognize the benefit to their other
students and so Rocky and his friends became regular visitors over the
years and were also used in social stories and what not. It was enough
for us back then.

continued in next post  [Nah, both posts combined here. BIG]

Rocky's "service" to Sean was an accidental finding/happening. Sean
benefited from him in two distinct ways. The first way was that Rocky
single handedly opened up Seans world when all of the doctors,
therapists, teachers, friends and family could not. Rocky served as a
"bridge" between us and Sean, and then later, between the world and
Sean. There truly was a proverbial wall between my baby and us. He
seemed deaf. And when you made him "hear" you, he bulked and most often
turned violent. Old school ABA didn't just fail, it made things worse,
so we stayed far from that sort of therapy. With Rocky, Sean turned
his eyes from his lined up toy cars to his father and this resulted in
mimicking appropriate play behavior in various situations. It was a
very slow process. But the progress was incredibly consistent and
inarguable. Through using Rocky as a model and including him in social
stories, Sean connected to us. He learned to brush his teeth, he
learned to not just copy but to play creatively with his pet, he
learned to share when he couldn't before and so much more all through
Rocky's example. Ferrets need their teeth brushed and they don't
tantrum from it. Ferrets share, they don't fight and hurt each other
over belongings and food. Ferrets dont copy each other when they play,
they each have their own way of weasel war dancing. Peace was found
in the home at last. The constant tension and acting out diminished
greatly due to the soothing effects of a warm and closely bonded pet
and from the new found ability to communicate through him. And that
peacefulness was an overnight effect by the way. That alone was plenty
for me, believe me. Rocky was therefore used in therapy (the social
stories) and as a general "therapy animal" as well.

The second way Sean benefited was definitely and without a doubt more
of a service type of category. This is what would be hotly debated I
suppose. We came to find that when Rocky was with Sean, he never had a
melt down in public. EVER. Not once in all our years with Rocky did he
act out, panic, or tantrum let alone get so out of control we couldn't
reel him in. We soon let Sean take Rocky anywhere he wanted except for
establishments that dealt with food or for medical places. We didn't
have to worry about Sean "escaping" as so many autistics do while out
in public either when he held Rocky. I still haven't figured that one
out. Sean blabbered on and spoke a great deal more because of Rocky,
when he was so nonverbal as a toddler that one neurologist dx'ed him as
mute. He looked at strangers and answered to them when he was addressed
while he did not before. In fact, if Sean saw someone "out of place",
for instance a teacher out of school and in a mall, he would squeal and
run. We'd catch him. He'd have a meltdown. And we'd have to leave. Not
with Rocky though. I wont bore you with more details, but I did want
to get very specific here so things are more clear and so this doesn't
come off as some vague fairytale account.

Couldn't any animal have been used for this purpose for my son? NO
way. Sean was very dangerous towards all infants and animals. He often
attacked them. There was a certain dog that a relative owned many
states away that Sean did enjoy when visiting. So we knew their was
hope in having pets safely in our lives again. However that was the
only case we found prior to Rocky. Sean opened up to and accepted
ferrets into his life specifically and later he connected with a
special ferret (Rocky). There have been past observations and even one
study regarding the reactions of autistic children to various species
of animals including humans in the mix. Humans turn out to have the
least positive reaction. Dogs also scored lower than you might think.
This is probably because they are very invasive to your space, hugely
tactile, and bark. Cat's didn't seem to engage the children enough. Yet
ferrets really did peak an interest and keep the children focused. I
forget what other animals had good results. But I assure you they
weren't only cats and dogs.

Last added reply point to Sukie:
Sukie brought up the subject regarding allergies. Ferrets were the only
mammals I was not allergic to as a child. Same with my two boys. Today,
yes, in my older years I"ve developed a terrible allergy to them. But
my point is that of dogs, cats, and ferrets ... ferrets anecdotally
trigger a far less allergic reaction if any. I could no have a fuzzy
pet for Sean in the home other than ferrets because of my health. I
sure would rather sit next to a ferret on a bus than a dog given my
allergies. In addition, Sean's asthma was so bad at birth that he was
on a machine every 3-4 hours except at night through toddlerhood. It
was horrible. We were delighted to see it dwindle away and wean off the
machine. However, cats, dust, etc, were still no-no's. Til this very
day, he has had zero, ZERO sensitivity reactions to ferrets. He has a
mild reaction to dogs.

As Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that ..."

Wolfy, (not the Sukie)

See Seans story at www.wolfysluv.com/sean.html

[Posted in FML 6991]