Pets: Why They're Overstimulating — and Why We Love Them Anyway 🐾
- May 12
- 1 min read
Neurodivergent people — especially Autistic folk — are famous for our heightened sensory perception.
So when we adopt a pet, we’re basically signing up for a full-immersion experience of sounds, smells, and chaos 🐾
Barking? Like an intrusive fire alarm going off inside your soul
Licking noises? Like molecular-level skin crawling
Cat zoomies at 3am? Existential crisis, unlocked
Did we mention the smells?
Or... having to clean up gross things?
And yet… we choose this life
We adore this life
Because the chaos is ours — and they are ours — and no amount of sensory overwhelm could ever outshine the love we have for our pets
How can one creature be both:
the reason you tip into sensory shutdown
and
the reason you made it through the day without one?
Because they don't need you to mask.
They don't need you to be "less sensitive" or "more normal."
They just need you
(And some food. And the good spot on the couch or your bed)
Sensory overwhelm? 10/10
Love? Also 10/10
