All Cats are on the Autism Spectrum {Book Review}

4 min readNov 22, 2020

When I heard about an update to the classic ‘All Cats have Asperger Syndrome’ book, and that with the update, the title had been changed to ‘All Cats are on the Autism Spectrum’, I was keen to take a look.

Front cover of book All cats are on the autism spectrum

I’d wager that most parents of autistic children amass at least a small tower of books on their bedside table in the first couple of years after diagnosis. There is quite a lot of literature available now on the topic of autism, and that means it can be quite difficult to know where to start with a ‘collection’.

I’d definitely recommend this book. The original was written by Kathy Hoopmann back in 2006 but much has changed in the world of autism since then. Asperger Syndrome as a term was removed from diagnostic manuals in favour of the more general umbrella term Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Many have since proposed that Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) would be a better term to use. As language evolves, maybe ASC will be used more often in future — or maybe another different term will end up in the manuals as language evolves even further.

Black cat under a blanket with words 'autistic people often have exceptionally good hearing, and loud sounds and sudden movements may scare them'

This book is not about the language though. The author’s aim was to celebrate and develop understanding of the autistic community, and I think the 65 pages in this book are a great way of doing just that.

There are an equal number of cute cat photos to accompany the descriptions of a variety of traits and strengths which autistic children and adults may show and I think all animal lovers would love them.

View of a Ginger kitten's back with words 'yet at times they don't respond to their name or requests as if they can't hear at all'

This picture took me right back to when our daughter was first diagnosed. I’ve since spoken with many parents whose autistic children were all sent to have their hearing checked before receiving an autism diagnosis…

Front cover of All Birds Have Anxiety, featuring a snowy white owl

A companion book which I’d also recommend for many readers of this blog is titled All Birds Have Anxiety. Pathological Demand Avoidance is characterised by extreme anxiety and a lot of the feelings in this book will be very relatable to many of those with PDA I suspect.

Owl with text some people feel anxious about any and everything

Lots of these pages jumped out at me and I wanted to share some with you to give you a flavour of the book.

many penguins with text ' even if we want company the thought of being in a crowd fills us with fear'

A predator watching a bird, with text 'but no one realises how hard it is to leave the safety of your home if you are aware of every possible thing that can go wrong'

I love that this book ends on a positive note. It may be impossible for those with PDA to leave the anxiety behind totally, but there are hopefully solutions and ways to manage which get learnt along the way.

Both books are gorgeous hardbacks with glossy pages inside and they would make great coffee table additions (or kitchen breakfast bar in our case!). Available from Amazon via these (affiliate) links :

All Cats are on the Autism Spectrum

All Birds Have Anxiety

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**We were gifted this product for the purpose of this review but all thoughts and opinions are our own**

To find out more about our experiences, please check out our ‘About Us’ page. If you are looking for more information on Pathological Demand Avoidance, the posts below may help.