So Sunday, January 22nd was a sad day in the Johnson household. We had to put our eight-month old kitten Binx down because of a virus that attacked his brain. I know it was the "right thing to do", but it was still a death and it was devastating. I held him as the doctor administered the fatal dose, whispered in his ear, my husband and I stroking him gently, hoping that he could hear me and feel the love we have for him. That wasn't the first death I witnessed, animal or human, so I knew what to expect. It doesn't make it any easier on the heart, especially when I could feel the moment his little spirit slipped away.
That leads me to the question: where do animals go when they die? Usually when we do investigations, places are haunted by the spirits of people that passed, but every now and then, there are stories of people seeing their deceased pets. Someone will describe the feeling of a cat rubbing up against their legs, or the cold nose of their favorite dog nudging at their hand as if they are waiting for their nightly walk.
In my mind we are all made up of energy and that energy does not cease to exist even though the shell it resides in fades away. I would contend that the same thing applies to our animal companions. I like to believe that if we are chosen as stewards for our animals (I say that because I firmly believe that they choose US, not the other way around. Helloo......?? Has anyone ever owned a cat??), they will be there to greet us on the other side alongside our human loved ones. Wherever I end up, whether it be Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, Paradise, or the Summerlands I hope I have a HUGE piece of property to fit all of my pets. I'm gonna need it! I'll have a herd of hamsters, a desert tortoise, two pot-bellied pigs, snakes, iguanas, one prairie dog, a turkey named Henrietta, several birds, an unknown number of cats and lots of dogs! Hopefully they will all just get along. I won't want to spend the rest of my eternity breaking up cat fights!
There have been nights before I got Ollie that I would feel a cat jump on my bed and settle down between my legs, even though Midnight was already sleeping in her spot near my head, and this even happened before I got Midnight. Ive had 2 kitties pass away and I think that special bond between pets and their adoptive mommies and daddies doesn't go away. Before Meeko got his cancer and we had to face the decision you had to with Binx, he was always there for me when I was upset and I think he can still feel that. I don't feel it anymore that I have Ollie, possibly because now I have him and Miss Midnight, but I do think we'll see our furry loved ones again.
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