One of our readers sent us this question (which I’ve edited slightly):
Hello John,
I have been reading your posts on animals that grieve. Our house is been very active with pets for many years. In January, my daughter passed away, leaving her 3 pets for us to love. Not knowing much about the details of each one, we all took on new roles as caregivers.
My youngest son, who has Asperger’s (syndrome), adopted her dog, Twix. Twix is about 13 years old. He doesn’t seem to be eating much. We tried several types of food; he will eat a little bit and leave the rest.
My daughter also had cats. (One is) a female, Nutlet (Nutty). She has been very nervous. We did get some pheromones to help her calm down a bit. She also has been peeing on the carpet. We have talked to her and told her we love her and that she is protected.
Then there is Gelotie (Jojo). He seems to be lonely. He’s been looking for my husband’s cat, who was very sick and is no longer with us.
We know that they all miss my daughter, but is there something else we can do to help them feel that they still part of our family?
Thank you so much!
This is my response:
I believe animals grieve, but not in the same heavy way humans do.
I also believe all humans can talk to animals. Obviously we can talk to them verbally. But they best understand us if we talk to them telepathically. This is especially true of our domestic pets — cats, dogs, and any others we may have in our families.
Last week I was “babysitting” one of my family’s cats. The cat is elderly but in reasonably good health. I had a couple “chats” with him while we were together.
He told me he was ready to go, to leave his body behind. But he seemed reluctant to do it because he knew his family would miss him. I told him it was okay, and encouraged him to do whatever he needed to do for himself. He “told” me he understood and was grateful.
I could tell he felt better after we talked. I did too.
So I would encourage you, if you haven’t already done it, to talk telepathically with your daughter’s pets. I know this works well.
Do you talk to your animals? Please share with us below.
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Ginny Rodgers
Hi John ! Thank you for this topic, one that is near and dear to me. Several years ago, a friend sent me “Kinship With All Life” by J. Allen Boone. This totally opened my heart and mind to talking with (and even reading to) my beloved English Shepherds, Max and Sammy, whom you know so well. . . 😉 Kinship is the story of the author’s journey with a German Shepherd, Strongheart, and how he was taught by Strongheart to communicate with All Life. A very powerful message!
John Cali
Hi Ginny,
I think you told me once about “Kinship With All Life.” Yes, I do know Max and Sammy so well. As you and I both know, they’re still with you in spirit.
Hugs!
George
What a wonderful idea for talking with animals, John. I had never thought of that. At the same time, I have noticed a spontaneous, immediate connection with a few pets of others. Thank you also for your remembrance of my hero, Albert Schweitzer. You may also know of an Indian chief I love.
John Cali
Thank you very much, George. Yes, I vaguely recall some Indian chief you’re very fond of. 🙂
Marlene
I absolutely talk to animals. Not just the domestic pets, but I’ve also had “connections” with a squirrel and a really intense “honoring of the divine” with a dragonfly of all things.
I believe I have a special connection with dogs too. I have a dog and I just “know” what she wants all the time, like she is “sending” me her messages. Perhaps I am just reading body language, but if that’s the case I am not aware of it.
While working in a vet’s office I visited a very sick, diabetic dog with skin and eye infections. I went home that night and woke in the middle of the night, in tears, with the strongest feeling that the dog was sending me a message. He just wanted to go home. He knew he was about to die and he wanted to die at home not in a cold, sterile veterinary hospital, alone, away from the family he loved. Thankfully his family must have felt the same for they came the next day to take him home to die in the peace of their arms.
I also stopped while walking through a park and visited with an old man and his very, very old and crippled dog. The dog was in so much pain that it could barely walk and had to be lifted into a vehicle to even get to the park. I could feel from the dog a message for the man. I let him know that sometimes dogs will stick around even though they are in intense pain and no longer really enjoying life, simply because the human is willing it so strongly and is so reluctant to let them go. I let him know that his dog was waiting to be released from this life, with love.
I would love to volunteer at an SPCA, but the intense feelings of loneliness and desperation from the animals is just too much. I’d have to find a way to take every one of them home!
John Cali
Thank you very much, Marlene, for these beautifully touching stories.
Jeanne White
I have had a few conversations with animals in my lifetime.
The first was in the early 60’s, when I was in my early twenties. I was driving on a country road in Southern California after dark. My headlights picked up the form of a large dog lying by the road. He seemed to be alive, so I stopped and checked on him. He was a German Shepherd that appeared to have been hit by a car. He didn’t seem to be in pain, but he could not move his hind legs.
I walked to a nearby house and asked the people to call animal control. They did, and said an officer would be out very soon. I went back to the dog and thought to myself that I could leave now since someone would be here soon. To my surprise, I heard a very alarmed, loud thought. “DON’T LEAVE ME!!!”. Uh, ok. I’ll wait.
A cat that I had had for years was getting old, and he developed “hot spots”. These are patches of skin that lose all the hair and are itchy. I had tried several things, but nothing seemed to help. Finally, I was getting desperate, and I thought maybe the cat knows what to do.
The cat was sleeping on the couch and I made my plans. I would go into the living room quietly, cross over and sit on the foot of the stairs, close my eyes, relax, and ask the cat what to do. I really did not expect an answer.
As I crossed the room, I got a very vivid picture of a piece of raw carrot, about an inch long. After that, I grated up about an inch of carrot in his food every day. The hot spots were greatly improved and eventually disappeared.
The last one happened a few years ago and is a bit sad.
When we bought our current home in West Virginia in 2004, it came with a couple of ponds. About a dozen ducks lived by one of the ponds. They were domestic ducks and never ventured far from the pond. They would come up by the barn once a day when I fed them some cracked corn, but would immediately return to the pond when they were done.
One day while I was feeding them, I noticed that one duck was missing half his upper bill. It probably was bitten off by a snapping turtle. He would come up with the other ducks every evening and go through the motions of eating the corn, but he never got any.
On the third day, he came up with the others and tried to eat. Suddenly, he stopped and stood there, looking at me intently. I had the feeling he wanted to know what was happening. I thought to him, “I am so sorry, but you have lost part of your bill and cannot eat. There is nothing I can do and you will die.” He just stood there looking at me. By then the other ducks had finished up the corn and were starting back for the pond. Without hesitation, he walked the opposite direction, into the woods. The ducks never went there, and they always stayed together.
We never saw him again. I often wondered what he did. Did he throw himself in front of a fox?
John Cali
Thanks very much, Jeanne, for these beautiful stories. This connection we have with animals always reminds me we truly are all one. Albert Schweitzer’s words, “reverence for life,” comes to mind.