Jasper the Cat Talks About Some of His Nine Lives

By Peggy River Singer

I have provided Reiki and animal communication services to Jasper and his family since early December of last year, when Jasper was in the early stages of a long and difficult illness and physical decline. This reading is from about a week before he transitioned on March 11. We are still working together; he is developing a new variety of Reiki from the other side of the veil.

River: Are you ready, Jasper

Jasper: Yes. I've had many lifetimes as other kinds of animals. Hawks, owls, hares, beasts of all kinds. Every life teaches us something. Animals and humans are alike in that sense. 

Now, then. I remember a tiger, I think it was my mother parent. That was a very short life, I was very weak at birth, the last to breathe air [the runt of the litter], and it was hard, so very hard, to lift my head. My mother SO BEAUTIFUL SHE WAS, in body and spirit, grieved for me even as I slipped away, darkness came upon me as I felt her great tongue gently, gently blessing me with love and HOPE. My heart fills with the emotions even now, recalling that moment so vividly... 

The next life after that was my choice, and I chose to be a lion. A lion of India you understand, I had decided to stay in India after being a tiger cub. It was my hope that I would be able to meet my tiger mother in physical form, but it was not to be. The Gir Lions [living in the Gir Forest] are quite different from what I have heard of African lions. We are more graceful, more lightly built is a good way to say it, seemingly less massive in muscle, very beautiful in our way. In this life I was a male, a young male ready to find my own way in the world as my father lion did not wish me to challenge him, as is the way among lions. 

So I set off away from all that was familiar, walking many miles and days. I had a male friend with me, we thought we might start our own lion family together, this is not unknown among lions. 

River: Did you have any ideas about which way to go? 

Jasper: We had listened to the elders' stories about what lay in each direction, so we had what you call a mental map in our minds of the terrain, dangerous places, and good places to hunt, that sort of thing. We knew it was best to keep away from humans, but had never so much as sniffed one before in our young lives. Plenty of stories gave us plenty of reasons to avoid those ones!

It was one day when we smelled rain that something wonderful happened! We also smelled a girl tiger! My friend immediately took the lead and we found her resting, licking blood from her muzzle. What a beautiful sight she was, so sleek and serene...

River: What happened next?

Jasper: Sorry, I was enjoying the remembering. Well, I cannot say she was glad to see us, we were lions, after all, and she had a kill to protect. And though the time of matings approached, she was not yet feeling that power. I shall say she sneered at us as unworthy creatures and beneath her notice, and she commanded us to move on.

And so we decided together to continue our travels. We had heard of a great forest, a forest within a forest, as you might say, where very special lions dwelled. Naturally we desired to be Very Special Lions ourselves! [joke] It was a very long journey, as much as a moon, before we realized we had found the place.

River: And what was it like? 

Jasper: [A long, low moan.] It was death, it was all death. The humans had come before us. The great trees were felled, the stink of humans was everywhere.

That night we grieved with those who had died there in that naked, ruined forest. With the trees and the animals and the plants, we grieved… 

[Jasper closes his eyes and starts to sway slightly back and forth, singing the song of those who were lost.]

Oh beauty, oh vibrant life, oh springing joy!

In this place of burdens, let the life return in its own time.

Too much to bear is this sorrow.

Too heavy lies the burden of death.

We sing our grief, we sing our sorrow,

We sing hope for the future, the future forest,

Which is greater than Man's greed.

And we opened our eyes, our amazed eyes, and saw the spirits of all those who had died, singing and laughing in the sunlight and the moonlight, joyful in death as they were in life, dragonflies playing in sunbeams. All were there just as they had been before Men came. And we were told: "Your hearts have been heard by the All Highest. This place will bloom again. Go in peace."

[Jasper opens his eyes, he is very intense.]

Do you see, do you understand? All hearts are one heart, a great heart, too great to be permanently harmed by the Darkness.

We are done.

Peggy River Singer is a heart-centered animal communicator, medium, faerie ally, Reiki practitioner, and lifelong writer. She combines her gift for communications with her psychic abilities to help create harmonious relationships among all who share the Earth. Connect by phone at 734-548-0194; and by email at newbluecanoe@aol.com. She shares her experiences and insights on her blog, angelsfairiesandlife.wordpress.com.

We Can, But Should We?

Lady

By Monica Turenne

Working in the veterinary medical field, I sometimes feel we are inundated with information about the latest and greatest drug, the best test for this and that, and the newest surgical and diagnostic procedures.

It can seem overwhelming, and, at times, I want to retreat to just what I know now, but the truth of the matter is, that it is all important to consider if I am to help my patients to the best of my ability. So I listen, read, and research as much as I can, in the hopes that the information will one day prove useful.

And then one day, I met a patient who had myriad health concerns. She had a heart problem and an adrenal gland disease, which both required chronic medications. And if that was not enough, she was so weak in her hind legs that she needed a customized canine cart to get around.

Her name was Lady, and she was one of the happiest dogs I have ever known. She never complained about anything and was always so happy to see me! Despite her near-paralysis, Lady got around in her cart like nothing – maneuvering around tight corners in the house and walking down the sidewalk to the YMCA to meet new people as if that was her job in life. She loved living!

“Despite her near-paralysis, Lady got around in her cart like nothing – maneuvering around tight corners in the house and walking down the sidewalk to the YMCA to meet new people as if that was her job in life. She loved living!”

Lady was cared for by her pet parents Stevie and Andy. These two parents dedicated their lives to Lady. They rearranged their schedules so Lady would never be alone, and never complained about how much work Lady was – and she was a lot of work. Because of Lady’s near paralysis, she required round-the-clock care. She could not be left alone when she was in her cart, nor could she be left alone when she was not in her cart. She needed to be carried up and down any staircase, including the one to get outside. She took a variety of medications, some with food, some without food – so imagine the time spent on this routine before and after meals.

She was also not eating well, so many meals needed to be offered throughout the day (there was no “feed 1 cup, twice daily”). And Stevie and Andy were doing a routine familiar to many elderly canine parents – trying one type of dog/human/cat food after another, after another, after another, just to get her to eat a little bit. And what she would eat one day she would not eat the next. And if the days were not hard enough, Lady also needed to be taken outside at least once a night. Just writing about this is exhausting. But for Stevie and Andy, there was no other option. Lady was their child, and they were committed to giving her the best of everything, including veterinary care.

But we knew Lady was not well. Her appetite had been declining steadily, and she was losing weight rapidly. We determined through a variety of tests that she had a urinary tract infection, a kidney infection, and that her adrenal disease was not being controlled properly. So we treated the infections and made adjustments to her medications in hopes she would start eating better. We waited….and waited for the appetite to appear, and it just did not. We even tried an appetite stimulant and even that did not help. And still, Lady continued on, being the happy dog they knew and loved. They would go on walks, Lady in her cart, front legs strong and pulling her cart behind her. Some people would stop and admire her, and others would stop and question her quality of life. But through it all, Lady  plugged away. Then one day, she had a focal seizure – it was mild, it was barely noticeable. A few days later, she had a major seizure – it was not mild, it was very noticeable.

Stevie and Andy had always wanted to go to the ends of the Earth for Lady so we had planned for the next round of tests – to check her adrenal gland disease as well as her infections; perhaps she just needed a different antibiotic? Perhaps a new anti-nausea medication? And I planned to talk with them about a neurology consult; would anti-seizure medications be needed? There just had to be more we could do for Lady. We had to be able to save her.

Then one morning I received an email from Stevie. She said she woke up with a clarity of thought that was surprising to herself. She realized that no matter what we did, Lady would continue to be the happy dog putting one paw in front of the other, pulling her cart behind her, looking for the next person to win over. We could do ultrasounds, urine tests, blood tests and try all kinds of different drugs to help her appetite, eliminate the infection and stop the seizures but the simple truth was that Lady was dying and her way of telling us that was by not eating.

She would never tell them by being unhappy – she was just not that kind of dog.

There are those dogs that want to please their owners and will do anything, including eat, play and act fairly normal in the face of serious disease or pain.

“There are those dogs that want to please their owners and will do anything, including eat, play and act fairly normal in the face of serious disease or pain.”

With these dogs, pet parents often have to step in and make difficult decisions for them because the pet simply is not capable of signaling that they are suffering.

Lady was a little different. Lady was simply an incredibly happy dog. I have never met a dog who was happier. You just looked at her and you could not help but smile back. She loved being alive. She liked her walks and meeting people. And she devotedly loved Stevie and Andy because they completed her and allowed her to fulfill this life she was meant to lead. Lady loved life so much that she was incapable of being unhappy, despite her illness. And yet, she needed a way to let her pet parents know that she was struggling and that she needed help. She chose food as her signal. Stevie recognized this and with this new clarity, they decided it was time to let her go.

There were to be no more expensive medications and no more fancy blood tests. Yes, we could continue on, but should we? Stevie and Andy were saying no. The part of me that wanted to save Lady had to let go and accept that all the knowledge in the world would not save her. It was her time. So after a beautiful walk to the YMCA and back, Stevie and Andy said goodbye to their beautiful friend. While there was sadness, we could also feel the essence that was Lady, her pure joy, being released from her body. We had no doubt that her joy would soon enter another life. How could it not? After all, it was Lady.

***

---

Monica Turenne, D.V.M., C.V.A., owns Four Paws Veterinary Wellness, an integrative veterinary house-call practice in Ann Arbor. She has been a veterinarian for 15 years and is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist. She is also a member of the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. For more information, visit fourpawsvetwellness.com, call (734) 385-7161, or emailmt@fourpawsvetwellness.com. 

---