Dying pet - some experiences with spiritual and personal work to make decisions and let go.

I had a scare with my twenty year old cat, Gepetto, a few weeks ago; She had been deaf for many years, but now she suddenly seemed to have turned blind, was walking into things and showed erratic and strange behaviour. I was not sure whether it was time to let her go. Here are my experiences (both with traditional Western medicine, homeopathy and spiritual/shamanic work) – which may help others. 

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​ I immediately thought it was a brain tumour, and I was getting ready to call the vet to let her go. As it was a Saturday, this call got delayed and I had an agonising weekend considering whether I needed to euthanise her or whether she would die by herself. This was especially difficult as Gepetto had been such a smart and independent cat all her life (she moved twice across the ocean with no difficulties at all). I really did not want to make decisions for her if she wanted an independent death. At the same time, I was very stressed, as I was about to travel a week later, and I certainly would not have wanted to leave this problem with the cat sitter.

What the vet said:
A lot… but here is the summary:  As long as they are eating, not soiling themselves, and doing 2-3 things they enjoyed before (such as sun-bathing on their favourite bench), it is usually too early to put them down.
Homeopathy: If you notice your pet is dying but would rather have her/him die at their own speed than putting them down: Try to give Ars Alb homeopathic remedy. This does certainly not kill the pet, but if it is time for them to go, it will support them letting go at their own speed.

Personal work: 
To enable the pet to let go and pass over to the next phase of his/her life peacefully and with joy, it is important to give a lot of love, but not to start grieving too early while the pet is still around. A friend who is an animal healer told me to take the stance of “the mother who is waving good-bye at the airport, when her son boards a plane to take a job on the other side of the world”. What the son needs is a joyful, hopeful farewell – not to be burdened with the grief of his mother. 
For me this was very difficult, as the loss of my feline friend of 20 years also triggered lots of emotions about my own adventures, decisions, and experiences of the last 20 years. I missed some earlier aspects of my life, and I re-lived some difficult aspects. To deal with this, I would go and hide away in my bedroom, having a good cry, but when the cat was around, I just transmitted love and hope, and maybe a weeny bit of sadness, but not too much of it.
I also started to do some spiritual and energy work on myself, to build up the strength to be at Gepetto’s side until the very end, if she would have to be put down.
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Spiritual/shamanic work to decide what to do:

• Many of you who know how to journey in shamanic ways – or have some other ways of getting advice from spiritual helpers – will probably use these methods to gain some clarity on whether it is time and how to support the pet. Here are a few experiences:
• Journeying to the true self/soul of the animal. The question is important (as usual!). I have done this work quite often, also for pets of friends, and I learned that the question “Is your soul ready to pass over” is often not helpful. Whenever I worked with it, this question always gave a yes, as most animals seem less attached to the life here. A better question to ask: “Do you like any help now to pass over? What kind of help?. Do you think you can die of your own accord, and would you like to do it this way?”
• Journeying to the “eternal mother/father” of the pet. When doing shamanic healing work on animals, I often encountered a ‘chief spirit’ who is not one of my usual helpers, but the ‘mother principle’ or ‘father principle’ of all cats (or the respective animal I am working with). For cats, this spirit comes over as a big, motherly cat. For dogs, it is a huge, fluffy, motherly dog. These spirits are very good helpers/guides to work with.
• Asking another (living) pet for help. They are usually quite down to earth about living and dying, and they can give good and neutral advice. For example, in the case of Gepetto, we asked my sister’s cat for her advice.
• Calling in the ancestors of the dying pet to come and help the pet pass over if it is time now. These can be transcended spirits of former fury friends or human friends. Knowing these helpers are around and ready also makes it less ‘lonely’ for us humans to lose the pet.

Healing work for the dying pet
Even if the pet is dying, it still may appreciate some healing (Reiki, shamanic soul retrieval, shamanic extraction etc). It is lovely for the pet to pass over in a healed and spiritually strong state. The intention of this work is not to cure, but to heal to enable a great and wonderful transition.

Home funeral
It is legal in the UK to bury a small pet (not a horse) in your own garden. Think about this a bit, and whether you would like to keep the body of the pet for a short time and organise a wake for it for its friends to come and say good bye. I will write another blog about this.

​Note: Gepetto is back to almost ‘normal’ now: it turned out that high blood pressure had slightly damaged her eyes, but as she is now on blood pressure medicine, the damage could be reversed, and she is back to seeing quite well.