Pets and the Afterlife

During one of my Spirit Message Nights, a participant asked if pets ever come through by themselves without spirit people bringing them through. I had to think for a moment, because I do have many pets come through, but was it with or without accompanying spirit people? After I thought about it for a minute, I realized it was actually both. I’ve had spirit people bring animals through for clients and also the animals have just appeared by themselves as well. 
This brings me to other questions I get all of the time… what happens to pets after they’ve passed on? Do they have spirit bodies too? Do they hang around their people after they pass away? Do they talk to you when they come through in readings? How do we know they are around? 

First, yes (and I realize my answers are in different order than the questions… hehe), they pass into the spirit realm just like humans do. At the time of physical “death”, they leave their physical body and become an etheric body (or body double of what they were physically). They remain in this body for a little while, and then, when it’s time, they shed the etheric body where they then become a spirit body. They, just like humans, join their circle of loved ones, and most times (in my own experience as a medium) they are with the spirit people of their owners. So my client’s grandmother may bring in my client’s cat, Morris. Sometimes these spirit people just help bring them through, but normally, I see them holding the animal saying “tell her I’ve got the cat”, or “the dog is ok … it’s important for him to know”, etc. And if some has more than one animal passed, we ask them to give more defining information on which dog, i.e. what color, what size, etc. 

Many people know their spirit pets are around because they’ll hear, feel, or see them near after the pet has passed away. And no, it doesn’t have to be only dogs or cats… all animals have souls and therefore return to a spirit form just as we do. My mom is an avid animal lover and took care of injured birds primarily in her career as a wildlife rehabilitator. I remember stories when I was really young, about hearing her favorite bird chirp or fly by after he’d passed away. This, not only a few days afterwards (which is typical… new spirit beings tend to hang around the earth plane for a bit after they pass to say good-bye’s or check on their loved ones) but months or more. Our hamsters did the same thing… we’d hear the wheel turning when there was no hamster in the cage — late at night — same hamster noises. A woman at a store once told my mom that she had a cute dog — and then realized it wasn’t there anymore. My mom said, “what dog?” and the woman said, “I just saw a large black dog near your legs”. This was a few years after my favorite dog, Sunshine, passed away. She was a beautiful black dog and loved my mom. 

Do they always stay around us? No, I don’t believe they do; they have things to do just as our spirit people do. But I do know they check in here and there just like our spirit people. I’ve found that some animals who suffered with an illness or debilitating disease before they passed (many times these are animals who had to be put down) are so relieved and happy about not being ill or in pain any longer, they just take off and run! 🙂 I felt that so much with our sweet dog, Sammy — he just seemed to float up and away! He had suffered briefly with liver failure after having epilepsy for years before. The liver failure came out of the blue and so fast, and we couldn’t bear him being in pain… but he must have been relieved. I felt him just drift off and away and it was so peaceful. You could just sense how much better things were for him. Sometimes, my son says he sees him under the table, but I haven’t seen or felt him much except for hearing from him once during a reading I had, and I also connected to him once during a meditation. He came in so clearly and it was wonderful to see him again, and… he looked just like he did when he was healthy. 

How else do we know our spirit pets are around? They’ll show up as orbs or even manifest partially or fully like my black dog did with my mom. You may be able to smell them or hear them meow or bark or squawk, squeak, etc., you may feel them run by you or just really know they’re in the room. Many times (and this still happens to me with a cat I had 20 years ago) if they slept with you on the bed, you may feel them jump up and lie down on the bed just as they did when they were physically here. I love that when that happens… I’ll feel a plop near my feet and circling (like cats do when they are trying to get comfy laying down) and then it’s still. 

Do they talk to me when they come through in readings? Yes, with symbols, as I don’t understand dog speak yet, but am working on it — one bark yes, two barks no… (wink). So, they will give info in a way I can understand it — with symbols and feelings just like the spirit people do. I’ve had them tell me how they passed or what they went through before the passed, about the homes they lived in, their owners, what they ate, etc. All to identify themselves. I’ve had 5 dogs show up for one owner one time, but each was so dear to this man — I think they came in over this man’s spirit people! I had a group of animals come in once for a woman grief stricken to help her move forward from her grief. Spirit is amazing. 

Our spirit animals love us unconditionally just like they did when they were here on the earth plane, and do hang around us when they aren’t busy themselves — again, just like spirit people. They seem to make sure to come in with our spirit people during most readings, especially when my client is a huge animal lover or there is a specific reason to come through. Sometimes we feel or see them around, sometimes not, but we always know they love us and they know we did the best job we could. Keep them in your prayers and just remember to keep talking to them. They can hear you!