Very recently my beautiful 3 yr old girl Dakota Rose died from what the vets believe was either menigitis, brain tumor or brain anuerysm....I didn't even know she was sick (Can see other post for story......) I couldn't stand the thought of them cutting into her is why I will now never know for sure the cause of her death...

This has shattered me at my very core....and that's saying a lot given I've endured 2 immediate family members suicides, sister drinking herself to death all young deaths, plus dad being an emotionally abusive alcoholic whose since become sober and was recently diagnosed with cancer. With all these deaths even though I'm not a religious person I am spiritual and feel there has to be more. I always seem to feel in my heart maybe to be able to go on that I would see them all, I don't know why this is not a question for me and I'm now faced with an overwhelming terror of never seeing my baby girl again! When my dog Dusty died at 19 1/2 I had the he lived a long happy life....with Dakota, she had an amazing 3 yrs, but I'm left broken more than I've ever felt. I know people talk about the Rainbow bridge....but I'm afraid what if that's just a made up someone said to make us devistated people feel better about seeing their loved furry friends again?!

Please share with me why YOU feel we WILL see our babies again.....I need this.....please....I'm shaken on this and feel physically ill over the thought that I will never hold my girl again!

Dusty Rose's mom

I strongly, truly and without a doubt that we sense our beloved animals after they go home and that we WILL be reunited with them in the Perfect World. It's time for me to race to work right now, so I will share them with you when I get home. Today, hold to the belief, the surety that Dusty Rose is still by your side and that you WILL, yes you WILL hug her and kiss her and cuddle up with her again, and this time it will be forever.

Gretta and Rufus's mom

I am absolutely sure that I will be reunited with my kitties.
This starts with the scientific theory that energy is neither created nor destroyed. If that is true (and it's proven to be so far) then my (and their) energy goes on after physical life is ended.
After that, I do branch out into the realm of faith. Sorry about that, but I have no personal physical evidence of life after death that I can bring to you. SOMETHING happens, but we can't be sure what...

I have been visited by my kitties, both in waking moments and in dreams. Many times, I have lain in bed to feel a cat jump up by me and lay down near my legs - except there was no physical cat there. I have heard a cat jump down from the dining room table when all the living cats were accounted for on the couch. I have had dream visits - not only from my cats who have passed on, but from people who have died as well. They are always happy and healthy and glad to see me.

I do believe in heaven. And if heaven contains our heart's desire, then my kitties will all be there waiting for me.
These thoughts and beliefs bring me great comfort. I choose comfort.

Hi.

I am not a religious person either, and I hope to see my angels again one day. I have my doubts, maybe because it seems like such a long way off. I miss my angels so very much that to be honest there are days when I wish I wasn't here but with them. I cling to the hope that we'll be together again, I think that is what keeps me going. I wish there was a way to know though. It is really hard not knowing if we will one day be together again. I talk to my babies every night and have done since Mitzy died in 1980. Sounds crazy, but hey who cares! They were all my life and I miss them more than anything. I do believe in ghosts, so there has to be something after this life right? But I have not had many experiences of them coming back to see me. My husband says he feels them and has seen them now and then. I'm not so lucky. Oh how I would love to see them.

Hi, Dakota Rose's Mom, thank you so much for sharing with us how you're doing. Like Gretta's Mom and MaryB, I firmly believe we will be reunited with our loved ones of every life form in eternal joy at our appropriate time. I, too, have been blessed with dreams of my beloved companions who are now with the angels, and have sensed their sweet Living Spirits with me letting me know they are still close by keeping a loving vigil over me. I also have faith in a Loving Creator Whose intention is to provide a place of eternal joy for all of His creatures. Faith is the thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So, let your heart hope in the joy of being reunited with your beloved companions at your appropriate time - - even though for now your faith in this happening is your "proof positive".

I hope today is treating you kindly, Dakota Rose's Mom, and that you will have a very peaceful evening blessed with your beloved Dakota Rose's sweet Living Spirit to comfort you. Please know you, and your precious Montana, are in my thoughts and prayers, and please let us know how you're doing.

Peace and blessings,
moon_beam

Hello; I too am in your situation having just lost my companion of 9 years and in a terrible state of grief.

My grief comes more from missing my baby boy right now, but knowing he is in a better place that where his is surrounded by unconditional love, the love pets are known for. How do I know this, many years ago and even recently, I have extensively researched people who have had near death experiences. I have read many books, many accounts, and heard people talk about these experiences. I have also taken a comparative religion class and looked into many different religions. Most of these religions have very very similar views, but the problem seems to come in when these religions get organized and institutionalized and sometimes radicalized and they get off track and forget their foundation which is usually love, treating others how you want to be treated, or not treating people the way you would not want to be treated, empathy, being respectful of life, etc.

But going back to these near death experiences, the similarities are strikingly consistent, and most are positive. The vast majority are not first greeted by family or friends that have passed, but by their past pets that have passed and then family and friends. According to how long this person was actually dead, they may have got to the point of a life review. This is often referred to as their life flashes before their eyes, but it is extremely detailed, chronological, and people report that they are not judged but rather they are their own critics. Sometimes intense traumatic experiences bring about this state without actual death. Scientists point out these are most likely hallucinatory experiences and often differ from culture to culture.

There is also some evidence of these states in lucid dreaming. I have been taking supplements for a little over a month now to help me with lucid dreaming. I need to start writing down my experiences when I first wake, but this morning, I had seen Brando in my dream. I was so happy to see him. I am hoping I will see him again tonight. By the way, I am consciously trying to connect with him in my dreams. Also, before I started taking these supplements I RARELY remembered any of my dreams.

Dear Dusty Rose's mom

Here's another take on it. I have a little Native American blood in me and have done some study of our spiritual beliefs. Many people know that "Indians" consider a White Buffalo a special kind of animal. A White Buffalo isn't just a special animal or an omen of things to come. He is a spirit animal come to earth in physical form.

White Buffaloes are not the only kind of spirit animals that comes to earth. The experiences with my two labs - one a chocolate (Gretta - the kindest chocolate who ever lived) and one was a black (Rufus - the half newfie and my protector). They have both gone back to the spirit world from wich they came, leaving me here on earth weeping out of earthly loneliness. Each of these dogs is a spirit animal. A spirit animal has a human double. They share a single soul. The spirit animal searches the whole universe for the one an only person with whom s/he shares a soul. And when s/he finds that person, both are overcome with love because they recognize their soul-sharer.

Dusty Rose is YOUR spirit-double. You and she share a single soul. That is why your earthly life together was so extremely special. Not every animal is a spirit animal. Many are not - and from what they write, I think most people here on LS have been visited by their spirit animals. We believe that people have souls, even though we can't see them. And we say that the souls is what makes us a living being. Animals, all animals, have souls too. They, too, are living beings.

Souls are eternal in both directions - past and future. They came from somewhere, took on an earthly body, lived an earthly life, and then went back to where they came from - the Perfect World (aka Heaven). When our spirit-doubles find us (and they always do) we exchange pieces of each others' souls. Eternally, we carry a piece of thier soul and they carry a piece of ours. While we are together on earth, our souls are complete because our "piece holder" is physically with us. When our spirit-animal takes off his or her earthly body and returns to the Perffect World from which s/he came, s/he takes with hin or her the piece of our soul that s/he is holding and leaves us the pieces of their souls that we are holding. But like puzzle pieces, these held soul pieces don't exactly fit into the hole in our hearts left by the piece of our soul that our spirit animal takes with them. And thats what causes us to be so devastated for so long when our spirit animel goes home. (Someone - a vet, at that - told me that animals actually choose their times to appear and their times to go back home. So if I'm crazy there are at least two of us.)

As Moonbeam so wisely says, whilte we are living on our physical bodies, we are creatures of our senses. If we can see, hear, touch, taste or smal something, we say it is real. If we can't, we say it's not real. This is a huge mistake. It completely omits the most important part of any living being: his or her soul. Our spirit animal, as a spirit can be many places at one time, they can be in the Perfect World AND they can be at our sides. And this is where they remain: right at our sides, doing what they've always done, guiding our steps, protecting us from harm, and, most importantly, loving us and being loved by us. Sometime a spirit animal will give its human-double a glimpse of his or her presence - a quick seeing, a dream, the sound of foot prints on a floor, a favorite smell. Sometimes they don't give any signal at all.

I got a signal from Gretta, my very first dog as an adult. When she went home, I was so sad that I slept for over a week on her great big orthopedic bed (I'm a solo so I can get away with stuff like this) and one day just as I was waking up at the very early morning hour when we used to go for a walk, I glimpsed a Golden Retriver or an Irish Setter between where I was lying and her eating/drinking bowls. That was Gretta letting me know she was OK. I think my signs from Rufus come from two beautiful pictures that his foster mom took of him. His eyes in these photos are alive. They still look like he can see through the ages.

Since all souls eventually go to the Perfect World from whence they came ( a great soul went there just a few days ago - that of Madiba Mandela), we w ill MOST DEFINITELY see our babies there. The Perfect World has been promised, even by Chirsitan religions, to be a place of perfect happines. How could we be perfectly happy if our spirit animals were not there? The instant we get there, we exchange the parts of each others' souls we were holding and our souls are whole again.

Dusty Rose's mom, when you are overcome by sadness and loneliness, go ahead an let your tears fall, I think they are like soothing rain in the Perfect World. Our animals can see us, hear us, touch us, smell us, even taste our shared kisses. They want the best for us. They have strength and love and courage rays to send to us when we need it. In fact, I have arranged, through Gretta and Rufus, "prayer-hums" for animals in the Perfect World to collectively offer prayers to the Good Man in the Perfect World to strengthen or heal a person still here on earth - and "bark parties" in celebration when our "Prayer hums" are answered.

I hope you don't think I'm deranged. I don't think I am. I believe this with all my heart and soul. If you are more comfortable with a Christian approach, there is a boook written by a catholic scholar called something like "Of Course We Shall Meet in Heaven."My sister has the actual book, so if you want the title, I'll get it for you.

Dustry Rose's mom. Dusty Rose is NOT gone. She is NOT far away. She is right by your side - always. Even if people think you have lost your mind, you can talk to her. And some of us write to our spirit animals here on Lightning Strike. Please do not despair. Belief is a choice. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" - the Bible says this. Belief will show you that Dusty is with you in spirpt now, and that you will be together forever when you go to meet her in the Perfect World. Remeber: Love is Eternal and the pain you are feeling now is the mismatch between the hole in your heart from the missing piece of your souls that Dusty Rose is carrying and the piece of HER soul that you are carrying. Carry this soul with love. Treasure it. And one day you and Dusty Rose will meet again, return each others' soul-pieces, and live together forever in perfect Happiness.

Thank you for asking me to share my beliefs about how we WILL see our babies again.

Gretta and Rufus's mom
Jeanne

P.S. Please pardon all the typos in this message. I have a brace on my righ wrist from DeQuervain's syndome - from walking dogs!!

Thank you all who've replied so far....its helped a bit....please I hope more will keep sharing.....