Does Anyone Here Believe in Pet Reincarnation?

[liberalmuse]

I adopted a rescue dog a few years ago. He was a very old, crippled Shitzhu/Terrier mix that someone found wandering on the side of the road. They called him, 'Pigpen' at the shelter because of his matted hair. A coworker adopted him for her kids, but they ended up dragging him across the floor, so she was going to bring him back, but I told her I'd take him. I cried the first night I had him because he had this horrible limp and I wondered if I shouldn't just put him down. He could not bark. However, he seemed happy and loved his treats, and got around pretty good, but I spent a lot of sleepless nights because he would get 'seizures' and I'd have to cuddle him and calm him.

I had the fellow for 18 months and loved him dearly until he got to the point where I had to put him down. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do - decide whether another being should live or die. You can't ask a dog if it's their time. Anyway, after I put him down and spent some time saying, 'Goodbye', I went into the vets lounge and this big, fat cat with the same markings as Freddy came out into the lobby looking like he had suddenly been roused from sleep. He just came right in the middle of the lobby and sat in front of my family. The receptionist and other staffers were surprised and said they'd never seen him do that. I took it as a 'Goodbye' from Freddy.

Fast forward to a couple months ago. My sister and nephew decided they were finally ready for a puppy. A coworker had some chiweenies she was selling so I told my sister about them. My mom, sister, nephew and I were going out to lunch and my sister decided to give my co-worker a call before we left because she was so ready to get the chiweenie, so she called my coworker, but my coworker was hesitant to sell her a chiweenie until all her close friends and family had had a pick. My sister felt she didn't want to sell the dog to her for some reason. My mom piped in, 'Don't worry. The right dog will just happen for you.'

Well, we went out to eat and were talking about the puppy when the waitress (a real sweetheart of a girl) overheard us and told us she had one last puppy to sell. My sister was interested and we set up a time. The puppy was a Shitzhu and he was called, 'Porker'. To make a long story short, my sister and nephew now have 'Porker', which they named, 'Tommy'. OMG, he is so cute, and when I come to visit, he is so happy to see me and he barks at you as if he's talking, LOL. Part of me wonders if he's not my 'Pigpen/Freddy'. I even slipped and called him 'Freddy' once. He's so like him, but then again, he could be another soul that's just as special. Makes you wonder, eh? I'd always felt he'd come back to me - and I'd get to see how he was before he had been abused and crippled. It had always haunted me. I do believe in reincarnation, but know that Freddy probably had longtime owners that he loved before I came along, and may have opted to go back to them if he indeed reincarnated as a dog.

I should mention that I would not have gotten another dog because I have my beloved Chow, and she's 13 years old and has arthritis now. I need to give her my full attention. She's gotten old and cranky and would not tolerate another dog in the house. Even if Tommy is not Freddy, I am getting to see what Freddy was like when he was younger.

Aside: My nephew named 'Tommy' after some odd director ('The Room', I think). My daughter named 'Freddy' after Freddy Mercury.

[I Have A Dream]

1. Hi, liberalmuse! Yes, I believe in pet reincarnation...

and I believe that our beloved animals will often return to us or to others in our families if we personally won't be adding any additional animals to our family.

Thank you for sharing this story. :)

[liberalmuse]

3. Awesome.

I thought people would take this as 'flaky'. I'm sort of an atheist who believes in angels and reincarnation, LOL, and it is an odd story. Thanks!

[I Have A Dream]

4. Here's a thread that I personally started about it last year.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=245&topic_id=97981&mesg_id=97981

[MorningGlow]

2. Great story!

Yes, I believe in pet reincarnation. None of my pets has come back (yet), but my former elder's first cat came back to her also as a kitty. I forget the similarities, as it was a while ago, but when she listed them, they made a convincing case!

I hope our cat who died over the summer comes back. He was a grumpy crank, but he was a fantastic grumpy crank!

Glad you can still enjoy Tommy/Freddy as an auntie!

[oceanspirit]

11. Dilburt (sorry for the spelling)

MG,
It's still not too late to come and adopt Ruby. She can be the reincarnated Dilburt. LOL She may not be as cranky as him, but she sure would steal your heart!!! LOL

Oceanspirit

[Myrina]

5. I sometimes think my rescued old Beagle is my dad ...

... reincarnated. We didn't have the best relationship (he came from a long line of verbal abusers and alcoholics), so he made it pretty clear that he didn't like any of his 7 kids, or his life.

Years of self-abuse and over indulgence left him fat, with bad teeth, a bad attidude, and being a drunk - when he passed out and started snoring, the whole world heard.

He passed away in 1994 (I was 27). A few years ago for no apparent reason, one day I went to my local Humane Society. I already had one dog and wasn't really even "looking" for another. I went into the puppy room (I'm not a big fan of puppies either) and there in a cage all by himself was this sad looking 7 year old Beagle. He'd been found at a campground in TN and for some odd reason the people who found him brought him 300+ miles back to Central IN and turned him in to the HS. No way was this guy ever going to find his way home.

Anyway, I knelt down by the cage and started to talk to him and he groaned and stretched in my direction (apparently had recently been neutered, as well as having most of his rotten/broken teeth pulled, so he was in no shape to be playful). I knew he had to come home with me, and as he settled in, the parallels between he and my dad started to emerge: generally crabby, very lazy/chubby, missing most of his teeth, gaseous, and SNORES like a lumberjack. He also gets this look on his face like "Woman, please. I'm watching TV." - the same kind of apathetic disinterest in anything that dad used to exhibit.

So maybe I'm projecting but if indeed they do reincarnate, its allowed 'us' a chance to come to a truce of sorts and form a bond.


:shrug:

[winyanstaz]

6. Yes I do believe in it :)

The first cat I ever got was when I was around five. A lady saw me passing by on my way home from kindergarten and asked if I would like a kitten. Of course I said "Yeth" (I had a bad lisp as a child :P) so she handed me a little bundle of orange fur over the top of her fence and I fell in love.
My mom was angry with the woman but let me keep the cat. I named him Butterscotch as he was an orange tabby.
For all of my life...when one orange tabby leaves my life..another has soon shown up.
I never look for them..they just seem to show up right on time.
I have one now that is even following me around on the inner planes when I am dreaming and I think they are all the same little spirit.
They have all looked exactly the same..right down to little black specks on their lips and on the right eye lid.
It is easy to call my little Tenchi by my Mr Wizards' name or my Nicodemus's name (nicky)....as it is so easy to mix them up as they are all the same in spirit, looks and temperament.
They all make terrible awful noises when they clean themselves...the slurping is horrible and they all have been my little shadows.
At one time or another they have all shared consciousness with me for one reason or another.
I believe he is my familiar and always has been.

[BuelahWitch]

7. I definitely believe in pet reincarnation

Some people believe that animals don't have souls, but I can't subscribe to that. I know some of my pets have been with me before, either in this life or a past one. Thanks for coming in and telling us your story!

[Callie McAllie]

8. I am also a believer

And you thought you would find skeptics...ha!

I had a frail, standoffish calico cat (Callie) for 19 years. I never thought when I got her that she would live so long, or go through so much with me. She moved with me to California and back, lived with me through two husbands and a few boyfriends in between. I swear there were depressed moments years ago when she understood what I was feeling and tried to comfort me. But in general she was not a loving cat. She could not care less about almost anybody who approached her, sometimes actively avoided or annoyed some of my friends who came by.

She was very old and frail when she died. She had an illness in the last five years of her life that required I give her medicine every day. We had just gotten an orange tabby (Henry) to replace my husband's previous orange tabby (His string of orange tabbies is another story). It was as if, once big muscular Henry came on board, Callie felt she could finally pass on, that there would be someone to watch over the family in her place. She waited for me to come home from work before she died. (Her passing allowed us to also adopt Henry's brother, little wiry Simon. Both Henry and Simon are the most loving, affectionate animals. I never knew cats could be so sweet and attentive, after all those years with Callie, who was so aloof.)

A few years ago, we decided to get a puppy. My son picked out Ruffy, a pomeranian who has grown up to be quite frail, with arthritis and a skin problem that results in lots of dandruff and her long hair requires a lot of brushing. She is very sweet, and we all love her very much, and give her medicine every day for her arthritis as she hobbles up and down stairs. But she is quite asocial, detests most other dogs, barks with a vengeance at anyone who comes to the house, and has a few individuals that she just cannot abide, barks at them ceaselessly whenever they're around (our next door neighbor is one).

I forgot to mention that one of Callie's favorite things was to be brushed. She had terrible dandruff.

Is Ruffy really Callie's reincarnated soul? Sometimes I think so.

O8)

[Callie McAllie]

9. I forgot to mention that my 13 year old son also quite firmly believes in reincarnation

But he believes we all come back as animals. There are a lot more animals than people, after all.

[Kookaburra]

10. Oh sure. I believe we all get to come back...

... as many time as we want/need in order to learn whatever it is we need/want to learn. This includes animals as well as people.

I've always had black cats -- since I was young -- and they've always just showed up. My black kitty I have now was sitting in my yard one night when I got home from work, crying his little heart out. It was about 12 degrees and he was this little tiny kitten. My neighbor at the time, a sweet soul who worked from home most days, said he had been trying to coax the little guy in from the cold all day, but he wouldn't cooperate -- just sat out in my yard crying. I simply stooped down and said "come here baby kitty", and he came right to me. I brought him in and he's been my Dolce now for 9 years. Here's the interesting part: he looks and acts exactly like a cat I had 20 years ago, whom I loved dearly -- right down to the extra long fangs that hang out of his mouth. I'm convinced he's the reincarnation of that cat. They have way too much in common for it to be merely a coincidence.