Animals and the Afterlife (36 page)

Moritz

Ingrid Pohl, Psychotherapist Burgwedel, Germany

As told by Gail De Sciose, Animal Communicator

I
WAS CONTACTED
one October by a woman named Ingrid Pohl in Germany. Her beloved cat, Moritz, had died the previous July. He was only three years and four months old when he passed on. He had been a white cat with some gray tabby markings, unusual markings on his back and around his head. They found his body in a field close to their home. Ingrid was very upset and wanted me to ask Moritz if he wanted to come back into another body and rejoin the family.

He said that there was another cat in the household, an old male cat named Paavo, who didn’t like him very much, and he felt that he probably shouldn’t come back as long as Paavo was around because he didn’t want to antagonize him.

So Ingrid had me talk to the two remaining cats in the household, Paavo and Toni. Toni, who had been Moritz’s very great friend, said he would be delighted to have him come back as soon as possible because he was his playmate. Paavo said that he didn’t really like Moritz so much when he was in his body, but he appreciated the fact that Moritz would be willing to wait until he wasn’t there anymore. So, it really didn’t matter that much to him. He said that if Moritz wanted to come back, let him come back, and to thank him for his consideration. I thought that was incredible, since these guys hadn’t been friends.

So, a little time went by and Ingrid had me get in touch with Moritz again to ask him to reconsider coming back. He said he
would
come back—probably fairly soon—in a few months. He also said that he would be a kind of orange tabby type cat, and this would be the way we would know to recognize him.

Over the next couple of months, we tried talking to him again to ask him, “How will we know it’s you? How will we find you?” He said, “Don’t worry about that; I’ll take care of that part.” We asked, “Will you show up at an animal shelter? Will you come through the veterinarian’s office?” He said, “I will handle it; don’t worry.” Apparently, there aren’t that many orange cats in Germany, and I thought,
That might be a good thing because if he shows up we will have a better clue that this really is him.

Ingrid and her husband, Jorg, went to Italy on a holiday and they were staying at a farm. I got a phone call from Ingrid in Italy, who said, “You know, the mother cat on the farm had a litter of three kittens. One of them is an orange-and-white cat and he always looks at us in a very touching way.” She said, “Could you check with him to see if it’s Moritz?” The mother cat’s behavior was apparently very odd because she usually kept her kittens hidden from the farmer. In this case, however, she allowed her kittens to be seen.

I asked the kitten if he was Moritz, and he said that he was, that he had indeed returned. This little ball of fluff, who could hardly walk because he was only three or four weeks old, then came up to Ingrid and her husband and looked at them in a “very touching way.” That made everybody very happy, but it also created a problem because Ingrid and Jorg had to go back to Germany and the kitten was too young to be taken away from his mother. The farmer wasn’t terribly attached to the cat, so he allowed Ingrid and her husband to take the mother and the three kittens back to Germany.

Moritz has grown into a very gentle, lovely cat. Ingrid feels certain that he is Moritz because he does the same things that the former Moritz did. She even gave him that name again. Most people don’t do that, by the way; when their animals come back, they give them different names.

What I find to be tremendously remarkable in this case is that Ingrid sent me a picture of the reincarnated Moritz and he has a white body with orange tabby markings, but his markings are almost identical to the former Moritz’s, whose markings were gray and white. This doesn’t always happen; sometimes the animals don’t look anything like they did before, but in this case, he does.

Kim’s note:
When I spoke with Ingrid Pohl several years later, she added the following updates….

We were absolutely surprised, my husband and I, that all this happened to us. After spending another three years and four months with us [the exact same lifespan as the first time], Moritz died again, this time by a car crash, and we were absolutely desperate. After eight months, he came back again as an orange tabby female cat, and her name is Sonja.

Lil Guy, Part 2

Patte Purcell, Host,
The Next Dimension
Radio Show Nevada

Kim’s note:
It turns out that Patte’s story about Lil Guy, in which he came back to visit during the night (as told in Chapter 9, “A Touch of Heaven”), was only the beginning of the story. She later had the following to add….

W
E LOST OUR
L
IL
G
UY
after seventeen years. My husband wanted us to go out and get another kitty right away to heal the loss. We got a beautiful white Persian with blue eyes. I picked him up and he started purring. I looked back in the cage and saw his little red Persian brother who looked at me like, “Hey, me too!” I fell in love, and we brought them both home. We called them Boo Boo (the white one) and Bubba (the orange one). We had great fun. They played, and we enjoyed them so very much.

At about eighteen months, Bubba started losing weight. We had the vet out, but she couldn’t really find anything. Over the course of the next few months, he continued to deteriorate. Even though we went to three different vets, no one could figure it out. He got worse and worse. They thought it might be the heavy fur he was ingesting, so they shaved him and he was wearing a sweater to keep warm, as he was anemic.

The night before he died, he was sleeping on my pillow, and I had a dream that he had taken off his sweater and was running around. I woke and told my husband that Bubba had just told me he was going to pass. He died that night. We were devastated. Boo Boo was devastated. Before he died, Boo Boo and Bubba touched noses as if to say good-bye.

My husband immediately wanted to get another cat. I told him I needed some time to grieve for Bubba. I do a metaphysical radio talk show, and I have mediums as my guests on a regular basis. I decided to call Dennis Jackson, one of the best ones I’ve ever seen, to see if I could talk to Bubba. He came right to the phone. I told him what had happened and he said, “Well, there is a black cat here (Lil Guy was black). He wants you to know that he helped Bubba over and they both want to come back!” I was amazed to hear that this could happen very quickly. I asked him how to find them and he told me, “They will find you!” He mentioned looking on the Internet. My husband immediately started looking. We kept looking but nothing really hit.

About the second week in December, I had a dream that I was holding Bubba in my palm; he was on his back and he wrapped his soft little paws around my finger. I woke up and told my husband that Bubba was back! We sent out e-mails looking for any new kittens born after November 1st (the day Bubba passed), and a woman sent us an e-mail saying her Tortie had a litter of two brothers, one a red Persian, the other a gorgeous cream. We rushed right over. The red Persian rolled over in my arm and wrapped his little paws around my finger, just like in the dream. I
knew
it was Bubba.

As for Lil Guy, I thought I was still looking for a black Persian, but this little cream-colored one made it clear that he was coming with us! I checked with the psychic to make sure. Guess what; it was Lil Guy! What is so amazing is they have the exact same personalities as before. The really cool thing is that when we brought them home, Boo Boo and Bubba ran right up to each other and touched noses. Boo Boo looked at us like, “Thank you, thank you!” He loves both of the kittens, washes them, plays with them, sleeps with them, and hugs them! I’ve never seen a cat so loving towards new family members. He loves them as much as we do! It’s a miracle!

Bimbo

Angela Elliott, Homeopath California

M
Y CAT
, B
IMBO
, was poisoned and he died a rather tragic death. I knew that he would always be alive in my heart, but never dreamed that he would come back to me!

Last September, I found two very tiny kittens in my laundry room. I instantly fell in love with one of them; we bonded right away. I looked into his eyes and I knew it was him. He is the spitting image of my old cat in every way. He came back to me! I gave him a different name (Frisco) even though I knew he was my former cat.

I wanted to test my theory. I called him by my original cat’s name, Bimbo. He didn’t hesitate for a second; he came straight to me and kept nuzzling me. Every time I said his old name, he got even more affectionate. He was trying to tell me something! I know for a fact it is him. I haven’t a doubt; I know it like I know who I am.

I have received many messages in my lifetime and I have been there to assist many animals in their passing. I know animals return to us.

Kim’s note:
As this story illustrates, we don’t always need outside assistance or a spectacular chain of events to convince us that a loved one has returned. Sometimes, we just “know.”

Cody

Debbie Kuperman, Phone Company Service Representative Texas

T
O GIVE YOU A BRIEF HISTORY
of my relationship with Cody (my dog), I got him when I was about eighteen. Shortly after, I went into an awful spiral of drug addiction and alcoholism that lasted several years. Needless to say, living that lifestyle, Cody and I went through hell and back together. He was my best friend through it all. Years later, when I was almost twenty-five, I found myself living in a tent on my mother’s property in the woods of Arkansas. I lived there for about two months when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child.

I decided to move to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to straighten up my life and get a good job (which I did). Cody loved the woods and the freedom he had at my mom’s, so, while it broke my heart, I left him with her. When I was leaving, I couldn’t bear to say good-bye to him, so I asked him to go for a walk while I left. He, as always, understood what was happening and he took off down the path. He stopped once to look back, and then continued on until he was out of sight. I quickly got out of there before he came back. I went to visit once or twice after the baby was born and he was always happy to see me.

About three years later, he was hit by a truck while chasing it. (He always loved to chase trucks, and I told him several times that would be the way he would die.) Something told me to call my mom that day and, sure enough, he had been hit about fifteen minutes before I called. She buried him on her property under a dogwood tree where several other family pets are buried. I went up there one time to visit his grave.

I could feel that his spirit was living on in the woods and the river that he loved so much, so I was at peace.

Now I have another baby, and my older child is five. I just got them a Great Pyrenees puppy. Her name is Cassie. She is almost four months old and (being such a large breed) is about the size Cody was full grown. Last weekend, we all went up to my mom’s for a visit. Cassie (my new puppy) has never seen big trees, a river, or any type of wilderness whatsoever.

The first time we went to the river, she walked right in and swam to the other side (this was something Cody did on a daily basis). Then she swam back and got out. When she started walking, she had his walk, she held her tail the same way he did, and even her face had changed to resemble him. All of us that were there who knew Cody (five people) recognized him immediately. We marveled at it a while and went back up to the house.

That night, Mom cooked spaghetti (which was Cody’s favorite—he always got his own plate). Through all the cooking Mom had done thus far, Cassie had never paid attention. I looked over at Mom while she was cooking, and there sat Cassie right at her feet, staring at the stove, slightly shaking with the anticipation of the spaghetti. Cody always did this. I brought it to Mom’s attention and, sure enough, there were Cody’s facial features again.

Later, Cassie and I went for a walk in the woods. She started to go off down a path. I called her back to me, and she acted as if she didn’t even hear me. I called her several times, when I noticed she wasn’t walking like herself. She was walking like him. I said, “Cody, come here, boy!” She (or he) stopped in her (or his) tracks and came trotting back down the path to me immediately. I told everyone about it when I got back to the house.

The next day, once again, she trotted down to the river, and Cody went for his daily swim. My sister was down there and called Cassie to come up to the house with her. She, as I had done, called and called. Then she remembered what I had said. She called Cody’s name, and he/she came running. There were several other subtle times when Cody would come and go over the weekend, so none of us were sure what to really call her/him at times.

There were five of us there that knew Cody when he was alive who can verify this. There were others there, but I wouldn’t count them as valid witnesses since they didn’t really know Cody or the way he acted, walked, etc. It was amazing.

[
Kim’s note:
Debbie thought that Cody’s spirit was using Cassie’s body as a temporary host. She did not consider that Cassie might be the reincarnation of Cody, but is now beginning to wonder. Perhaps it was simply more apparent when she visited her mother’s home, since that was the home that Cody had known, so therefore, those were the surroundings and activities that were familiar to him.]

There have been other times that she resembled him. I would look into her eyes and swear Cody was looking back at me.

The funny thing is that Pyrenees are usually all white, occasionally having what are called “badger markings” around their face and ears. Cassie has these markings, but she also has two brown spots, one on her back and one by her tail. They are exactly the same color brown that Cody was all over. My mom pointed this out.

There were also some strange circumstances to me getting Cassie. I won’t go into those details, but I can assure you that I was destined to have her and no other dog.

I hope this brings people who have loved and lost a member of the family (since that’s what our pets are) some comfort in their grief.

I know it brought me comfort. To just be able to hug him and see the loving look in his eyes again meant more to me than anyone will ever know.

He was (and still is) so special to me.