Ph.D. Shelley A. Kaehr

This book provided some wonderful insight into your current and past experiences with pets. Is it really possible to have the same pet come back in this life? In a past life? Have you experienced life as another animal in a past life? This book does an excellent job at explaining these types of questions. I still have some very raw emotions from my cat Payton I lost a few years ago, so before even reading this book, I asked myself "What makes him so special?" Is is really possible I could have lived a past life with him? Will he come back to me someday? I really hope so. It could be the fact that he was the first cat I ever truly owned while being out on my own, that we've been through 3 apartments and my marriage and having my baby, or the fact that the weekend he passed away, he came into the kitchen to say goodbye after a fun weekend with my best friend. I had to watch him die on the table before the veterinarian could assist with his passing, and that scenario constantly replays in my mind.
Recently I had tried reading another book on losing a pet, and I was only able to get through the first few chapters. This author said that once a pet is gone, it's gone for good. Most of us want to believe that they are near us when we need them the most, and this book provided the comfort I needed on a spiritual level. Although this provides "exercises" to self hypnotize yourself and to do these sessions the author does with her clients on you own, I really do not have a lot of quiet time to myself to try something like this at the moment with a 5 year old and two indoor cats, but I might try a few of these in the future in order to maybe help me further heal from my loss.
I really enjoyed the story about the grandma coming back as a cardinal as well. I lost my grandmother the same year I lost my cat. She had a love of cardinals and collected them. I made some beads made into the shape of an angel out of her funeral flowers along with a charm on it that says "When a cardinal appears, your angel is near". This hangs on the rearview mirror of my truck. This spring of 2020, my parent's have had a female cardinal try to fly into the window, insistent on trying to get into the house, just like this cardinal did and where I am sure my grandmother is at peace, part of me wonders if she was not paying a little visit to my parents in the house she used to live in. Unfortunately, my mom's cat killed this bird.
This book is uplifting and guaranteed to put a smile on your face if you have ever known the love of a pet. This was a great read, thank you NetGalley!… (meer)