Have you ever had a Rainbow Bridge pet come back to visit you?

[gini]

This question is not original. Last week Petwarmers had an article exactly about this possibility. This week, there are many letters from people telling of their experiences.

I have had my own experience which was very emotional. In 2000 I lost my heartsoul kitty, Magic. Magic had appeared in my yard "just like Magic" 13 years prior. He was a Magic cat in so many ways. When he appeared he was scrawny and had no fur on his tail. He wanted to live with me so badly that he was always breaking into the house - streaking in the back door, or sitting at the basements steps just waiting for that door to open. With love and proper care he turned into the most magnificent black long haired black cat with a beautiful bushy tail that he was so proud of.

After a long bout with cancer, it was clear that he was losing the battle. It was so difficult for me to lose him. It took me a long time to get over this loss.

It was about two weeks after his passing that I walked to my office in the backyard as I did every day - and sitting right at the entrance was a large tuft of black fur. Believe me, it was my undoing. I still have that clump of fur which from time to time I will stroke with many loving memories of our time together.

[Corinna]

Last year after having Merlin Put down I had picked up all his toys. I had put them up stairs in a bag, for 2 weeks after I would find one of his toys downstairs in the living room . On the couch where he would lay and snooze with the toy .
Sometimes at night I still feel him on the foot of my bed. I think Tyson is aware of him too becouse some timmes he doesn't get on the bed but just sits and looks at me like I can't get up becouse some one is there.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Aww that's beautiful.
Tink visited us. It was about 2 hours after she died, and the doorbell rang. We went to the door and nobody was there. About 1 hour later it rang again and still nobody was there. I think she was telling us goodbye for the last time, that she loved us, and that she was ok.
Some people may just think it was a doorbell shortage, but in my heart I know it was her.

[lvpets2002]

:) Well now that you mention it, I thought my Splenda was My 21 yr old {2 yr prior deceased} Miss Priss.. But now Splenda is at Rainbow Bridge too..

[jazzcat]

About a week or two after I lost Disney last July I was out walking in the neighborhood with hubby just like we always do but this time a little white maltese mix dog came running out of a front door of a house and ran right up to me. I almost thought she was Disney for a moment but realized of course it couldn't be. I had to fight to hold back the tears. It was so strange that I've walked past that house so many times during my daily walks in the neighborhood but I never saw her until after I lost Disney. I think Disney sent her out to say hello to me.

By the way, I found out from her owners that her name is Bianca. :)

[catnapper]

Sammie visited us in a strange way, and still does.

Once when we were talking about her, I got up for whatever reason to look in a box.... and there were her ashes. We had forgotten where we ut them in the turmoil that was going on at the time.

She visits every so often by popping up in photograph form where I least expect it. I was looking through my wedding photos the other night and there she was in the middle of the stack. I don't remember seeing her there before.... I left her though because I have the feeling she enjoyed being in there spending our wedding day all together with us :) You have to understand that there are maybe 5 Sammie photos in existance -- all taken by me in the year I knew her (she was hubby's dog long before I met her and hubby) so to constantly see photos of her popping up here and there is surprising. She became totally devoted to me and loved me very much. I am honored to have had her devotion.

[Glacier]

I have had two of mine come back.

Hoodoo died in February 2004. About six months later I was sitting outside reading one evening when I saw him as plain as day. He ran up my driveway, looked at me, gave me his Happy Hoodoo grin, jumped over a pile of logs and was gone. It was so real that I actually walked over to make sure there wasn't a stray dog there.

Dominique drops in pretty regularly. Dom died on May 26, 2005. Her most favorite thing in the world was to knock over the dogs water bucket and make a big mess on the floor. We learned not to leave any water in it or Dom would make puddles! Even if there was no water in it, Dom tipped that bucket every day and played in it. Sometimes now the water bucket falls over for no reason. It's sitting on a perfectly flat floor away from anything or anyone who could knock it over, but it still falls. Every time it does, I say hi to her as I put it back upright. Even Stuart talks to her if he's the one picking up the bucket.

Both of their deaths were unexpected and traumatic. I believe they drop by to let me know they are ok again; that despite the nature of their deaths, their spirits survive somewhere and they are happy. I have another bridge kid, Twicket, a remarkable cat who died in my arms just a few months shy of 16th birthday. No trauma, no struggle, just an old cat who's body failed him. It was peaceful and gentle. Twicket has never come back (yet). I believe he doesn't have to. I miss him terribly and love him deeply, but his death was not as hard for me as the others. I've never questioned if Twicket is ok again, so he has no need to show me that he is. I do believe Twicket arranged for Kasha to come to me--she's another senior kitty who looks a bit like Twicks.

[Jessika]

My room at my parents' is in the basement. Our dog at the time, Perdy, was my best friend. At night I would hear her nails clicking on the kitchen linoleum and lay down at the top of the steps, her favorite place to lay.

She passed away shortly before her 10th birthday for unknown reasons (though I'm sure being overweight and poor diet had something to do with it..).

A few days after her passing I was up late one night on the computer (yes, on a school night ;)) and I heard her walk across the linoleum in the kitchen above and lay down and sigh at the top of the steps as she did so often when she was alive.

This happened every night for three or four days.

Years later after I got Charlie, out of the blue I will find myself calling him "Perdy". And I don't know why, they neither look anything alike, act alike, nor are their names even similar, but I will find myself calling him "Perdy" for no reason at all :o

[kuhio98]

The morning after we lost Kuhio, I had one of those dreams where you are aware enough to know that you are dreaming. I was lying there with my eyes closed and Kuhio was rubbing noses with me. (This was our thing -- we called them Eskimo kisses). I tried to move, but I couldn't. I tried to open my eyes, but I was frozen. Finally, I just rubbed noses with her and thanked her for coming to visit me to confirm to me that she was really gone because at that time I still held out hope that Shelter had screwed up their records (again!) and not accidently put her to sleep.

She has come to visit several times since then. Once I saw her in a dream. We were up at the cabin (her favorite place in the world) and we were walking together in the woods. She was sleek and glossy just like she was in her prime. I kept calling her, but she wouldn't look at me. It was ticking me off! When I awoke, I started laughing, because that was just like her. She would never look at you when you called her name.

Sometime when I take long bubble baths, I will talk to Kuhio in my head. I will tell her what a good girl she is and how beautiful she is and how much I miss her, etc. It never fails, but Halo will come running into the bathroom and stare at me as if to say "Did you call me?" I don't think Kuhio has been reincarnated into Halo or anything, but I do believe that they are connected. Halo was adopted from the same shelter that put Kuhio to sleep. We were too late to save Kuhio, but at least Halo got out of there alive.

[dab_20]

Awww all these stories are so touching.

The night we lost Missy, I went to bed with my mom because I coulden't stop crying. Well Missy always used to sleep at the foot of my bed or down on the floor in my mom's room. Well, that morning I thought I felt a dog licking my fingers and I woke up to find Missy was really gone. I knew she was trying to tell me she's always with me and protecting me every moment. I will always miss and love my little Cocker girl.

[moosmom]

My RB Casey (RB, 2002) comes to visit all the time! I'll FEEL like one of my cats has just jumped up on my bed or pillow, but when I look, no one is there. It actually makes me feel good when that happens.

[slick]

Oh my, these stories bring on the LES big time. :(

Sadly, I've never really experienced this at all except right after my Speckles made the trip. I was sort of in a half asleep, half awake stage and thought I could feel her trying to get underneath the covers. I woke up......then fell apart. :(

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Slick, I'm like you, I'm still waiting for Tubby to "come to me." But I think it's like Glacier said, he lived a good long life and died peacefully. He told me ahead of time that it was time to go, so there's not much reason for him to come back to reassure me....although I wish he would.

But in other ways, he has never left. Terry and I both have our screen savers set to show pictures from the My Pictures file. Needless to say, Tubby pops up quite often :D and when we're around to notice, we always say ""Hi Tubby. How ya doin' big boy?" Also, it was always kind of a joke with us that we'd get Tubby & Peanut there own Class C motorhome to follow us around in. A few weeks back we were at a motorhome show and I don't how many times it popped out of our mouths "Oh look, that one would be perfect for Tubby & Peanut." At first I thought I'd correct Terry and tell him "You mean Peanut & Cracker Jack" but I held my tongue and it was kind of fun going on as if he were still here.

Also, in some ways I know he's here "coming through" CJ. Sometimes CJ will do things he normally doesn't do and something that Tubby would do all the time. Totally throws me off guard and I pick CJ up and smooch on him and tell him about his brother then put him down, and next thing you know he's back to being CJ again. So no, he has never "come to me" but he has never really left either, and that makes me happy. :)

[ramanth]

I believe our first cat to ever cross came back a few weeks later in the form of a crow.

I woke up early one morning, not really knowing why, and when I went to the back sliding door, I saw our orangie cat, Nike, sitting calmly next to a very large crow. I was shocked at first, then felt at peace. After a few minutes, the crow flew off, and Nike sauntered up to the door. Since then he didn't appear to be as depressed when Sable first passed away.

[Glacier]

I believe our first cat to ever cross came back a few weeks later in the form of a crow.


In many First Nations traditional stories/beliefs, the crow(& the Raven) are closely associated with the spirit world. Often they are believed to be able to cross back and forth with ease. It would make perfect sense in that tradition for an animal to visit this world in the form of a crow.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

I wish Sydney would do that..... :( ! He made sure we "found" Maya at that shelter though!!!

[krazyaboutkatz]

I love reading all of these wonderful stories.:) I'm sure that my Pepper has come back a few times to visit me. One night while I was sleeping, I heard this loud purring and I felt a cat kneading me. When I opened up my eyes, there was nothing there. Pepper used to do this to me every night. I also sometimes see something black out of the corner of my eye but then it's gone. Sometimes Storm or Sunny will be looking at something but nothing is there. I still feel Pepper's presence and I think that they do to.:)

[Suki Wingy]

only in frequent reaccuring dreams but not in a few years since she doesn't "haunt" me anymore (More like this haunting feeling in me for letting my parents surrender a dog with severe separation anxiety to the shelter HER BIGGEST FEAR WE DID) that is probably why. Sometimes I wish I could get myself to believe in these things. *sigh*

[anna_66]

I've started many times to come to this thread, but of course I knew it would mean tears. So I've given myself some time to cry and get it out of my system so I could share.

With my Keisha it was a terrible traumatic death that she endured. As most of you know she died of bloat. It was the most horrific death I could have seen and to this day tears me up to think about it. For the longest time I blamed myself but then one night (a couple years after her death) I had a wonderful dream.
I dreamed that Mark and I were in the living room and all of a sudden she was sitting there in front of his chair. I asked him if he could see her and he said he could. It was like we were communicating without talking. She just came to let me know not to keep blaming myself, that she was happy and with her brother at the bridge. It was one of the most peaceful dreams I've ever had. I woke up smiling and feeling better than I'd felt in a long time.

Now with Angus it's been very different.
To me he's visited me through Bon (of course I swear he sent this goofy boy to us, he was born 3 months to the day before Angus was put to sleep). And through the many friends we have by their gifts. They've seemed to come at different times through the last couple of years, to me as a reminder that he will always be with us. And then there was the calendar that I had submitted his picture to. It came exactly a year almost to the day after he was gone. There are many more little things but those are the biggest.

I think they just want us to know they are here with us in any way they can.

[dukedogsmom]

Shortly after my persian Kitty Boy, died, mom swears she felt him on the bed with her where he normally slept. I've never experienced it myself but I know I will wish it when Duke is gone.

[animal_rescue]

Poppy my heart and soul cat came once. It was about 11pm on a weekend and I was up chatting with my friends on the computer. I kept seeing him between my legs and rubbing up against me, I felt air but nothing more, it was so sweet. This is what I love about him, I even saw him, in the corner of my eye, walk into the ltter box :D I guess they still use them at the RB. I loved Poppy so much and I'm glad he visited me.