How Reiki helped Red live longer while adding quality to life.
Red was born feral in Steve's neighborhood. He was lucky that he found his way to Steve's house, because Steve feeds and cares for a feral community, using Trap, Neuter and Return to help. When Red showed up, he was a couple of months old. Steve trapped him and had him neutered and brought back, but in the process Red spent a couple of weeks inside Steve's house. Given that he was so young, Steve hoped he could get Red used to people and to one day enjoy the life of a pet. Things didn't quite go the way Steve hoped. For two years, Red lived with Steve, his daughter, and young grandson. But Red hid all day, he only came out at night when everyone was sleeping. He never became part of their family.
When Steve brought Red to me, he said "you'll never even know you have him. He only comes out to eat at night or when everyone is gone." I said this is no kind of life. So, to start I gave Red his own room where he could hide under the bed if he wanted. I gave him space to be who he was, while leaving the option open for more. I brought food in for him and made sure he got to eat it before my other cats could.
I began sending Reiki to Red regularly, for his greatest good, for his fear of people. I sent to the cause and point of origin of his fears. Soon, he would come out from under the bed to eat. A short time later, I would see him hanging out on the windowsill or dresser. He would not let me come near, but he didn't worry if I was just passing by. Progress.
Then one day, he came out of his room. I have a 140 gallon fish tank which was awaiting set up and fish. He decided to move in to the fish tank! He felt safe there, he had boundaries and could defend himself if needed, but he could see and be a part of the family. And he could watch cat TV out the front window. More progress.
Red lived a few months as my "catfish" and then he decided to move into the sun room. Here, he could hide under a chair if he felt like it, but mostly he watched out the back windows. He began to make friends with my other cats. And here, he finally let me pet his cheek when I brought him food!
Food was Red's favorite thing. He did a happy dance every time I fed him. He ate everything I ever gave him, even the very first time I ever gave them freeze-dried raw food. My other cats wore varying expressions of disgust "what IS this stuff?" but not Red, he seemed to say "my new most favorite!"
Then one afternoon, Red began meowing from behind my chair. He said a bit, then went over in front of the laundry room and threw up. He then went in the laundry room and went behind the washer. This was not good. Even worse, he didn't want dinner that night. The next morning I found Red under the bed he used to live in when he first moved in with me. He hadn't been there in months. When he let me reach out and touch him, I knew it was really bad. I loaded him straight into the car and took him to the emergency vet.
The vet worked all that day doing absolutely everything she could to stabilize him and figure out what was wrong. She did many tests, but nothing fit. For my part, I did everything I could do for him as well, beginning with Reiki. I then did a shamanic journey to ask what I could do to help him heal. The guidance I received was "everything that could be done has already been done. It's his time." I didn't want to accept this, because he was only 3 years old. I continued with Reiki for his greatest good, but also built a bridge of light in case he needed it.
About 8 PM I knew that his time was here. I got in the car to go to the vet, hoping I would get there in time to say goodbye. Just as I was pulling out of the driveway, the vet called to say he was going. When I got there, he was already gone. They vet was very upset, she hadn't been able to determine what was wrong. I told her about the guidance I had received. I told her that I knew that everything that could be done, had been. She asked to do a necropsy, because I do have other cats, and she said whatever this was it's very aggressive, nothing could stop it and it progressed very quickly.
She called me just a couple of hours later with the results of the necropsy. First she asked me to tell her what I had been told on my shamanic journey. She said "well, you were right." Then she said she was completely shocked by the results of the necropsy, it was nothing she had expected to find. She said he had died of lymphoma, cancer. She said that he had a perforation of the intestine, and that the location this one was in, normally the animal stops eating immediately. But he hadn't stopped eating. She said she knew this not only because I told her, but because he was a very healthy weight. He hadn't lost weight from not eating. She also said that a part of his intestines had actually died, and she really didn't know how he was eating or having anything like a normal quality of life. Yet he obviously was.
Two days before he passed away, Red came out and sat in the middle of the sun room, in full view of me just feet away. He sat there, with the other cats, like he was finally a part of the family. And I do believe that he felt like he was part of the family. That is one of the gifts that regular Reiki gave him. It gave him a family, freedom from his long held fear. It gave him a longer life than he would have had, while preserving good quality of life. He did not suffer. When his body absolutely could not sustain any more, he went quickly. Reiki and a family were gifts that I gave him. Knowledge of exactly what that did for him was a great gift he gave me. I will be forever grateful to Red for what he taught me.
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