We lost our beloved Little Miss Witchie less than a month ago {kidney failure}. She'd been bossing her 'cousins' around for 12 years when she just lost her strength due to a kidney/bladder infection. Nothing the vet did could help her. When it was time, when her pain became too much for her little body to bear, we were holding her at the vet. She fell asleep in my arms, listening to me sing. It was the last thing she heard.
I don't accept any religion that excludes our animal companions. No human alive today knows what is on the other side. If there is anything, I believe that our primitive human minds can't comprehend it.
Having said that, the only "afterlife" explanation that has resonance for me is the Rainbow Bridge. Our wonderful beloveds, all playing together, healthy and happy, waiting for the sound of our voices and the sight of our faces. Yes, by most religious standards I am an atheist, but in this one small way I hold onto the hope that those I love will one day somehow return to me.
Cats, dogs, ferrets, horses, a baby raccoon and his pal, the baby skunk ..... Heaven can never heaven be if my animals aren't there at my side.
My heart cries for Suzie and her human, but I see her restored to the peak of health, pouncing on my Fluffy and having her fur groomed by the adoring Willie. And if our 'Bridge Kids' could send us a message, I think it might be a version of the one message that has been the core of all belief systems across time:
"You treated us with love and compassion. You fed us when we were hungry, let us cower under the covers with you when we were afraid of the lightening monster, played with us, talked to us when you were lonely, shared your favorite meals with us, let us sleep next to you and hog the bed, cried into our fur so we could purr you back to happiness and lick away the tears, and when the time came to say goodbye, you held us close so we could drift off without pain or fear, because we knew we were always safest in your arms.
"Beloved people, you did unto us as you would have done unto you.
And some way, somehow, we will be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge, our hearts full of love, our coats muddy, the smell of somebody's compost pile on our breath, a mouse tail caught on a back tooth, and all the love and kindness and devotion you gave to us will come back to you as you once again hold us in your arms."
The terrible suffering that comes from losing a cherished animal companion is far better than what we would be if we never allowed ourselves to love even one of those who do not think and reason exactly like us, but fill our hearts in a way no member of our own species can.
-- Raineycat, Velvet Elvis, Kaboodle, Simon & Milo ..... and the Bridge Kids