Musings: Animals Healthcare
While the power and mystery of wild animals such as the eagle, the lion or the whale inspires many of our spiritual myths, it’s our bonding with domesticated animals that bridges the human and non-human animal worlds the best.
According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Americans spent $35 billion dollars on 90 million cats and 75 million dogs in 2005. People surely love their pets these days! Perhaps this is because there’s little else we can depend upon to remain stable and sane in our rapidly changing and often frightful world. The unconditional love of a pet is unfailingly loyal and far less complicated than relationships with other humans and the world at large. Their needs are simple, yet the emotional bond that can form between a pet and owner can be positively transformational.
Although I’ve always been an animal lover and advocate, in the past few years I’ve discovered the joy in treating my house pets with no less than the same care and respect I’d give to anyone in my home. This includes supplying good food, respect for individual preferences, and tending to all the creature comforts that make life more comfortable, especially for the elderly. Many people don’t believe animals are worthy of such treatment, being “just a cat or a dog,” and even assume that animals have no feelings. Personally, I find it hard to miss the angry sentiments from the cat you “abandoned” when you return home from vacation, or the utter rejection and disappointment from the dog you are leaving behind as you go out the door. And who can deny the unmistakable show of joy from a dog invited to go for a walk or a ride in the car?
Biologically, both humans and pets are animals, and we even live in the same houses together. This makes us all family. The house pet you’ve adopted is as deserving of the same care and attention as any other member of the household — even the right to occupy the best seat in the house at least once in a while! Like every other valued member of the family, our pets provide us with unique opportunities to discover new avenues of communication, healing, wisdom and love if only we were intelligent and patient enough to learn from these special teachers in our lives. Open your mind and heart to the animals around you and you will find yourself stepping through the doorway to greater enlightenment.
Points to Ponder…
- In Creation stories from all around the world, animals populated the earth before humans. They were here first and we are the guests!
- Animals know how to live in the world without destroying it.
- Much like plants, which act as indoor air purifiers, pets often take on the diseases and dysfunctions of individuals, and even entire families, to help absorb and disperse these negative energies from the households they occupy.
- You may be starving your pet. I discovered too late for my beloved cat, Opera, that commercial pet foods — and kibble in particular — can be hazardous to your pet’s health. Try adding whole, nutritious foods into your pet’s diet one step at a time by reading books, online information, articles in this issue of Spirit of Change, and talking to your vet. Your pet will thrive even with small changes in diet. This is something that only you can do for him or her.
- Animals deserve good healthcare. Question your vet about the overuse of vaccinations. Explore holistic vets and websites that can provide you with vital information to extend or improve your pet’s quality of life. Go ahead and give your beloved companions all you’ve got, and ignore discouragement from those who are unaware of an animal’s special role alongside humans.
- Pets allow humans to generate a vibration of love that has become increasingly challenging in human-to-human contact. We are taught to avoid strangers, not to get involved, and to fear entire cultures of people. Touch and physical contact is generally discouraged. Petting animals, on the other hand, is proven to reduce stress and lower blood pressure. Therapy animals are increasingly used in healthcare institutions with great success. Pets are filling the love void on the planet and helping humanity raise its collective vibration.
- Animals respond to your unspoken thoughts and feelings about them and will behave accordingly. If you feel your dog is a nuisance, he will surely oblige you with plenty of annoying behavior. Communicate your wishes to your pets clearly and telepathically, being honest with yourself about your true feelings for them. While we cannot speak their language, we can expand our communication skills by tuning in to this higher frequency to find common ground. The Animal Stories we’ve collected this issue attempt to give voice to the animal kingdom in a language we can easily understand.
Carol Bedrosian is publisher and editor of Spirit of Change Magazine.
