Day: October 22, 2013

I don’t know if animals have souls or not, most people believe they do, especially in our time, when animals are often loved more than people and even worshiped as superior to us. Sometimes I do see the spirit of animals, their souls if you will, come through and today I saw this clearly when we brought Minnie into the house after her explorations outside and she lay on the carpet, keeping her distance from the dogs. Lenore saw her, got up and walked over to her and lay down, close enough to be together, far enough apart so Minnie could feel safe.

Minnie watched Lenore for awhile and she decided to stay put, she even edged closer to her. This has been Lenore’s great lifetime gift, she loves all things and has some intuition about animals that are sick and in need, she always approaches them, gets close, wags her tail, sniffs and licks. She did this when Frieda came, she calmed her, stayed with her, helped her learn commands.

So it was a peaceful thing to see these two get close, and then sleep alongside one another. I watched it for a long time, it was a meditation in comfort.

And here is Minnie the barn cat, wary and independent, trusting this big black dog, getting close to her, perhaps permitting some healing between these two affectionate beings. This was a spiritual moment for me to see, part of the spirituality that can occur between animals, even as they can turn greedy and murderous and predatory at any time. People like to think animals are better than us, but a life with animals teaches that we are actually quite alike in many ways, perhaps this is why we get to close to some of them.

Autumn’s Last Kiss, cont.

Autumn has come whispering secretly,

one last kiss,

before gray November,

before winter,

Autumn’s light has painted all of the leaves,

all of the acts,

just one or two colors now,

all aflame in one last

gasp of glory,

one last dance,

one frost away,

one breeze,

from the naked trees,

the cold exposed dark woods,

closing down for the winter,

I feel a divine loneliness

out in the woods,

Our hearts should do this more.

Within minutes of going outside, Minnie found her rightful place, sitting like the Queen Mum by the donkeys and the sheep while they ate some hay. Loving animals is a tricky thing, full of emotions and decisions. This morning, Maria asked me what I thought we should do, and I said we should return Minnie to her rightful place as soon as possible. It was there, I said, that she would heal, there that she would eliminate in a normal way, there that she would learn  how to live within her new life, eat foods that are healthy for her, adjust to her new reality, find her hiding places. She will never learn these things inside of the house, I said, she is a hunter, not a pet. This was not, to be honest, the advice of the vets, they all felt it is too soon. I understand their caution, but I believe Minnie is ready, and I was sure of it when I saw her this morning, so was Maria.

Maria agreed and we let Minnie out, we stayed with her for about an hour, we were both mesmerized by the sight before us, a free animal returning to their natural life. As I have written, letting animals live as close to their natural lives is one of the great pleasures of living with animals. I do not want them to live my life, I want to help them live theirs. I seek my rightful place in the world, I owe them the same.

We will acclimate Minnie gradually, as so many of you suggested yesterday. But I am committed to her returning to her natural life as soon as possible, it is the most loving and healing thing I can think of. Minnie will also get to spend many copy winter nights in Maria’s lap, a good place to be. In one sense, it was awful for her to lose her leg, in another, she got luckier. We see Minnie as having gone through an awful ordeal, Minnie is not telling struggle stories and pity-me stories about herself, she is ready to move back into her life. There are lots of mice in that wall.

We decided to let Minnie outside for a couple of hours this morning, and we both felt it was a good decision. Minnie sniffed around a bit, hopped off the front porch, went into the barn and emerged from one of her secret holes in the wall. She moved quickly and confidently, did not jump high but went through the barn and out to the stone wall foundations of the old collapsed barn in the pasture. She dug a hole, ate some greens and roughage, eliminated, covered up the waste, and perched on one of her favorite spots, the corner of the stone wall,  where she could look for the many mice who live in the wall.

She started hunting almost immediately. She was wary for about a minute, and then simply returned to her normal habits.

It is easy to forget that Minnie is a great hunter and has been her whole life, this is why she has always been hefty, even though we feed her little. While we were doing our morning chores, she walked right through the donkeys and the sheep, then into the barn, where she found a pile of hay in a dark corner to lie on. We picked her up then and brought her back into the house where she is resting, clearly a bit worn out. It was an affirmation of our instincts, Minnie wants to be free, the outdoors is her natural element, she navigated it well and confidently, we will let her out for short periods for a day or two, and then bring her in at night for the foreseeable future. There are risks to this approach, but there are always risks in a barn cat’s life.

I believe the more Minnie is outside, the quicker she will heal, her normal digestive functions will return and she will figure out how to live on three legs. Good for me, she is a barn cat through and through.