The Healing Powers of Pets

The Healing Powers of Pets
by Mary Schaffer

In 1993, I lost my father to non-Hodgkin’s type Lymphoma. He had been ill for many years, but in late 1992, it was determined to be terminal. This isn’t really a story of his death, but of his love for his cat, Kitty.

Kitty started out as my cat, but when I moved home for a short time, my father bonded with her and she just adored him. They were a match from the very beginning. She would follow him everywhere and, of course, she claimed a spot in his bed. He would make her little treats, brush her long coat and sit with her on the swing, rocking back and forth while petting her. As much as I loved her, I couldn’t break the two of them up. My dad got “custody” of my kitty.

Kitty was a rescue cat. My apartment didn’t allow pets, but I kept her anyway. She appeared at my back door one evening during a rainstorm. I didn’t have the heart to leave her out there, so I brought her in, dried her off and she won my heart immediately. She was the perfect companion for lonely nights and a perfect comfort after a long day at work. She knew how to snuggle and make you feel that you were the most important thing in her world.

I would go to my parents to visit and reconnect with her. I loved that she still came to me, like her mommy was home. She knew that I hadn’t abandoned her, as she had been when I found her. My dad seemed happy that she was there and he had someone to look after. I knew she was in excellent hands.

When my dad’s condition started to recur, he would get large swellings in his neck. He would lie in bed most of the time. Kitty knew that the man she loved was not feeling well and would lie with him as close as he could tolerate. He would actually feel better with her there.

One such episode occurred that made my mother and I believe in miracles. My father had a large lymph node swelling in his throat causing him difficulty in swallowing. Kitty laid on top of my father as close as she could to where the swelling lymph node was located. She slept there most of the night.

When he woke the next morning, he called out to my mother. She came into the room to find him sitting up, feeling his neck. He asked her to feel the area where the tumor had protruded. There was NO lump to be found. Both were in disbelief! He could swallow and breathe much more freely. It was truly a miracle.

A few days later, he told this story to his doctor. The doctor had no explanation for what had happened.

Eventually, after having a few weeks of remission, my father grew too ill for Kitty to sleep near him. He was in too much pain and discomfort for her to be in the bed. My mother put a blanket on the floor for Kitty to curl up on so she could still be nearby.

After his passing, you could see that Kitty truly missed him. She would sleep in his bed and would look for him in the house and outside.

Kitty lived the rest of her life with my mother. It wasn’t as close of a relationship as she had with my father, but I think it did my mother good to have her with her. When Kitty became ill, my mother chose to do the humane thing and euthanize her. She had congestive heart failure and could barely breathe because of the fluid surrounding her heart.

Kitty was a wonderful cat and will never be forgotten. I hope that my father and she are reunited in heaven.