Reiki For Pets’ End-Of-Life Assistance And “death Nesting”

As a pet parent and an animal caregiver, I’m sure we all wish we would outlive our pets and animals so that we have the chance to see them through a comfortable life and a peaceful passing.

A pet’s passing is painful, and for me, it’s more painful that the passing of an elderly human relative. For the elderly human relative, at least you can communicate to them; they can tell you what they want and you can do your best for them. But with a pet, most of us cannot really communicate with them and we also do not know how they feel during those final days of their lives.

For me, I’ve seen and experienced the passing of too many animals by now. I can name them all, as far back as I can remember – my own dogs: Puffin, Remirth; our family dogs: Mac, Bobby; AnimalCare’s rescues: Kaiser the kitten, Wendy the distemper dog; our cats: Pans, Suki, Vixey, Kimba, Tiger, Rosie, Daffodil, Vincent, Mr Zurik, Heidi, Pole, Hiro, Bunny, Cleo, Cow Mau and Indy. Did I miss out anyone?

I have never opted to give the order for euthanasia because I don’t think I have the right to end a life. A friend who attended a animal communication class sometime ago told me that he learnt that animals do not know that they will die. They only have the survival instinct. They want to live.

I also think, through my very limited experience, that animals know when to let go. Wendy and Vincent’s letting go by themselves, were very poignant episodes in my life. I remember getting criticised by keyboard warriors for not opting for euthanasia for Wendy (she passed away on her own, peacefully, on her own terms) while for Vincent, I received so much support from our readers for respecting him and doing the best for him. He too passed away on his own, when he decided it was time to let go.

All our pets and animals passed away on their own terms. But I agree that the days leading to the passing, especially those who were ill, were difficult times. As much as you tell yourself that death happens to everyone, that nobody lives forever, as much as you are think you are “prepared” for it, it is never easy. And it never gets any easier, no matter how many pet deaths you have dealt with. We love our pets as our children, so their passing is all the more painful because it is really like losing a child.

There is a Chinese saying that goes like this: “Grandfather dies, Father dies, Son dies” (Yes, so patriarchal, right? But that’s the Chinese for you!). What is means is that death should foll0w the natural order where the oldest dies first. And if this happens, it is considered good fortune. Everyone would agree how painful it is to experience the death of a child. That’s not in the natural order.

So, losing a pet is like losing a child. It is very painful.

I was hence very interested when I learnt that reiki can help pets “cross over” more peacefully. For pets, their crown chakra is usually especially bright nearing death because that is when they are most spiritual, unless a particular pet had always been spiritual all their lives.

I found these from the internet, though I have no idea what it actually means:

What is kundalini awakening before death? 

It is held by several Eastern esoteric traditions that at the time of death, the kundalini energy awakens, rises to the crown chakra, and enables the spirit to leave the body via the crown of the head.

And this:

This difficult time may be complicated by a phenomenon known as the surge before death, or terminal lucidity, which can happen days, hours, or even minutes before a person’s passing. Often occurring abruptly, this period of increased energy and alertness may give families false hope that their loved ones will recover.

I do remember vaguely that a vet had told me about the above too. The “terminal lucidity” where the pet seems well and good, before passing away.

In any case, Daniel, the reiki healer, has also done reiki to help his pets “cross over”: https://danyogafit.com/reiki-for-senior-animals/

And he also shared that there is a practice called death nesting.

Just as there are birth doulas, there are also death doulas. Birth and death are just two sides of the same coin. With every birth, only one thing is certain – death.

There is so much about life that we still do not know about nor can be quantified or studied methodically in a laboratory. There is so much about life that science cannot explain…yet.

The same goes for death.




All we know for sure is that one day, everyone will die. We can only hope that the passing will be as peaceful and serene as possible, and if there are ways to help this process to be more comfortable, isn’t that a good thing for us to learn?  

The post Reiki for pets’ end-of-life assistance and “death nesting” appeared first on AnimalCare.

Source: https://animalcare.my/2024/05/28/reiki-for-pets-end-of-life-..

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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