The post Is Your Cat an Old Soul? The Feline Myths of Dr. Lauren Demos DVM (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying the entire article violates copyright laws. You may not know it, but all of these articles are assigned, contracted and paid for, so they are not considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continue to share just the first paragraph of an article, then link out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.
Hi, I’m Dr. Lauren! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my two adventurous cats, Pancake and Tiller.
This week’s topic is a lighthearted look at myths about cats, and why they are old souls. House cats are stoic, stable creatures. Sometimes to their own detriment.
As a veterinarian, I have seen cats in great pain, achieved great things. From dental pain, where people may struggle to understand that their cat is in pain because of how good they are at eating (top pointer: cats can eat well, even if they have some horrible dental problems!), to patients who have been hit by cars in sub-zero temperatures, crawled home without the use of their back legs, and lived to tell the tale. (Of course, it took weeks of hospitalization, and lots of TLC, as well). Or the cat who showed up with 60% of his stomach covered in third-degree burns: as if nothing had happened. No one knows how he got them! (He survived too, with over a month of bandage changes, and intensive surgery to clean the wound, removing dead tissue every few days and slowly closing the wound on itself).
Such heroic stoicism can mean that cats are considered old souls. Does this belief have merit?
What is an Old Soul?
An old soul is defined as a person who exhibits the maturity, understanding, or seriousness common to an older person.1
Some consider old souls to be synonymous with past lives. Cats are definitely believed to have 9 lives, but can cats be old souls? (And for what it’s worth, we don’t really know where the myth that cats have 9 lives came from, though it may have been related to Ancient Egypt…)
Cats are believed to have started living with humans around 10,000 years ago, based on a mutual need for food and vermin control. A wonderful story Just-So by Rudyard Kipling, author of the Jungle Book, puts a rather light-hearted perspective on the matter, describing how the dog became man’s best friend, while the cat remained useful. , but far, prefers his freedom to a life of certainty. Titled The Cat That Walked By Himself, it’s an allegorical story on many levels, and well worth reading if you’re a cat fan.
Closer to home, an apocryphal story was told to me, out of the blue, on Friday night.
Some say they are sent for us…suggesting they are actually old souls with a purpose.
I was driving to my boat on Friday after work. Both Tiller and Pancake were with me, and when we made a quick stop at the last grocery store on the route, I bought a few cans of cat food and some fresh chicken to feed them for the coming weekend.
The cashier casually looked at my cat food and asked about my cats. We had a brief conversation about the two and their antics, including plans to join me on a cruise that weekend. Where he asked me a question I will never forget.
Are they tabby cats?
Yes, they are, I answered.
She smiled knowingly and told me I was really a lucky person. Tabbies, he went on to explain, were sent to humans for very specific reasons, by the powers that be. The M mark on their forehead is proof.
His story goes like this: When Jesus was a baby in a manger, during the night in the barn on that fateful Christmas, he caught cold, despite all attempts to keep him warm. The cat jumped up to sleep next to him, purring to comfort him, and kept him warm. As a result, Mary marks all the cats with an M on their foreheads, to thank and bless them for what they have done. After that, any cat sent with a special purpose was marked tabby M.
It stuck with me, ever since.
Either way, tabby markings, and cats in general, make for some great legends.
Are Cats Old Souls?
I once read that seagulls are actually the souls of dead sailors, returning to rest on the shore, never truly parting from the ocean that will always call to them. I’d like to think cats aren’t that far off. Whether they’ve lived some of their 9 lives, or are a tabby brought back for a greater purpose, they’re definitely more than meets the eye.
The post Is Your Cat an Old Soul? The Feline Myths of Dr. Lauren Demos DVM (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying the entire article violates copyright laws. You may not know it, but all of these articles are assigned, contracted and paid for, so they are not considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continue to share just the first paragraph of an article, then link out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.
