wrote:
On Jul 17, 8:07 pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
"jmc" wrote in message

...



Suddenly, without warning, Bill Graham exclaimed (7/17/2010 10:15 PM):
"jmc" wrote in message
...
Suddenly, without warning, Netmask exclaimed (7/16/2010 8:37 PM):
http://www.youmaker.com/video/sv?id=...a8b3f003432001
And they say animals can't grieve, and don't understand death.......
Only some religions say this.....Us atheists know better. One of our
(older) cats follows my wife around like a puppy dog. When she goes down
to California to visit her grandkids, he grieves and lives in her clothes
closet until she comes back. If she didn't make it back, I think he would
die there........
Actually, my comment had nothing to do with religion at all, in fact I
don't believe this to be a subject divided along religious lines.
Meep follows me around like a puppydog as well, but over time has realized
that I always come back, and uses hubby as an alternate petting machine
when I'm gone. She bosses him around a lot more than I allow her to do to
me
jmc
Just defining what I think you mean by, "they". In my experience, the
religious set thinks only we humans have souls, and, (as a result) there are
no animals in heaven. They also tend to put animals down a lot, because
their God doesn't do much toward saving all those millions of little furry
creatures from freezing and starving to death every Winter. The atheistic
types, however, know that animals think, grieve, and feel pain, both
emotional and physical, just as we humans do, and that video shows it very
well.

Years ago, my mom and I were discussing this as we are Christian, but
also believe that animals go to heaven. How could it be heaven
without them?

My mom suggested that animals were never kicked out of the garden,
therefore, they do not need a way into heaven.

As for soul, I think it really depends on definition. Animals clearly
demonstrate emotions and self-awareness. They can makes friends and
enemies, do good things and bad, etc. They just have a lower level of
thinking, such as a small child who understands a limited concept of
good and bad, but can't plan for the future and predict consequences.

We have always brought home our dead animals after they have been
euthanized. Not only do we bury them at home, but we believe that the
other animals should see them and understand as best they can what
happened. When my first cat, Fiona, died, my second cat was 9 years
old. He was not the brightest cat I have had, but was very sweet, and
was definitely best buddies with Fiona. He approached her the first
time, hissed, and ran away. He returned about 15 minutes later, and
purred for a long time. That night, he slept in her spot on top of me,
and did not do it again for almost a year.

I really believe this methods helps us all, as we can all grieve
together and comfort each other. Otherwise, they may wait months
before giving up and fully grieving, and by then, the people don't
understand what the problem is.

My last loss was Kira, 4 years ago this month. She hated Chase,
because he chased her (never name your cat Chase, huge mistake). After
she died, Chase was miserable. He grieved badly for her. We never
realized how much he loved her because he was always chasing her. But
he thought it was a game, so he lost his buddy. He has since moved on
to chasing somebody else, who also does not appreciate it. But it was
very hard for him for several months as he really greived a lot for
her.



If you think the name "Chase" is part of the problem, why don't you
rename him? What do you think would be a suitable name that he would
like? MLB