We have three cats as part of our extended family. Somehow we seemed to find and collect all three of them and they just wound up living with us. This cat-journey began in November of 2006, and ever since, we have been learning from each other, continuously, especially since a great deal of learning was on the human side.
This story is about Howley the cat. Her bed was on a chair next to mine near my desk. I had reserved that chair for her.
In 2022 when I came home from my continuous six week trips to Berlin to take care of my brother, Howley was on that chair on her special blanket. As I watched her, I noticed that she seemed to be in a truly horrible state. And so, the next day I took her to the Vet-hospital in San Fernando.
At the Vet Hospital they examined her, said she needed a teeth-x-ray. They told me they had no way to make a teeth x-ray and sent me to the nearest Vet who should have an x-ray machine.
I packed up Howley, who was clearly in excruciating pain, put her again on the passenger seat next to me, and we drove from San Fernando to the Vet in Studio City. This Vet told me they also did not have an x-ray machine. He suggested I drive to a Vet in the West Valley. The Vet in the West Valley also told me they did not have an x-ray machine and sent me to a Veterinarian Clinic located behind the Trader Joes in Chatworth. By that time Howley was in even worse shape, and so was I, so filled with worries about her condition.
Finally, this clinic agreed to take us in. The doctor said they did not have a teeth-x-ray machine, but they could still take an x-ray of the jaw.
And so they took Howley to prepare her for her x-ray. Howley was sedated and the x-ray taken. I was waiting in the little exam-room with a big computer monitor while the x-ray pictures were being taken. The pictures came through before the doctor. I saw a black hole where there was supposed to be the right lower jaw. Nothing was left. The cancer had eaten it all away. My poor cat must have been in excruciating pain for months. It hit me like a hammer that there was no hope left for her. Sadly, I had not seen the symptoms earlier.
The doctor came back and told me they were getting ready to wake up Howley. “No, no, no, don’t wake her up, make this pain end for her!” I found myself saying. “That would have been my second suggestion,” the doctor said to me.
My only condition was that I wanted to hold her, while the injection was given.
They brought her back to me and put her in my lap. She was so relaxed, that suddenly her body extended like an accordion almost all the way to the floor and I had to gather her up again, which made me realize how tense she had been before.
The doctor came with the injection.
I chose not to bring her back to my apartment, as I had no good way to bury her.
For about a week I and the other cats could see her spirit still wandering through our apartment, not understanding what had happened to her. My two other cats would just stop and observe her, with their head moving in parallel motions. But then, after that week, she did not come back anymore.
Only later did I realize that all of these Vets knew exactly what had been going on with Howley but were scared that my grief would disrupt the flow of their office. So they decided to send me away to another Vet to save their office peace. Three Vets, who were located all over the Valley had kept sending me on, while poor Howley was suffering, just so that these Vets would not have any disruptions in their offices! They did not care about the suffering of this animal, but just wanted to protect their income.
About 10 days after Howley stopped visiting us I went to the same Trader Joes and parked in the back because that was the only parking spot available. As I stepped out of my car I suddenly saw hundreds and hundreds of animal spirits, 
big and small, their spirits roaming aimlessly around the Veterinarian Clinic. They were not sad, not happy, but were just being there and aimlessly moving around the Vet Clinic. ….and there also was Howley. 
That clinic had not existed for that long a period of time, so there was no way the dead animals all came from them. But it seemed that somehow, the animals all decided to gather there.
I called a friend, and she gave me instructions about what to do: how to create a pathway to the Animal Kingdom and to send them there. “Take your spiritual self up that pathway and ring a bell, so they can now know where to go and keep calling them and show them the rainbow bridge to the other side. Once they are through, clean the area around the Vet-Clinic so it stops being a collection point for lost animal spirits.”
And this is what I did. I also left the bridge there, so they could keep going to their heaven and eventually their next life.
Today, a week later, I returned. Now the area is much brighter, and there were only five spirit animals left. When I prompted them to leave and travel up the bridge to their special spirit home they answered me, saying that they are the guardians of the bridge to the Animal Kingdom and needed to be there to keep that pathway open and working for all of their animal compatriots who need it.
When I drove home, the picture of a Doberman came to my inner eye. He had a long metal piece attached to his jaw that he kept trying to shake off. He felt no pain anymore. But he hadn’t let go of the trauma he felt from when it happened. It seems he wanted, or needed, to leave this metal piece behind before he could move onto the bridge. And so I decided I would do my best to help him release the last bit of stuck trauma that was holding him here.
I miss Howley but I know she is on her way to her next life. And many of her animal friends are probably with her as they all choose their next life adventures. I am happy that she has left her pain behind and can now look forward to a new life in a new body.