The Healing Power of Animals

I’ve long known how healing animals can be. My dog Sawyer always made me feel better, no matter what sickness, injury, or emotional challenge I faced. Losing him was a massive blow in so many ways, especially in the healing department. Fortunately, I have found immense healing and peace from my many animal interactions over the past five months. Here’s an overview.

A few days after Sawyer’s death, I held and pet a few bunnies at a nearby pet store. I almost broke down when telling someone who worked there about how I’d lost Sawyer and showing her a picture of him. She and the bunnies were very compassionate and comforting. That weekend, I visited with a friend’s cat and cried when he settled down on my lap just like Sawyer often did. Despite the emotional pain I felt at the time, that was also a healing experience.

I spent at least a few hours visiting with several dogs at another friend’s house almost every week this past summer. All of those dogs had some traits that reminded me of Sawyer: one loved to sit on my lap, another slept near me on the couch with my hand on her back, the third climbed over me to get where she was going, and all of them loved playing with me and giving me lots of kisses. I don’t know what I’d have done without those many wonderful visits.

By far my most healing activities have been visiting with several Pomeranians, including one that looked a lot like Sawyer. I teared up while petting that little one and receiving some kisses on my hands. That encounter occurred at a downtown event earlier this month. I got to visit with several other Pomeranians since then, including one at a puppy store who is just a few months old. He’s quite sweet, playful, and chill. It’s been so wonderful to see him, play with him, hold him, and talk to him similarly to how I did with Sawyer. I cried a lot the first time I played with him as he reminded me so much of Sawyer, especially in our early days together. I must have healed a lot from all those interactions: on the second and third visits, there were no tears.

As you can see, most of my focus has been on dogs. Although I love dogs and prefer them over most other animals, I also love and deeply enjoy visiting with cats. Domestic cats are more likely than strays to come up to me but I still love visiting with friendly stray cats who feel comfortable enough to come over. That’s happened about half a dozen times in my life. Interestingly, most of those occasions have occurred since I lost Sawyer earlier this year. Makes me think those cats can tell I need some extra love and comfort.

I still deeply miss Sawyer and I’m the first one to say that no animal can replace him or perfectly replicate what he did for me. However, I shudder to think about where I’d be right now if not for the many healing animal encounters I’ve had this year. They’ve reminded me that there is still love in this world. It’s easy to see that love in animals and, when those animals have humans who let me participate in those wonderful connections, it shows me that there are still good folks out there. That keeps me going, even on my hardest days.