It had been a busy day — with my monthly Healing Circle (which runs several hours) in the morning, and then a 20 mile round-trip visit to a canine Reiki client for a full session with him. My Reiki tasks completed, my husband and I went for a very late afternoon workout at our gym, something we try to fit in once each weekend.
It was on the way home from the gym, about one block from our home, that we noticed a stopped police car with lights flashing, and an SUV pulled over. Thinking a driver was being ticketed, we were ready to just pull around the scene, but suddenly I noticed the small body of a cat laying on its side in the middle of the road, obviously hit by a car, but still breathing.
Without giving it a second thought, I rolled down my window (my husband was driving) and at first, the police officer motioned us to just continue on and around, but I told him I was pulling up ahead. Quickly, I jumped out of the car and tried to decide what to do. The driver of the SUV was a young man who had not been able to stop in time to avoid hitting the cat and he had at least done the responsible, humane thing: stopped and called 911. However, the police officer appeared to have been a brand new cop and was standing there, a bit helplessly, not sure what to do. And it was clear that he would not touch the cat.
I quickly grabbed an old sweatshirt from my trunk and covered the cat with it. As I did so, the little one tried to move and cried out, but obviously was too injured to move anywhere. I gently held it as it lay and my husband and I told the officer that we were going to take the cat to the nearby emergency vet.
My heart was pounding and I knew that time was of the essence. The young driver and the cop had already been standing there for numerous minutes, so I lifted the cat as gently as possible and brought him onto my lap in the car. (The officer had told me to just open the trunk and lay the cat in there, but how horrible that would have been!) The cat was whimpering in pain, and I let the Reiki flow in, asking for the Highest Good of the broken, bruised body of the feline.
I was certain that the cat was too injured to survive, and knew that the Emergency vets would assess the situation and do the humane thing, not to let the cat suffer needlessly or extensively.
As I let the Reiki flow, the cat calmed under my touch and stopped crying. I spoke to him quietly, but it was heartwrenching for me. I trusted in Reiki to help me to help this sweet little creature.
My husband sped to the vet, as I tried my best not to be jostling the cat too much, as I was unable to be seat-belted in for that wild ride. And a wild ride it was! The cop gave us a police escort, lights flashing and sirens wailing. Though it just about a mile and half to the animal hospital and took but moments, it felt like one of the longest rides ever, with time standing still. (And the police officer had never been to the Emergency Vet before, probably since he was so new on the force and didn’t know exactly where we were headed.)
But at last we pulled right up front, and I rushed the kitty in. He looked up at me with such a meaningful gaze and I could see that there was blood on his tongue — I only hoped he understood that I was doing the best I could for him.
A veterinary assistant took him from me and whisked him to the back for the doctors to work on. The SUV driver had also, amazingly, followed us to the hospital and stayed for a few minutes. It is remarkable that this young man had enough compassion within him to see this through. I do believe that most young drivers in his situation would have never stopped and just kept going, leaving the injured cat in the street.
However, at some point, the young man did leave and we stayed with the officer to wait for a little while. The cat turned out to be a neutered male, obviously feral, and about 6 years old. He had a “cropped” ear, which is the sign that he was part of a “Trap, Neuter, Return” program for ferals, where cats have a small piece of their left ear removed or “tipped” to indicate that they have already been neutered.
The veterinary assistant informed us that though the doctors were working him, he appeared too far gone to survive, and that I should call back the next day to find out exactly what happened.
I left with a very heavy heart. The police officer thanked me for helping, and at least now he knows the location of the Emergency Vet if anything similar should happen. My husband comforted me, saying “You did all you could so don’t take it too hard.” But I often do take it hard with the animals, because that is just the way I am.
I called the hospital the next day to learn what I already knew in my heart, that the kitty had to be euthanized. The whole incident played out in my head a few times until I came to terms with it and I sent Reiki to the spirit of the cat.
Interestingly enough, we are not usually coming home from the gym as late as we did that day, and if the timing had been any different, I would not have come upon that scene. So perhaps I was meant to be there, and I do take some small comfort in that. Reiki does work in mysterious ways, and sometimes it is there to give a measure of compassion and relief to an animal that is preparing to make its journey to spirit.
