Many months after my lady cat died, on two occasions, I woke up in the middle of the night in a bit of a panic, convinced that she was locked outside. I immediately got out of bed and went to put on some slippers to go and fetch her, to suddenly realise she was no longer around anymore. It was a case of panic followed by sadness – an unpleasant experience. In that moment, I genuinely believed that she was still alive. It was a shock to remember that she was dead. It took about 10 – 15 seconds to remember that she was no longer with me.
If you believe in spiritualism and the after life or even that the spirit lives on, you could be forgiven for believing that my darling lady cat didn’t want to come inside but to come back to me. She was meowing at me, calling, from beyond the grave.
Most of the time I don’t remember my dreams. Although the experience mentioned above occurred many months ago it is still in sharp focus.
Not infrequently, I daydream about my lost cats. I have to stop myself because I don’t think it is healthy to think about your cats that have passed, if it makes you unhappy. What good does it do?
Following, are a couple of cat dream experiences from people who have shared their experiences online. They may tell us a bit about our relationship with cats.
A woman or man with a username of BlindCodex on Reddit does not have a cat, he never has. One night at 3:30 am – the middle of the night – he woke up thinking he had a cat called “Ember” and that he had locked her outside. He put some clothes on and went outside to fetch Ember in. He then realised that he had been dreaming.
It is strange for a person who has never looked after a cat to have a dream which is quite similar to mine. He has no idea why he had this dream. Perhaps there is the spirit of a cat named Ember that haunts this person’s home who is seeking to come in? You’d have to believe in spiritualism to believe that. Or perhaps he once had a cat named Ember and the shadow people took his cat (a theory based on the John Dies at the End, a comic horror novel).
Perhaps…
“In an alternate universe, another you has a cat, and her name is Ember. She’s still outside….”
I suspect the real reason is far more mundane. Another person who kept cats had a dream that her dead cats live in the walls of her home:
“So now I dream that my dead cats live in the walls….I’ll see them come out and think OMG my cat, and I start following behind them and I’ll realize they’re dead straight away and become confused about why I can see them, and they’re always out of reach and don’t look or acknowledge me and just keep on walking and I can’t stop them and then they slip back behind a closet and I know they’re back in the walls where dead cats live….I’m so jealous of people who dream of their dead cats being healthy and normal”
This seems to be a reflection of a very close relationship with her cats that have passed. This person may have read about the centuries old tradition, in Europe, where they used to put a living cat inside the wall cavities of a new build home to ward off evil spirits. It sounds very cruel. It is cruel by today’s standards.
Dr Marion Gibson, a witchcraft expert in England, says:
“Cats were often put into walls as some kind of good luck charm. They seem to be designed to keep away witches, the evil eye, bad luck, vermin, anything that can be seen as a threat to the house. It does seem to have been quite a widespread practice across the European continent….”
I don’t believe in spiritualism. I believe that when we die that is the end – blackness, nothing. But I do believe everyone and every animal leaves a trace of their life on the planet as memory. Eventually, there is no memory of that person or animal.
In about 3 billion years the sun will die, and so will the earth, and there will be no memory.
Every so often I do. But the cat dreams are more of a deep sleep where nothing would wake me up experience. I have a lot of dreams like that. I’ve slept thru 2 tornadoes and 3 sonic booms. When we had the fire last year I was in deep sleep with my ex and two other friends who had passed away gathered around me asking me to join them. I told them I still had things to do on earth. It was then Laura burst into my room yelling FIRE. I’ll always believe if I’d told them I was ready to join them I’d be dead. Something made Laura come home earlier than she’d planned.
Elisa do you have that ‘mind awake but body still asleep’ syndrome when you can’t move? I do sometimes when under a lot of stress. Apparently your mind wakes up before your body, it’s quite frightening waiting for it to catch up, wondering if it will ………….
I refuse to comment on the grounds it may be used against me 🙂 You’ll have to wait until Sunday when I’ll have you a “part 2” done about my dreams. My dreams are the reason I have insomnia. I’m afraid to go to sleep.
You have widescreen, CinemaScope dreams in Eastman Kodak color! It would be fascinating to see a video of your dreams.
I’ve wondered that so many times! And I dream in color and during the really vivid cat dreams I’m paralyzed and can’t wake up.I’m going to do an article since Michael asked me to.
You could be right. There is always guilt it seems to be attached to euthanasia of a loved cat companion.
This poses the question of what is reality? Reality varies from person to person. A lot of people live in a dream world, that is for sure…and they are dangerous.