Questions re: Rainbow Bridge?
 

Hey.

I live with an 18 year old cat & a 10 year old dog. I've lived amongst many pets over the years.

What is the whole 'rainbow bridge' philosophy about?

I've been told it's just a metaphor....something to comfort an aching heart, but doesn't really lead to anything - like it doesn't actually (in our minds eye) exist & we know it.
This is all great & wonderful but what about the deeper thinking ones such as I who'd like a little more to go on. The ones who aren't so content as to just being placated by a acknowledged possible imaginary happening?

Do pets meet us at the rainbow bridge?
If so, what do they do in the meantime? Surely they don't just sit there for what could be many decades just playing in the grass & the flowers?!
Know my cat & dog would get fed up within a day!
What if they're called up to play a very important role & can't just call it a day & prance back off to meet just because we've decided to die on that certain day?

Do ALL our pets meet us...all at the same time?
I know I haven't been the most educated of pet people in the earlier years.
I'd probably be greeted by a mixture of receptions...From 'Yay, hiya mum' to 'you mucked up, you didn't really help my life then & there'

If rainbow bridge is really just a made-up virtual reality land, where do they really go?

Love the 'Soul group' possibility - as in, yeah I'm a human, you're a cat, you're a dog.....but our souls have been put together...in this house...in this time. We are part of the same......see you on the other side 'when'

Aw cripes. Guess I'm asking now because my cat looks at me with ever wise eyes. With his kidneys not functioning so amazingly, his tiny frame, his cloudy cataracts & his hit & miss fur. His eagerness for affection, his content demeanour.
His now monthly steroid & vitamin jabs (found a vet who hasn't immediately suggested euthanasia as he's happy, eating well etc.....)

Wanna know where he's going when he decides the time is right.

Just thoughts on the Rainbow Bridge thing would be cool :-) x

"Rainbow Bridge" was a piece of imaginative writing (often called a "poem" although it was actually prose). The author is unknown. The details of what happens should not be taken literally, but the piece has given comfort and healing to countless grieving pet caretakers.

There are also other variants of "Rainbow Bridge". My personal favourite is the version by Benny Archuleta. You will find the text of all the versions on my website, plus a discussion of each (Just click on the link in my signature - then find the Rainbow Bridge tab at the bottom on the home page). The whole of my site is dedicated to pets in the afterlife and supporting them and their caretakers.

In reality, pets who were very close to their caretakers go to a "waiting" areas. I have put the word "waiting" in speech marks, as time as we know it does not exist on the astral. So in reality, even if you pass over fifty or more years after your beloved pet - may you live a long and happy life! - for the pet it will seem like you have just come back from a brief trip to the local store! So there is no chance of your pet getting bored, LOL!

As to who will greet you at gateway, the one who was the closest to you on earth will often meet you, plus usually your guide or teacher. After transitioning to the astral, you will meet all those whom you wish (or who wish to meet you) in due course.

We are all souls, so the idea of "I'm a human, you're a cat, you're a dog" doesn't really have much significance on the astral.

Animals pass to the astral in exactly the same way as humans do. There is no difference at all.

I hope that this answer helps you. You are welcome to contact me via PM or the message facility on my site, should you feel the need. I wish your cat a happy life with the time which he has left. May he enjoy it with you!

Best wishes to you!

Ok.
Yeah, it has, will & does serve a good purpose.

Read Benny Archuleta's take from your link (bypassed all other stories for now!)

Helped in regards to trying to fathom it all out...really helped, thank you.
Can't say the teardrop that fell upon the left side of my face wasn't joined by three or many others forming a mini reservoir beneath me chin!!
Really amazing. The concept.
WIll never. If the time comes that I can again then I shall be looking for the oldest, most disabled on the edge of reason dog ever.
Have a problem digesting puppy mills/breeding/internet teacup surface palava. Thousands of healthy dogs are euthanised daily eh :-(

My dog I guess can be counted as a rescue dog as his owners at first fell for the cute puppy scenario, not realising the commitment & responsibility until he was 10 months old.
I fell across his path via a friend of a friend when I was most vunerable dog wise (not ready!).
First question I asked my friend was....'could I not just do like a trial period for a couple of weeks?' She said no. It's an all or nothing thing from the off - you'll be fine....
My dog has been my dog ever since....nearly 10 years later....he's 11 in Feb :-D

Ah, so only ones who were close. Not the ones you tried to help at that given time, with that given knowledge? Where does the distinctive line lie?

Where does time go then in the astral? 'scuse my naivety/eager to learn/open question.

Changing the subject a mite, just for a mo. Am I just checking future residences & neighbourhoods out when I inadvertently project? Am I house hunting for the future? Which are dog/cat friendly & which aren't??

Getting back down to earth thank you. He will. He is currently making sure of it.......positive he's not playing on it but always plonks his bod right near me. Currently need comp in order to try to complete studies....ginger ninja has deemed this his ground too :-D
Cannot easily push him off because always thinking deeper......'C'mon pud, you know I gotta do this.....I'll be free in a couple of weeks to be all yours' ever worrying that tonight might be his last x x

Dear Eisleigh,
I feel for the questions you are asking. Because what lies ahead in Spirit for all of us is to some extent a mystery. Now I feel that we know already, as we have spent more 'time' there than we have ever spent on Earth, but thanks to that veil of amnesia which falls over us all when we volunteer for duty in this world -we forget. That seems like a mean deal in some ways -to my way of thinking!

I can't talk about anything I don't really know, and try to make a point of not doing that.

But what I do know -for certain about those Souls who have lived here as animals, is that they live on. That they are not bored in the slightest when they pass. That whenever there is a bond of real love, it continues. It does not die. It doesn't matter if you have deeply loved one, or many, they are all there for you. That there is some peculiar sense of 'time' in the Spirit dimensions, but it is not like 'time' as we know it here. There is rhythm, and there is some capability of recognising what our cycles of time mean to us (re: visiting us from Spirit, etc.) That they-as Souls -find valuable things to devote themselves to over there -just as any Soul does, and those things are the expression of their Selves as spiritual Beings, and are Service, according to their development level. And that as multi-dimensional Beings (just as we are) there are really no limitations about space and time and logistics, such as we know here.

I learned those things about animal Souls from my dog.

I also learned that a Soul is a Soul over there, not merely a 'dog' or a 'cat' or a 'human'. Each Soul has its own stage of development and gravitates according to that, to states where it is most comfortable, and with those with whom it has deep feelings in common. -and may appear in any form it is capable of once it has re-integrated to its true Self. In reality it is a Spirit. Yet will most likely appear to us in the form in which it was known and loved by us. Until all form is relinquished at much deeper development levels. And that only when it is a natural progression, and not before.

I like the 'Rainbow Bridge' tales, but they are allegories.

Those with whom we have strongest bonds of love will continue to be with us, whether seen or unseen. They will all be seen when we too cross over. There, everything will be clearer. And we will see those brothers and sisters whom we knew as 'animals' here, in a truly different light.

Blessings to your dear cat. My instinct is he is glad you are asking questions right now.....

Remember animals have souls too and are animated by the same spirit of God as we are and are on a spiritual evolutionary path as we are.
So do they survive death - yes.

Animals which have not felt the warmth of human love and companionship i.e. factory farm or wild, go to their group soul realm.

Animals which have known the warmth of human love and companionship acquire individualisation, which they retain after 'death'.

So yes, beloved animal friends - pets/'adopted' wild animals - I could generalize and say if it had a name ... - the same love bond that reunites humans, reunites us with them too.

They are cared for on the Other Side, either by family members, especially if they knew the animal on earth, or by souls who have a great love for and affinity with animals.

What do they do? They do as animals do. They play. They explore. They are happy.

As Noble Knight has mentioned above, some pets are cared for by family members who have already passed over. Some who arrive on the astral in severe distress (e.g. extremely painful and stressful physical deaths) are given healing by the traumatic passing team and are then cared for by specialists. A few join astral teams to help pets and caretakers who are very upset following separation. But the majority of pets, who were loved and cherished, go to the "waiting" area. There is no "one size fits all".

Time on the astral is a complicated topic and would take us way beyond the scope of this thread. Basically, on the astral there is a flow of events, but obviously there are no hours, minutes, days, months or years. To transition from physical time to astral "time" (flow of events) is a complex matter, rather like putting a liquid through a funnel. "Before" on the astral could be a thousand years ago on earth, or a hundred, or ten, or one, or just five minutes....That is why many people who have had NDEs often see a tunnel of light.

As for your "checking future residences...house hunting....dog/cat friendly" - humour always helps, even on the astral, LOL!

LPC, may I ask a question?
When animals who were loved by a human companion, go to the 'waiting area' -do you know what they will do there? Is it a state of simply 'be-ing' and enjoying the surroundings of Home in an environment which has no concept of 'time' as known by humans on Earth?
Or do they too, have occupations of Service and development which they are inspired to devote themselves to while they are waiting for their companion(s) to join them?

I know of those who do work to help others there -many of them Souls who lived in animal bodies on Earth or other planetary systems. But what about those who do not have such a calling?

A very good question. You really get to the issue when you ask, "Is it a state of simply 'be-ing' and enjoying the surroundings of Home in an environment which has no concept of 'time' as known by humans on Earth?"

Thta seems to be a very succinct and accurate way to put it. You're always so good at putting things clearly!

In all my visits to the waiting areas, I note a timeless quality - quite a bit different from the "sequence of events" flow elsewhere on the astral. This is, no doubt, in order to avoid any upset which could be caused by a long "wait" for a caretaker. To the beloved pet, the "wait" doesn't exist.

Because of this timeless quality in the "waiting" areas, the stay seems like the twinkling of an eye (or perhaps one should say the flick of a tail, LOL!). There is therefore no "time" for these animals to devote themselves to any forms of service, but after rejoining their caretakers they go on to the next step in spiritual development together, after a period of recuperation.

I cannot give you more precise answers to your (very interesting and relevant) questions, as some of the "how?" and "why?" questions are decided by Source and I just don't know the answers. I can only tell you what I know from my visits to certain areas of the astral.

Thank you so much, LPC. You helped a lot to clarify what I couldn't quite understand as yet.

'When Your Animal Dies' by Sylvia Barbanell might be of interest ...