I made the difficult decision to have Ellie put to sleep after she was diagnosed with a cancerous bladder tumor that was close to completely blocking her urinary tract. She was beginning to suffer pain from it and was clearly not well. She was 17 years old. That night (or actually the following morning, as I had fallen back to sleep after being awake for awhile), she appeared suddenly in a dream, in which she leaped up onto the foot of the bed and came over to where I was (standing beside the head of the bed) – she was coal-black as in her younger years and full of energy, and she was so happy her whole body was wiggling. I was so happy to see her and be with her, I just petted her and petted her. The dream ended then. It was overall very brief, which is extremely unusual for me, as my dreams tend to ramble endlessly from one strange scene to another. This dream was vivid, brief and powerful, with a profound emotional context. I believe this was a visitation from Ellie, because I honestly don’t think my subconscious could have produced such a joyful dream from the anguished state I was in at the time. Plus, she looked and acted just as she had in her prime, and it had been quite some time since I had thought of her in that way. Her fur was mostly gray or white when she passed, but was jet black in the dream, and she was wiggling like a pup. My mother also dreamed about her that night, and in her dream she was also young, healthy and ecstatically happy. The message in both dreams was the same – I’m fine, I’m happy, and I love my mom. This has been a tremendous comfort to me.
