I’m just going to copy & past the whole email my sister sent to me last night, responding to Hannah’s contribution to yesterday’s post:

Hi Kate!

Thank you for including Hannah in your blog!

Funny, I was getting the feeling that she wanted to be fluffed up more often. I was brushing her the other night, but I knew she needed her feet and face done. After reading the post I made sure Hannah got groomed up tonight – face, paws, tail, nails, and of course bows. (Hannah picked them by licking them.)

I decided to come to my Mom as a dog this life because she spent so much time imagining a small poodle that could be with her everywhere.

OMG I use to want a little poodle so badly as a little girl! I use to dream of a little one to carry with me that would be my best friend. Mom told me if I saved $700.00 I could get one… but that seemed a little unattainable on my $5.00 allowance, lol, so I switched to asking for a hamster.

I have been my mom’s cat a lot of times in past lives. Once in Egypt, and a lot of times when Mom was poor.

I feel so much closer to Hannah than any other pet I’ve had. I loved Heidi like a little sister, and Athena and Ben like my own kids, but Hannah is connected to me on this soul level. I can definitely believe we’ve had many incarnations together. The Egypt incarnation is realllly neat because I feel (especially the last year) that I’m channeling Egypt. My clients are even asking me if I’m from the East! I think the Egypt encounter was a wealthier one though, and I think that’s where Hannah developed some of her more refined tastes. (Kate responds: Yes, I get the Egypt one was an affluent life, one of the only lives where you had this high status, upper class thing going on. Everyone can tell you’re a classy lady 😉

Sometimes I was the only good thing in Mom’s life, which is why I am so important (current and past lives – did you ever tell her that?)

YES. I have… several times. After the spinal fracture, after two rough relationship break ups, when Ben was euthanized, after a horrible employment humiliation/breach. She is my one precious constant! (Ben was my sister’s service dog, a gorgeous golden retriever whose brain function deteriorated after he was just three years old. My sister has been through the ringer this life. You’re one heck of a tough cookie, sis.)

Once I did an amazing thing, I was my mom’s cat and I was getting really old, so I got pregnant and died when I gave birth to the single kitten, and I just went into the body of the newborn kitten

WOW! That is so mindblowing… what a clever girl!

The Athena information is really interesting! Yeah there’s an underground garage in the apartment building I try to avoid. I’ll make sure I never go through there unless I’ve got Athena with me for sure.

I think I’ve met most of Hannah’s latest requests. She has her own Brita filtered water in a porcelain dish in the bedroom that is gated away from the slober-dog Athena. She had a grooming tonight, and I’ll make a point of keeping up her ears and fur with a bushing at night! (Way too funny that she sent you the Scrubs theme song LOL.) I gave the kibble to her softened from the fridge and she ate 3X more than she normally would of the dry! I’ll keep feeding her that way from now on. As for the teeth – I’m trying hard to find someone who will scale them for her without anesthetic. Sent out emails. No luck yet, but I’ll keep trying before we go back to the vet for the usual. I know the anesthetic is hard on her.

(Kate responds – I wasn’t sure when she was telling me all this stuff she wants, whether it was stuff you were already doing for her or not. Were you already doing some of this stuff? If you were, the interpretation is that Hannah still wants you to do it for her and she really appreciates it. Sometimes the feeling of “I would really like…” vs. “I am really grateful…” is quite similar.

Food: A good note for everyone feeding kibble: Try dampening your dog’s kibble with warm water before feeding. Dog kibble often expands in the stomach after they eat it, making them feel uncomfortable and sometimes sick. Just wetting the kibble can make it a lot easier on their digestive system. This is a common complaint with an easy solution.

They REALLY like it if you take the opportunity to dampen it every once in a while with low-sodium chicken broth, miso soup, lentil soup, gravy, little things to give the flavour some interest and variation. You don’t need a lot of liquid (or calories) to make a big impact on your dog’s experience. )

One more amazing thing about psychic Hannah is her ability to zone in on the source of my pain. I’m much better these days, but if am having a flare up and a particular hip or knee is very painful Hannah will insist on laying directly over the leg or hip that hurts. Nobody else would know, to look at me, that that one spot is really hurting me, but Hannah will figure it out in a flash.

So I attached a photo of Hannah tonight after a good grooming and full supper! 🙂

Thanks again for talking to Hannah! If you do updates on the Paws and Reflect feel free to cut/paste any part of this email as a comment.

Love you…

Kate’s sister.