Cats fill human lives with immeasurable joy. They are an embodiment of beauty, grace, elegance, cleanliness, fun, and affection.
When your kitty meows, she is trying to spark a conversation with you. She informs you about her day, asks to cuddle with you, and inquires about what’s for dinner.
Petting her makes you feel so relaxed, chilled, and just happy.
Science has actually shown that petting a cat releases the love hormone, oxytocin. The hormone reduces anxiety, fosters better relationships, and generally makes you happier.
How about the fact that they are chilled animals with very little to do than sleep, lie on your lap, play a little, and just hang out without making a lot of noise.
With all these benefits of owning a cat, feline death is heartbreaking, confusing, and full of questions.
Amidst the grief that fills cat owners after the loss of their pets, many wonder where their pets actually go after they breathe their last.
If you are one among the many that have ever asked this question, we will help you answer it today.
What Happens When Your Cat Dies?
When your cat is almost at the point of death, her normal systems operate slower than usual.
The heart beats slowly and with less force. This means that blood travels around the blood much slower.
The brains and other bodily organs stop working normally. This is why your cat will want to sleep more, eat less, lose weight, and spot thin skin. The body is unable to regenerate skin cells like before.
When she’s close to death, breathing starts to fail and become unpredictable. Fluid gathers in the lungs and impairs breathing.
With less oxygen in the brain, she will be sleepy and vague.
Sometimes she gets a burst of energy but mostly she will sleep.
At the time of death, the cat’s heart will stop beating. The brain will also stop functioning and the body will start to cool down.
Where Does The Cat Go After Death?
Like all living beings, cats have a soul and a body. The former is what the cat is while the latter is the shell that gives the soul a place to reside.
While the cat’s body goes through changes before and during death, the soul remains intact.
It is one of the things that remains when the cat breathes her last and her body goes to the dust or the crematorium.
Exactly where the soul goes is a subject of debate to this day. Different people believe different things about feline death.
Religious enthusiasts almost always believe in some sort of an afterlife.
Let’s take a look at some of them below.
1. Reincarnation
Certain Asian religions claim that cats, like humans, are capable of reincarnation—that the soul is taken to another lifetime where the cat becomes a new creature. She doesn’t necessarily become another cat.
When the soul is let loose at the time of death, it wanders freely for a while until it locates a new body. This can be a human being, cow, snake, or any other living thing.
The two religions that believe in reincarnation include Buddhism and Hinduism. This explains why people who believe in these religions are strictly vegetarian.
They stay away from meat completely because a cow can be a reincarnated human being.
2. Christians, Jews, and Muslims
These religions believe that animals including cats can go to heaven after death.
To this group of people, animals automatically make it to heaven.
It is the same God that made man and beast. Both creations go to heaven when their time on earth is over.
Related Post: Are Cats Mentioned In The Bible?
3. Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, cats were worshipped. They were considered to be royalties. When they died, they were mummified along with other royalties.
For some cats, mummification was more expensive than those done on certain humans.
People back then believed that cats have an afterlife like many religions.
However, they couldn’t go on to live without the body hence the mummification process.
4. Non-religious
A large percentage of non-religious cat lovers claim that their pets live forever.
To them, cats never really die. They go to a place where their human parents will meet them later.
These persons believe that their kitties watch over them in the afterlife.
Some extremists keep their cats’ ashes near them with instructions to have them buried with the ashes so their cats are always with them.
5. Science
Science has not been able to come up with a clear answer as to what happens when living beings die.
It only explains the process of death but beyond it, scientists are yet to tell us what happens from their points of view.
So far, they claim that creatures can tell when their time of death is near. That is why they will show signs of leaving this life.
After taking the last breath, no one really knows what happens to the cat.
If you walk up to a scientist and ask them what happens when your kitty dies, they are likely to tell you they don’t know. Others will say that the cat just ceases to exist.
Do Cats Go To Heaven?
Heaven is a belief held by the Jews, Christians, Muslims, and a number of other religions.
Each one has its definition of the place. Jews call it Shamayim while the Muslims refer to it as Paradise of gardens of pleasure.
All three religions claim that Heaven is where good people go when they die. If you don’t live righteously on earth, you will not see the kingdom.
For Christians, you have to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal savior. This is according to the following verse,
Acts 6:30-31
Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
However, since animals cannot tell what is right and what is wrong, they get a pass ticket to heaven.
They don’t have criteria upon which to prove themselves worthy to go to heaven.
The Bible doesn’t specifically state that animals go to heaven but certain verses give us an idea.
Ecclesiastes 3:16 -22 points to the fact that man and beast are equal before God. That when it’s time for them to die, they both go to one place.
God created both from dust and they both return there after death.
There are several books in the Bible that prove the fact that animals, just like good human beings, go to heaven when their time on earth is done.
What Does This Mean For You?
As a loving pet parent, knowing that you shall once meet your beloved pet is reassuring. This is good news if you believe in heaven and earth.
Heaven is a beautiful place with no sorrow, sadness, starvation, animal abusers, you name it.
Additionally, Heaven is a forever place. You get to be with your pet for eternity, enjoying life, and bonding some more.
Final Thoughts
Where your cat goes after she dies depends on your personal beliefs. Many people believe different things surrounding the topic.
If you subscribe to the existence of heaven, you will see your kitty one day if you make it there.
For people that don’t believe in the afterlife, the death of their cats is final.
Hi! I am Eleanor Price. I started this website after my cat, Louie, almost died from a case of botulism (a type of food poisoning often caused by bacteria that grow on food items). Turned out that my cat’s diet was the problem. I have made it my duty to provide the best information and recommendations about everything cat lovers need to know about their felines’ health and wellbeing. My goal is to find the most informative content on anything feline-related and share it with fellow hardworking kitty lovers.