We used to have a cat named Uncle Rico. Yes. We named him after Uncle Rico from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. We’re weird that way.

Anyway, this was a cool cat. Super sweet, super spunky, and full of character. He was pretty much perfect except for one really annoying habit. He would steal straws out of our drinks.

Every. Single. Time.

It was seriously annoying. You’d wake up in the morning and the straw that was in the water glass on the nightstand would now be in the hallway. You’d be watching a show on the television and the drink that was sitting right next to you would be missing it’s straw! Where did it go? The back bedroom, of course!

He was a sneaky little bugger.

One evening, Uncle Rico got outside and never came home. For weeks we searched for our kitty. I feared that he had been attacked by one of the raccoons or coyotes in the area, but still didn’t want to give up hope. I knew eventually I would have to face the fact that my little buddy may never come home, but I was still in denial. The idea of him being lost, or taken, or hurt somewhere was driving me crazy.

This is when the story gets weird…

About three weeks after Uncle Rico went missing (and three weeks of crying over him daily), I was in my room by myself. All of a sudden, I hear the voice of my good friend Henry (who had passed about a year earlier) say, “Shelly, Uncle Rico is dead. He was attacked by a coyote in the woods behind your house. He did suffer some, but once he passed he came to me. Uncle Rico and I are here together so you can stop searching and stop crying over him. He is at peace.”

Wow.

I had received a clairaudient message from my friend about my beloved pet!

If you aren’t familiar with Clairaudience, it is an intuitive gift meaning clear hearing where one receives words or messages that are not from their own thoughts. This usually occurs in your mind or it can also be an auditory experience where you actually hear something, like my message from Henry.

After telling my husband what I had just heard from Henry, we sat down to relax for the evening; feeling sad but content with the information I had received.

I reached to my right to grab my drink, and the straw in my non-carbonated drink lifts straight up out of the glass and lands on the table.

Whaaaaat? Uncle Rico decided to ‘steal’ my straw one last time.

I knew it was a good-bye from my little buddy. There was no explanation for that straw to lift itself straight up and out of my drink. The visit from both Henry and Uncle Rico was a gesture of love from the both of them.

When you are close with a pet, it is possible for them to connect with you after they die. It may not always come in the form of a clairaudient message followed by the theft of your straw, but they can come!

Here are signs that your pet is trying to connect with you from the other side:

1. You dream about your pet visiting you on a regular (or semi-regular) basis

2. You feel your pet with you when you are near their favorite spot. For example, if your dog used to sleep at the bottom of your feet, you might ‘feel’ him even though he’s no longer there

3. You hear your cat meowing in another room when there are no pets in the house

4. You see movement out of the corner of your eye that reminds you of your bird fluttering around the house

5. Animals that look like your beloved pet keep crossing your path

6. Their favorite toy shows up out of the blue

7. Another pet enters your life in a seemingly unrelated way to give you comfort during your grieving process

Our pets are just like any of our deceased loved ones. They want us to be happy and do their best to let us know they are still around. Grieving the loss of a pet can be one of the most difficult times in one’s life, but if you keep your eyes open and pay attention to the signs, you’ll see those little rascals are still around.