I have a 15-year-old cat named Makia.  She is pure white with yellow eyes.  I adopted her the day before Halloween from the Santa Barbara County Cat Shelter 14 years ago.  A mother and daughter wanted Makia but they said she wasn’t talkative enough.  The minute they left the room Makia meowed.  She was home a few weeks when she climbed a giant Sycamore.  Because she hadn’t learned yet that cats need to climb down trees backwards, she was stuck.  I didn’t have a ladder tall enough to assist her myself so the Montecito fire department came to the rescue.

When I was first learning to communicate with animals professionally Makia had lots to say.  She would walk around the house meowing telling me stories of her outdoor adventures.  One night she had been locked in the house for a few hours when she jumped up on the kitchen counter and meowed.  As I walked over to her she started licking her stomach.  I then realized that she had an 8-inch gash exposing her insides.  “What happened to you?”  I asked alarmed.  Makia replied, “This afternoon a bear chased me across the yard and I cut my stomach on the barbed wire fencing.”

“Hum” I thought, “This afternoon?!  A Bear?!”  I rushed her to emergency.   After they stitched her up the veterinarian said, “I have never seen a cat so calm after trauma.  She’s been purring and meowing the whole time.  It’s like she understands me and is telling me stories.”

For a whole year, Makia lost her meow.  She would open her mouth and only a tiny rasp would escape.  Friends and neighbors were alarmed.  When I asked Makia what was wrong she wouldn’t answer me.  I took her to specialists, healers and other animal communicators.  Everyone was flabbergasted.  One day I told my ex-husband to leave the house and to never come back.  The moment he walked out the door, Makia turned to me and meowed.  When I asked her about it she answered, “I am tired of knowing his secrets.  Don’t ask me.” Her meow has been fine and prevalent ever since.

One night I came home and Makia had a gash on her eye, a missing tooth and a hole in her lip.  When I questioned her she replied, “I was running away from a coyote and had to climb to the roof.  When I got there an owl swooped down and tried to grab me with his talon.  That is the gash.  Then I fell off the roof, slammed my tooth into the ground and it stuck into my lip”.

Another time I saw her fall off the roof and when I asked her what happened she said, “A evil spirit pushed me.”

I was in LA when my pet sitter called me to tell me she couldn’t find Makia.  I contacted her from a distance.  Makia told me, “Don’t worry mom, I am not across the street”.  Just then my pet sitter said, “I found her.  She is dashing home from across the street.”

Now I ask Makia, “What do you think about this article?”  She says, “You should tell them some better stories.  You should tell them how I like to hike in the woods with you and how I can wear a harness and a flexi leash like a dog. You could tell them how well traveled I am.  How I have moved cross country several times and I can walk on the top of snow.  You can tell that I have been on a boat and I too can catch birds out of the air.  You can tell them I have taken baths and have enjoyed them and how I love to drink out of the faucet.  How I meditate everyday with the Buddha.  You can tell them how I talk to Kim’s daughter who has passed and how I help people.  You can tell them that I am always truthful and I know everyone’s secrets.”

I say to Makia, “I don’t remember you being on a boat.”

She replies, “Mom, I have.  I have been on that big power boat.”

“Really you were on that boat?”  I question.

Makia responds, “Yes, mom.  I would walk on that big deck and see the water.”

I personally don’t remember it, but perhaps it happened.  We did have a big powerboat.