Do animals have souls? Can they pass into another animal?

Question

I had two cats, on recently died. My other cat has changed overnight and now its like she is the other cat inside. Looks the same as always, but has simply changed overnight into the other cat.

Her personality, meow, sleeping and eating habits have changed, its honestly like having the other cat but in a different body.

Do animals have souls or spirits? Whats happenend to my cat? she has literally become the dead cat, its very strange.

Im not religious, though this is freaking me out a bit, and im starting to question whether there is such a thing as a soul, if there is, can it have passed into another living animal?

Anyone have any experience with this, or can anyone refer me to any websites for guidance?

Before I get any ruder answers saying Im nuts and imagining it, all my neighbours have noticed it too, we live in a small street and everyone has commented how much our living cat has taken on the personality and traits of the dead one.

Answer 1

NO

Answer 2

Here are a few points I pulled out of a link for you that I am including in this answer:

Animals are living souls:

Yet, the Bible shows that humans have a number of things in common with animals. For example, both humans and animals are souls. When God formed Adam, "the man came to be a living soul," says Genesis 2:7. First Corinthians 15:45 concurs: "The first man Adam became a living soul." Humans are souls, so the soul is not some shadowy entity that survives the death of the body. Gen. 1:20,21,24,25 talks about animals as souls.

Animals and man both share death;

All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust." Yes, in death man and animals are also alike. Both return "to the ground," "to dust," from which they came.—Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20; Genesis 3:19.

Interestingly noted below: There are differences in animals and man; although sometimes we may wonder if it is true about all humans
Evolutionist Michael C. Corballis observes that "there is a striking discontinuity between humans and the other primates . . . 'Our brain is three times as large as we would expect for a primate of our build.'" And neurologist Richard M. Restak explains: "The [human] brain is the only organ in the known universe that seeks to understand itself."
Furthermore, no animal engages in worship. Thus, Edward O. Wilson notes: "The predisposition to religious belief is the most complex and powerful force in the human mind and in all probability an ineradicable part of human nature." Note: have you seen any animals or depiction of animals resurrected? Are they capable of being perfect enough to die as a sacrifice for our sins? Are they created in God’s image?
"Human behavior poses many other Darwinian mysteries," acknowledges evolutionist Robert Wright. "What are the functions of humor and laughter? Why do people make deathbed confessions? . . . What is the exact function of grief? . . . Now that the person is gone, how does grieving serve the genes?"

Eclessiastes 12:7 says:
7 Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the [true] God who gave it. Though man became a living soul when God blew the breath of life into Adam;
the soul does not exist after death.


Taken from, In The Image of God or Beast?
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1998/6/22/article_02.htm

Answer 3

i'm no longer a spiritual guy interior the classic on the grounds that. even with the undeniable fact that, i've got self belief that something that may adventure love could have a soul. we are all made out of potential, and that potential by no ability fades. i've got self belief that love creates what maximum folk examine with as a soul. i've got self belief an identical rule exists for people. A human that has no longer experienced love or a feeling of peace interior of hisherself does no longer have what maximum examine with as a soul. have you ever expressed love and exhilaration along with your animal? if so, you have given the animal a cutting-edge of love and a "soul"

Answer 4

what you are describing, as you are theorizing, is not impossible.

in fact even humans are not entirely incapable of a relatively similar thing.

if cat A is "just a cat" and Cat B is a familiar of sorts (not neccesarily a witchcraft type familiar... psychics and other metaphysically/spiritually sensetive people can have "special" animals that take such a role.)

if Cat B dies first, it would not be that inconceivable that Cat A could replace cat B, which would be similar to the soul thing your describing.

the problem is that its not always consistent, for example a Cat, could contain/be "just a cat" or be a nearly human, or in some ways, beyond human capacity (for some things) of awareness.

Answer 5

There is nothing specific about animals having souls in the Bible. However, they are creations of God. THerefore they live and breath and all breath comes from God. When your cat died, its breath, as with all breath, went back to where it came from-God. When GOd resurects new life from old life at the end of time, your cat might well have a new form as well. As for the other cat behaving like the one that died, perhaps he is acting out, missing the other cat. No soul can inhabit another soul. Everyone has an appointment with death. After that we don't come back as someone else or something else. I'm so sorry for the loss of your dear cat.

Answer 6

Animals have souls that trans- migrate into many bodies. Look at politicians, they prove the theory of `rodent reincarnation`, just look closely, the eyes give it away. Seriously , animals do not have souls, my cat has eaten a fish a day for 15 years, killed countless birds, given the kids fleas, messed in the garden every day, and stinks! Surely you do not expect such disgusting creatures to visit Heaven.

Answer 7

Animals can grieve a loss to, and like a human...change in personality, sleep and eating habits, maybe even hearing it in someones voice if they feel particularly down, it makes sense. It is probably more the case then your cat being "possessed" by the other...

If souls are real and humans have them, there is no reason other animals wouldn't have them as well since we are only one species on this planet, even if we don't see ourselves as animals.

Answer 8

According to the Bible, living animals are souls. See Lev.24:18 and Num 31:28. When an animal dies, it ceases to exist.

Answer 9

Yes animals have souls, each soul is eternal and is part and parcel of the Supreme soul or God, each soul is individual and whilst within the human form of life must make a choice, by exercising free will, to either live a spiritual life and become puified of material contamination or perform more worldy activities that bind the soul in additional material encagement in another material body, which may not necessarily be human.

One soul cannot transmigrate to another occupied body, so the explaination to the phenomena you describe is more of a reflective impressional nature. To further illustrate the process of transmigration of the soul and how this is formulated by the accumulated development of either a spiritual or material mind, based on activity and desire, is expressed in that great fountainhead of wisdom, the Bhagavad Gita As It Is Chapter 8 Verse 6 :-

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.

Purport by HDG A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The process of changing one's nature at the critical moment of death is here explained. A person who at the end of his life quits his body thinking of Kṛṣṇa attains the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord, but it is not true that a person who thinks of something other than Kṛṣṇa attains the same transcendental state. This is a point we should note very carefully. How can one die in the proper state of mind? Mahārāja Bharata, although a great personality, thought of a deer at the end of his life, and so in his next life he was transferred into the body of a deer. Although as a deer he remembered his past activities, he had to accept that animal body. Of course, one's thoughts during the course of one's life accumulate to influence one's thoughts at the moment of death, so this life creates one's next life. If in one's present life one lives in the mode of goodness and always thinks of Kṛṣṇa, it is possible for one to remember Kṛṣṇa at the end of one's life. That will help one be transferred to the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa. If one is transcendentally absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's service, then his next body will be transcendental (spiritual), not material. Therefore the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare is the best process for successfully changing one's state of being at the end of one's life.

To discuss further:-Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari ([e-mail])

Answer 10

this is a good question. Technicly yes, in the eyes of the christian god every animal has a soul, but they have different lines of life that they follow.
However, they cannont pass into another animal. The "Reincarnation" that you speak of is not legal in christain eyes (We do not believe in it).
Hope this helps!

Answer 11

read through the first few chapters of gensis. you will find in the creation humans, animals and birds are created AS souls, not having souls.
and as for the state of the dead, ecclesiastes 9:5 says they are conscious of nothing. so be them human of feline, the dead are unconscious