Copyright 2001, Jeri Mills

Having been a small animal veterinarian in the past, and living in a house filled with pets, it goes without saying that I have had many occasions to offer Reiki to small animals. Puppies, kittens, and geriatric dogs and cats have all benefited from energy treatments. I have no doubt that Reiki is what saved the gravely ill pup my friend found in the desert.

It was Labor Day, 1997. I had just put my horse up in her stall and was getting ready to head home when my friend Jennifer came into the barn. She seemed a little worried.

"Oh, Jeri, I'm glad you're still here," she said. "I was hiking out in the desert this morning and found a puppy wandering around by herself. She's in pretty rough shape. She's so weak she can barely walk, and I think she may be blind. It may be too late to save her, but I couldn't just leave her there."

She looked at me a little sheepishly. "Would you mind taking a look at her for me? My vet's office is closed for the holiday and I hate to pay to take the pup to the emergency clinic if you think she doesn't have a chance. Still, I don't want to drop her off at the pound either. I know they'd just kill her there because she's sick."

I followed Jennifer to her car. She opened the door. Cringing in the back seat was one of the most pitiful scraps of life I'd ever seen. I was looking at what appeared to be little more than a skeleton loosely draped in an over-large coat of brittle, fawn colored hair. The creature's eyes were obscured by a thick, purulent discharge. I lifted the puppy out of the car. Her little body sagged in my arms. When I gently lifted and then released the fold of skin at the back of the pup's neck, it stayed tented in the air. The pup was too dehydrated for her skin to fall back into its normal position.

"Do you think it has eyes?" she asked anxiously.

I wiped the puppy's eyes with a damp cloth. Once the thick coating had been removed, her eyes looked surprisingly healthy. I decided the discharge had probably formed because she was too dehydrated to make tears.

The little dog tilted her head towards me, and I was struck by the jaunty angle of her ears. They seemed to promise hope for this woebegone little creature.

"Would she drink any water for you, Jen?"

"Oh!" she looked embarrassed, "I never thought to offer her any."

I set the puppy on the ground in front of the plastic bowl Jen had filled with about a pint of water. The dog perked up immediately. Once she started drinking, she didn't lift her head until the bowl was empty. When she finished her water, the little creature seemed to wilt in front of me as if the effort of drinking had drained her last reserve of energy.

I picked the puppy up. She lay her head on my shoulder, gave a long sigh, and snuggled tightly against my chest. My heart swelled.

"I'm not allowed to have dogs at my apartment," Jennifer informed me. "Do you think you could keep her till we can find her a home?"

The puppy barely moved as I carried her to my car and drove the ten miles to my house. When we arrived, I lay on the bed and set the sick puppy on my chest. The instant I placed my hands over her bony back, the healing energy began to flow. I dozed off. When I woke two hours later, the pup still slept on my chest and the Reiki was still flowing.

I took the pup outside to relieve herself and then offered her food and water. She was still too sick to eat but had a nice, long drink. When she was through, we returned to my room. I lay down and plopped her back on my chest. As soon as my hands approached the little body, it drew the Reiki from my hands like a vacuum cleaner. The energy was still moving hours later when we woke for our second trip outside. We repeated the process alternating Reiki-filled naps with brief trips outside. At 1 A.M., the Reiki stopped flowing.

The sickly little creature I brought home had been transformed into the most active puppy ever to enter my household. She kept the rest of us all up all night with her antics.

To this day, Katie-dog rules my house and outruns all the horses in the yard.

About the Author: Jeri Mills is a physician board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. She is also a veterinarian, a Certified Reiki Master Teacher, and author of the book Tapestry of Healing: Where Reiki and Medicine Intertwine. Her articles on women’s health and integrative medicine have appeared in newspapers and journals in the United States, Canada, and the UK. She has lectured internationally about the integration of Western medicine and Energy medicine. The rich story-telling format of her presentations moves her audiences to laughter and tears as they are motivated to bring Eastern healing practices into their own lives. Dr. Mills is now working as an emergency room physician. She continues to integrate energy work into her practice and to teach workshops on both human and animal healing modalities. Her purpose and her passion are to serve as a bridge between Eastern and Western medicine. Please visit her website at www.tapestryofhealing.com.