Kiskilili, I hope it was a prophetic dream–I like both the idea of a train trip across the country, and a talking kitten named Celindra!

Someone (who may actually been Kiskilili, come to think of it . . . ) once proposed to me that animals go to heaven, or go to one heaven-like locale or another, based on their relationships with humans. This is problematic, certainly, if we’re going to address the place that animals have in God’s universe, with or without regard to humans; on the other hand, I kind of like the guarantee it suggests that, not only will Terpsichore (and Tybalt and Bal Boa and all Lynnette’s hamsters) be alive and well in the next round of alive and wellness, but that she’ll be alive and well and in the same heaven-like locale as I am.

I wonder how cats will feel upon meeting their numerous victims resurrected . . .

(Are you still going to eat the filet mignon if it talks back, Kaimi? )

Great post, Stapley (I knew what you meant!). I also find the LDS idea that animal spirits continue on appealing, though all sorts of logistical questions remain unresolved.

Like Sare, Ziff’s son (my amazing nephew), Lynnette, Proud Daughter of Eve, Tatiana, Tam, and company, I’d like to think there are animals in heaven. Thanks for all your interesting comments. It makes little sense to me to draw a somewhat arbitrary line around humankind (and exclude even Neanderthals and Australopithecines?). On the other hand, humankind is said to be created in the image of God, as God’s children, which seems to give us a special status animals lack. I’m not entirely sure what to conclude.

Of course, there’s no need to worry if only the cute, cuddly animals most people don’t eat are resurrected, but just think how awkward it would be if we have to share heaven with all the resurrected hamburgers and steaks we had eaten during our lives.

Some interesting quotes from the book:

Joseph Smith: “Says one, ‘I cannot believe in the salvation of beasts.’ Any man who would tell you this cannot be, would tell you that the revelations are not true. John heard the words of the beasts giving glory to God, and understood them…the four beasts were four of the most noble animals that filled the measure of their creation, and had been saved from other worlds, because they were perfect…”

Orson Pratt: During the millennium, animals “will manifest more intelligence and more knowledge than they do now.” He conjectured that one characteristic animals would gain would be language.

George Q. Cannon:: Until men “cease their war upon the animals, the reptiles, the insects,” President Cannon said that the millennium would not come.

David O. McKay: “…It is very probable that [animals], like mankind, will be distributed in the various kingdoms, celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. We may well believe that in each of these kingdoms such creatures will be assigned.”

I have no idea if the booklet is still in print but thought I’d mention it in case anyone is interested.

And my thanks to those who shared their pet experiences – very sweet.

What cinches it for me is an experience I have shared so many times, I might as well write up a version to keep on hand and paste in every time it comes up.

In February of 2004, my then-fiancee (now husband) and I were preparing to move from Japan, where we’d spent the last three years teaching ESL, to his home country of Canada. I was facing some big; from single to married, from gainfully employed to immigrant unable to hold a job and unsure of what job to apply for when the immigration process was finally finished. As I lay in bed the night before our flight, I prayed. It was long and it was rambling and I simply poured out every thought in my head and every worry I had until at last there was nothing left. Then I said “Well, I guess now I’ll shut up so I can here You if there is anything You have to say to me.” Then I waited.

There was a pause and then I heard– heard with my heart and my spirit– “Lili misses you.”

Lili, my bright, funny, bratty little dog, had been dead for two years.

What arrogance to think that mankind is the only part of God’s creation that He made to last. (Which is a disagreement with all those religious leaders who claim animals have no soul and not your post, Kiskilili.) His eye is on the sparrow. The animals we have loved are waiting for us in His home along with the people we have loved. I don’t know how Terpsichore will react but I know Lili will hurl herself at me at 90 mph just as she used to.

A friend once told me of a non-member acquaintance who’d happened upon a newspaper article about people having experiences in which they were visited by their deceased pets. He noted that by some odd chance, all of the people reporting the experiences were Mormons, and so he wondered whether that was a part of LDS beliefs.