I'd like to add a wee caveat to this: I had a spate of "ghost cat" experiences in my early twenties. Didn't matter where I was, it could happen anywhere. I can't say one way or another if there were any actual catlike entities that I was seeing. Hallucinations are like that, you know? Yeah, you're seeing weird stuff that maybe it's not normal to see. Is it real? (shrugs). Anyway, it turned out to be part of a thyroid issue I was having. It went away as I healed from the health crisis.
I'll be the last person to deny the reality of "ghost pets"-- I know too many people who've experienced them. But I'd like to put a little PSA out there: if you're frequently seeing movement of dark shapes in your peripheral vision, of things that aren't strictly "there"... this is a well-documented type of hallucination (some people see it as cats, others as snakes, bats, birds, etc) associated with hypothyroid type issues, and you should probably do yourself a favor and at least take a look at a list of other hypothyroid symptoms, and if that stuff is sounding familiar to you... it bears further reading, and it might be time to get an endocrine eval.
On a lighter note, my sister, who used to have two actual cats, acquired a ghost dog when she moved into her last house. Never saw it, but sometimes felt it hop up to sleep on the end of the bed at night... at which point the cat would get up and stalk away. I think at least some of them might just be... energetic patterns created by habitual action? Actual doggie had moved on a long time ago, but had done the same thing so many times that the pattern sort of lingered. Dunno.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2021-10-28 09:15 pm (UTC)I'll be the last person to deny the reality of "ghost pets"-- I know too many people who've experienced them. But I'd like to put a little PSA out there: if you're frequently seeing movement of dark shapes in your peripheral vision, of things that aren't strictly "there"... this is a well-documented type of hallucination (some people see it as cats, others as snakes, bats, birds, etc) associated with hypothyroid type issues, and you should probably do yourself a favor and at least take a look at a list of other hypothyroid symptoms, and if that stuff is sounding familiar to you... it bears further reading, and it might be time to get an endocrine eval.
On a lighter note, my sister, who used to have two actual cats, acquired a ghost dog when she moved into her last house. Never saw it, but sometimes felt it hop up to sleep on the end of the bed at night... at which point the cat would get up and stalk away. I think at least some of them might just be... energetic patterns created by habitual action? Actual doggie had moved on a long time ago, but had done the same thing so many times that the pattern sort of lingered. Dunno.