Bernie Siegel with Furphy and Buddy
Bernie Siegel (in the voice of his pet Smudge Eliza Bunny) – We have a cat named Miracle in our family. When she was first adopted, Doctor Bernie, my dad, treated her like a dog. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean he took her everywhere, walked her on a leash, and trained her like a dog. She was named after a cat a lady met in a dream. The lady developed cancer and one night a cat appeared in her dream and said my name is Miracle. Then the cat told her how to treat her cancer. The lady and her doctor followed Miracle’s advice and the lady is well today.
So when an abandoned cat was brought home by one of the two-legged Siegel boys, it was named Miracle and adopted. One thing I want to warn people about if they name a pet Miracle. Bernie and Bobbie had to leave for the airport and Miracle was nowhere to be found, so the two of them started running around the house, not fully clothed, yelling, “Miracle, Miracle, Miracle.” The neighbors avoided us for weeks after that. So explain things to the neighbors first so they don’t think odd things about you.
This summer our town had a dog show and my dad took our dog Furphy and Miracle to be in the show. They were both on leashes and Miracle sat in the middle of three dozen dogs with no problem. Dr. Bernie told the judges Miracle thinks she’s a dog and he didn’t want her feelings to be hurt by not being in the show. The kids paid more attention to Miracle then all the dogs. She didn’t win anything. Furphy won the furriest dog award. He’s a great little lhasa apso who loves everyone too. By the way, the town said next year the dog show is only for dogs. They have no sense of humor.
Furphy’s a therapy dog and Miracle is a therapy cat. They go to nursing homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, lecture halls and anywhere Dr. Bernie goes and they are allowed to enter. This summer a dining hall refused admission to Furphy so my dad left him at the back door to wait until he finished eating. He always waits outside for him but this time he tried something new. Ten minutes later, a man came walking through the dining hall yelling, “Whose dog is this?” It appears Furphy had run around to the front door and into the dining hall. So they let him stay for lunch after that. Since then he has ended up in strange offices thinking he can find his way through a building to where Dr. Bernie is. It doesn’t cause a problem because everyone knows him and he gets returned to his owner. The drive up window at the bank even has dog biscuits for Furphy when he makes a deposit.
A few weeks ago Furphy created a miracle for my dad’s mom. She has died since this happened. My dad is doing okay. His mom was 95 and ready to be perfect again. She loved Furphy because he was less trouble than her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Grandma Rose was blind and was in bed when my dad was visiting. Furphy came up to the bedroom to visit her. He jumped up on the other bed in the room and my dad’s mom said, “Tell the dog to get off the bed.” My dad said, “Furphy has restored your vision. A Miracle.” Everyone got a big laugh out of it.
Well that’s about it for now except for some recent research. If you pet a real dog, not a stuffed animal, your serotonin levels and other healing hormones increase and in Australia dog owners who had a heart attack had a 6% mortality rate in the next year while those who did not have a dog at home had a mortality rate close to 30%. I think we need a law passed to force people to adopt a dog so we can save money on health care. Dr. Bernie is also researching bunny and cat survival statistics.
About the Author
Bernie Siegel, M.D. is the author of Love, Medicine & Miracles (1986), Peace, Love & Healing (1989), and How to Live between Office Visits (1993), and many other books in print, eBook, and audiobook formats. For more information, visit www.BernieSiegelMD.com.
