It is my pleasure today to introduce you to Dawn Kairns, the author of Maggie: The canine who changed My Life.
This book is a deeply moving story of the powerful connection between the author and her soulmate canine Maggie. This kind of a relationship tends to happen only once in a lifetime, and those of us who have been fortunate enough to share such a special relationship with an animal will find ourselves going down our own memory lane as we savor this book. Maggie enriched the author’s life in ways she never could have thought of when she took that little black lab puppy home with her. Maggie’s cheerful exuberant spirit touches all who come into contact with her. Maggie opens the author’s heart and teaches her about trusting her intuition and listening with her heart. Interspersed with well-researched information about pet health care and advice on how to deal with the grieving process following the loss of a pet, this book shows us that animals are so much much more than just pets. They are spiritual beings who are on this planet to instruct us about joy.
Please join me in welcoming Dawn Kairns to The conscious Cat!
Dawn, “Maggie” is your first book. how did you become a writer?
Writing was always a natural way for me to express myself, really, even as a child. When I felt my parents didn’t understand me, I wrote letters to express my feelings in ways I couldn’t always do verbally. I had a diary, of course! I have written informally in journals for years, much more as a spiritual and personal growth practice. In my 30s I began the practice of writing all of my dreams in notebooks.
I did write and have published several articles in nursing and health journals when I was an R.N. and as a family nurse practitioner. After Maggie died, I began writing articles about canine behavior, and of course began my book in her honor, even though in those first days after Maggie died, I didn’t realize I was starting a book. I was merely writing everything I could remember about her as a way to cope with my grief. It was only over the next several months that I chose to turn my writings about my life with Maggie into a book. It was in that time that I knew my writing needed some work, and I took a course through the Institute for Children’s Literature. but I think it was in the writing, editing, and re-editing of Maggie that I found my voice as a writer.
What was the process of writing about Maggie like for you?
Writing about Maggie was a Godsend after she died. It was the way I stayed many connected with her; it is what got me through those first excruciating days. I loved the writing of it, and the editing of it less so because I had to be much more objective.
What do you hope your readers will take away from the book?
I have several hopes for readers. I hope readers will begin to look at dogs/animals as equal or different beings, not lesser than or below humans, to see them as the amazing spiritual beings of light that they are; I hope readers will open themselves to the sixth sense communication our animals are capable of if they don’t already recognize that their animals are capable of reading their thoughts.
My hope is for readers to count on their intuition with their animals even if their inner voice is in dispute with an expert’s diagnoses. no one knows our animals like we do and I want readers to count on themselves enough to advocate for their animals with their veterinarians.
I really want readers to question commercial pet food and recognize its potential role in the health problems numerous of our animals develop; I want them to explore alternative diets such as balanced home-cooked foods and healthier, holistic pet foods with meat ( not meat byproducts) as the primary ingredient, and with minimal or no carbohydrates.
I want readers to become aware of the messages their dreams can hold for them; and to recognize that they, too, probably have clairvoyant dreams but may just not be aware of it.
Finally, I want those suffering from that deep pain of losing a cherished pet to feel understood and supported in their grief, and that yes, it can be as bad as or even worse than losing a loved human. I want them to know that intense pain will ease in time and they will love again.
In your book, you share the emotional toll Maggie’s diagnosis took on you. What was many challenging for you during that time?
The many challenging part for me after learning Maggie’s diagnosis was that I simply couldn’t begin to think of her not being in my life – we were so much a part of each of our souls. (Even as I speak these words, tears come from the memory of that deep connection, even though it’s been 8 years because she passed!) What made it harder was that I felt some part of me had known she had cancer and I hadn’t honored my intuition, and that I was losing Maggie several years earlier than I otherwise maynullnull
