After finishing my study in applied physics in 1974 I moved to The Hague and rented an apartment. I had become 26 by then. At that time, I was in the middle of a complicated love affair with L and I was living alone. L surprised me on a day by calling me and telling she had something for me to keep company. A little young white female cat. There was no owner known. I collected my new friend at L’s home and transported us to The Hague by train. In the train back home, it became already clear that it was an utterly charming and endearing creature where I had become the owner of. Or was she owning me? She was a happy lively and very curious young cat with only one little problem, she was completely deaf. Which is not an unusual condition for white cats. The only blemish to her soft white fur was a small somewhat darker spot in the center of her forehead. This was an elegant lithe creature, her long elegant legs indicated there was clearly some Abyssinian blood in her lineage. She was curious, funny and cuddly and didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. I named her Krokeledokus. Which was the name of the jester in a children's story from my early childhood time.

Soon L convinced me to find a companion for her. I gave in. I found another just as white cat in an animal sanctuary waiting for a new owner. Quite another character as it turned out. Sturdily build, rather fearful despite her muscularity and not cuddly at all. Stroking her would often result in a scratch. I named her Kaskoeskilewan which is the name of the king in the same children’s story. Now I had company of both jester and king. A little bit later a ravenous tomcat added himself to this royal ensemble.

Krokeledokus turned out to be a great peacemaker. She could restore peace between her fighting feline companions. Often, I found her napping peacefully between the two other purring cats. She also liked nipples, it didn't matter much whose they were. If I went to sleep, she jumped on the bed and started to suckle, which is perhaps endearing but something you only allow for an extremely short time. Cat’s tongues are real graters.

One day I spotted pests in my potted plants. I consulted a plant shop owner who provided me with a set of pesticide impregnated paper arrows from Bayer to put in the potting soil. This would kill the mites. Coming home at the end of a working day I found Krokeledokus convulsing and with foam on the mouth. The vet diagnosed nerve poison. He saw no real chance to save her. So, I was feeling deeply guilty after realizing that it was me that had actually poisoned her. Within a few horrible days Krokeledokus was dead. I put her body in a cardboard box to bring it away the next morning and went to bed feeling very sad. I cried.

Then happened something which still makes me emotional when telling it, after almost 40 years have gone by. The other white cat, Kaskoeskilewan, jumped on the bed and started suckling my nipples. Which is something she had never before shown any inclination to and has also never shown it again after that single event.

I couldn't deny what had happened. Something from the mind of Krokeledokus had jumped onto the other cat. Her mind had survived, at least for some time. I seldom told this story to other people, you don’t tell very easily about your nipple being suckled by a cat. It’s embarrassing. When I had the nerve to tell it someone, I received comments like: ‘Well, this other white cat saw you were really sad and so she tried to comfort you.’ Oh no, I couldn’t believe that for a moment. Discussion closed.

I never forgot the incident. It seemed to guide me from that day on, nudging me to seek confirmation that the mind doesn’t die with the body. This took years and years of reading heaps of spiritual books. Nowadays I’m quite convinced of survival. It was in some way the little seed that eventually grew into the course in quantum physics and consciousness I’m lecturing these days. Which then grew further into a book I wrote, and which is selling quite well. It has become obvious to me that there are many who seek convincing confirmation for survival, even if it’s by weird quantum physics, telling them that the mind, not matter, has to be the primary stuff.

About a year ago I had a very surprising and pervasive confirmation that Krokeledokus is still keeping a tab on me. A dear friend of me was recovering from a successful bone marrow transplantation battling a second lymphoma and was now happy to be looking again at an open future with his family. We were sitting in his living room when he asked me how I had come to be a lecturer on quantum physics and consciousness. Some years before he had attended my course. He knew that I had followed a quite different career path in ICT database management and only after retirement had started with lecturing quantum physics.

So, I told him for the first time the story of Krokeledokus. He listened without the kind of unbelieving comment that I had met on earlier occasions. After telling the story my attention drifted to a somewhat strange pottery statue which ornated his mantelpiece. I had spotted it before, but it had never occurred to me to think more of it. His answer: It’s the jester sitting on the throne of the king. Which hit me like a well thrown

Was this experience difficult to express in words?     No

Did you ONLY sense an awareness of presence of the deceased without actually seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling them?      Yes

Did you hear the deceased or hear something associated with the deceased?          No

Did you feel a touch or experience any physical contact from the deceased?         Uncertain

My nipples

            Was the touch familiar or unfamiliar? At was the way the deceased cat tried to suck my nipples when she saw them.

          Was anything communicated by the touch? I'm still there

            Is there any possibility what you felt was from any other source present in the surroundings at the time of your experience?   There was no sound

Did you see the deceased?       No

Did you smell a distinct smell, scent, fragrance or odor associated with the deceased? No

How long did the experience last?      Short.

Was the beginning and end of the experience gradual or more sudden?       It was not on experience where you can speak of gradual or sudden. It just happened.

Could you sense the emotions or mood of the deceased?          Uncertain

I got the message that she wanted to tell me that she was all right now.

How do you currently view the reality of your experience?          Experience was definitely real

          Please explain why you view the reality of your experience as real or not real:   Everything was entirely material. It was only the way it played out that it brought its message.

          Was the experience dream like in any way?  No     

Describe in detail your feelings/emotions during the experience:  Baffled.

Was there any emotional healing in any way following the experience? Yes

Something was still living on. Which made me think about what taht should be.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?          Now I see it changed my life, in the good sense. That's the good part. It is rather difficult to attach words like best and worst to it.

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience? Yes                Describe:     It was always there at the back of my mind. Changing my outlook on life little bit by little bit.

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?      Yes    Death is not the end of the personality.

Did the experience give you any spiritual understandings such as life, death, afterlife, God, etc.?         Yes    At that moment I knew that some part of us survives. I don't know which part, I don't know how long.

Death Compacts are when two or more living people promise among themselves that whoever dies first will try to contact the other(s).  Have you ever made such a compact?    No

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?          No

What emotions did you feel during the experience?         I was still sad but also a little bit confused. Thinking about it.

Was the experience witnessed or experienced by others?          No

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?  No

Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?         No

Did you become aware of future events?      No

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?      No

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?   No

Did you meet or see any other beings other than the deceased?   No

Did you see a light?        No

Did any part of your experience seem to occur in a place other than the location described above?     No

Have you shared this experience with others?      

Yes    Reactions were that people tried to explain it as unusual but understandable animal behaviour.

Have you shared this experience formally or informally with any other researcher or web site?         No

 Is there anything else you would like to add regarding your experience?   Important is that it is:

- Not an experience of something non-physical. The medium was just another cat. The experience is in the message.

- It is an ADC with an animal.

- I have the strong impression that she is still there keeping a tab on me.

Were there any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?          No

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?       Yes 

The synchronisity of telling someone this ADC story upon which I'm asking what's there on the mantelpiece and then getting a message so clearly referring to the two cats who were playing their roles in the story.

Did you ever in your life have a near-death experience, out of body experience or other spiritual event? Uncertain 

As a child I had an accident, a one storey fall on my head, upon which I was temporarily unconscious. Just before waking up I seem to remember a friendly loving female voice.

Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?           Uncertain

A had some trouble answering the questions as they are directed at ADC experiences with people, not animals. Also because it is not an experience of something outside our normal physical material reality.

Please offer any suggestions you may have to improve this questionnaire.       See above. Perhaps a special questionnaire dedicated to ADC's with animals.