By Heather Gibson

It was a horrible day.

I found our sweet 5-month-old platinum mink kitten—who we had poured so much energy into saving—limp on the couch. We had taken her to the vet several times, and she had just returned from a three-day stay there.

Her prognosis was not good.

Despite running countless tests, the vet was stumped. All they could offer was the suggestion to feed her every two hours and hope for the best. The odds weren’t in our favor, but we gave her everything we had—feeding her around the clock, even through the night—desperately hoping she’d pull through.

But it wasn’t enough.

She died in my hands not long after I found her.

The life of a breeder comes with both soaring highs and heartbreaking lows.

And the lows? They hit hard—sometimes harder than words can express. In moments like these, it would be easy to quit. I certainly had a reason that day. A good one.

But I’ve been a breeder long enough to understand the other side of this journey—the side filled with joy, wonder, and purpose.

I’ve watched tiny kittens open their eyes to the world for the first time. I’ve seen children light up with pure happiness as they meet their new furry friend. I’ve witnessed the emotional support and healing a small kitten can bring into a child’s life.

These moments are powerful. They’re the “ups.” But to experience them, I’ve come to accept that the “downs” are part of the path.

This is what some call the Law of Rhythm—a natural law that teaches us life moves in cycles. It flows, rises, and falls like waves. The beauty of this law is that no matter how deep the low, you can’t stay there forever.

The Law of Rhythm states that it is impossible to stay in your low!

And here’s the other bright side: we can change our rock bottom.

Every time we go through a hard experience and choose to learn from it, we raise our baseline. We elevate what used to be the lowest we could go. That means the next time life brings a low, it won’t cut quite as deep, because we’ve grown—we’ve gained tools, insight, and resilience.

I’ve learned a lot from painful experiences over the years. And thankfully, there are some I may never have to repeat, because of the growth that came from facing them head-on. That alone makes the lows easier to face.

As breeders, we will lose kittens or puppies—no matter how diligent we are, no matter how many times we’ve been through it before. And yes, it will hurt again. But with every experience, we gain more knowledge—both to support ourselves through the pain, and to help the next fragile life through its own battle.

Even when we don’t realize it at the time, our rock bottom has already been raised.

So hold onto this: as long as you remain open to learning, better days will come. And with each new challenge, you’ll be equipped to rise higher than before.

P.S. Stay tuned—my next article will bring several laws together in a way that shows how they work in harmony for your good. You're going to love the insight it brings.

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