Endogenous DMT Release in Near-NDEs?

(NOTE: The title has been updated from the original, in hope that the new title may encourage feedback! I should also mention that if you haven't read this yet, it doesn't deal directly with a human subject, although a correlation of animal and human endogenous DMT response may be considered.)

This isn't a scientic paper, but rather a personal observation - a thought experiment of sorts - something that may never be repeated in a laboratory. I wonder if the DMT rush that may occur at death and during near-death experiences may effectively play a role in near-near-death experiences [NNDEs] as well.

Sixteen years ago Sky and I brought home our first cat. It's like yesterday we were driving down the highway with little black and white Chloe in a wool beret, just five weeks old, her lithe form frantically clawing at each chance of escape. (She's an escape artist to this day. Ah, the psychology of a cat....that's another curiosity entirely.)

Hyperthyroidism and an enlarged kidney aren't getting the best of her yet. Chloe keeps chugging along, most days with determination and verve, seeming far short of her years. This little old lady is a sprite, for sure. And she's always hungry, always thirsty, and always wanting to be held - so I feed her often, refresh her water bowl, hold her.

Every day Chloe and I continue to bend to one another as we walk together. Sixteen years is precious time. Now her front paws now shake when she stands. Even every day she's a bit lighter - almost floating. She's always been somewhat of a featherweight, and now than ever. Sometimes she'll bound around the house like a whirlwind in an apparent rush of adrenaline.

Here's where it gets really interesting for me. Lately Chloe's taken the habit of staring into space, looking at things that I don't see. Sometimes she's motionless while staring; at other times her eyes are animatedly focused on something she's watching in front of her - almost like she's dreaming, yet she's wide awake.

Maybe she's tripping. Now there's something to ponder. Could Chloe be experiencing relatively subtle, near-death DMT rushes as bits of her waste away, or rather, transform? Might she occasionally dose out on spikes of endogenous DMT and momentarily traverse other dimensions? She can't come right out and say it, but observing her during one of these apparent "mini-trips" I can't help but wonder what she's experiencing.

Whether DMT may functionally accompany the general time of transition as well as the "final" moment is worth pondering. Considering that possibility, how might a given bioorganism - human, cat, or tree - react when dipping its metaphorical toes into the tidal waters at the edge of radical metamorphosis?

Stace Tussel