First came Donny, male Bichon, who has been with me from the age of 12 weeks. A year on, I adopted Mitch, male Pomeranian, from a work colleague when he was four years old. Ziggi, male cat, then joined us two years later when I heard he was found at a shop doorway, at the tender age of 4 weeks, by a passer-by who handed him to a nearby vet clinic. And Mhyah, a female Crossbreed, aged 6 months, when she was found on the streets of Bulgaria, travelled to the UK to a foster family then became my rescue dog. The first few years with Donny and Mitch I had not yet discovered animal communication so my relationship with them at that time was based on what I would read from books about dog ownership, behaviour and training.

At aged two years old Donny started to continually lick and chew his front two paws, at times to the point of bleeding. I was advised that his problem was highly likely to be related to allergies. As a result I made numerous attempts at changing his diet, his bedding, his shampoo. I bought products that alleviate itching. I tried various methods to stop him licking and chewing his paws from applying over-the-counter products to bandaging his paws. All to no avail. What was worse was that this created a terrible cycle; me struggling to stop him from chewing and Donny becoming more & more determined he would lick and chew his paws. It affected our relationship as I was feeling frustrated and helpless with not being able to resolve it.

It took three years of endless searching until one day I discovered upon a documentary on the internet that depicted the story of an animal communicator demonstrating how she could help an animal struggling to settle in its new environment. I tentatively mimicked what she did and that was when I heard Donny say to me “My back hurts”. The information came through simply and clearly. It was as if he sent the words into my mind so that I could understand them. And at the same time I remember feeling a subtle physical sensation along my lower back. In that moment too I experienced a “gut feeling” and knew that I was not imagining it. I knew it was important to take notice of this information. I did, and the outcome blew me away. The constant battle to try to stop him from chewing and over-licking his paws literally stopped after three days when I focussed on relieving his back pain.

This convinced me to explore more into animal communication and my passion grew and grew to the point of starting my business Animal Communication Insights to help other pets.

Mitch’s adoption story was not because he wasn’t loved by his previous owner - who was my work colleague - but because his needs were not understood, which showed up in his behaviour for peeing indoors and chasing the cats. When I went to his house one day to discuss whether I could offer him a home, I felt this instant connection with him. And as I left to get into my car, Mitch ran out of the house and jumped into my car as I opened the door! His owner said he had never done that before and was not known to go with people he didn’t know. Although I wasn’t aware of animal communication at that time, I realised with Mitch he would express himself using body language and being vocal. In time I could observe the way he would react to situations and know what he needed and in turn he no longer had the issue of peeing indoors.

Around the time Ziggi came into my life, I was a year in from starting my Animal Communication Insights business. At that point my consultations were mostly helping pets with behavioural and emotional issues.

One day when Ziggi didn’t come home for his breakfast, I found him in the barn all huddled up. I knew then he must be badly hurt. I rushed him to the emergency vets and it was revealed that he suffered a severe puncture wound to the side of his body. Although he was operated on, the medical opinion was that he would not recover as the muscle tissues were shredded and the stitches could hardly hold together. Miraculously the wound held but then there were complications with loss of bladder control as well use of hind legs. I was strongly advised that the best thing to do was to euthanise Ziggi as his quality of life would be very poor.

Yet when it came to making that final decision, I heard this still small voice calling out to me, saying “I want to come home. Let me come home. I am not ready to die”. And I just knew this was Ziggi. I made the decision for Ziggi to be discharged from the vet hospital and I nursed him at home day and night. I communicated with Ziggi throughout and knew I had to give Ziggi a chance to recover. Within three months, Ziggi regained bladder control and further month on Ziggi wobbled his way upright and got up on all fours, and tentatively began to walk. And from each day on he got stronger and stronger until he blew me away when he started to run, albeit with a slight drag in his hind legs. To me, he was whole again! Without a doubt, Ziggi changed the way I viewed a pet’s life in that they have a right to choose whether they are ready to die, or not.

I wish for every pet parent not to suffer the guilt of not knowing whether they did the right thing or whether it was the wrong time when it comes to end of life preparation. This area of animal communication is the driving force for the consultation and teaching work that I do. The more that I can guide pet parents to have this communication with their pets, the less likely their experience will colour the memories they hold of the life they’ve shared together.

Communicating with animals using just their photos, without the need to meet them in person, is the way I work. I was involved at one point with assisting a dog rescue organisation who transported dogs from Bulgaria and Romania to the UK. They would ask me to communicate with the ones who were anxious during the trip by sending me their photos so that I could reassure those dogs. Inevitably on one of those occasions, my eyes met with Mhyah’s when I received her photo. We started to converse and I knew instantly that we would get along really well. I told her about myself, my home, and about Donny, Mitch and Ziggi. She listened. She spoke about her discomfort and anxiety about the journey and I listened. When I closed the computer down, after a while of sharing that time with Mhyah, I knew my next move was to make enquiries to adopt her. Three weeks later I went to meet Mhyah to bring her home and she was exactly as she described herself to me in the communication.