Originally published in NY Misc.
If your cat could talk, what would he say? Pet psychics say they can read your furry friend's mind. Photo by Heather Andrews.
When Rae Ramsey sensed that her cat, Puffkin, wasn't feeling well, she immediately took the 12-year-old Himalayan to the vet. The doctor said the animal would have to stay over night, and Ramsey headed home. The next day the hospital called to say that Puffkin wasn't doing well at all and gave Ramsey the option of putting her down or doing exploratory surgery. Ramsey's eyes welled up with tears as she told the hospital she would call back. Before making such a momentous decision, Ramsey had to check with someone. She had to consult Puffkin himself.
Ramsey is a professional animal communicator and knows how to talk to animals telepathically, by psychic email. And when she contacted the sick cat and asked what she would like her to do, Puffkin replied telepathically that she would like to die at home. On the way back to her apartment, Ramsey told Puffkin that she had fixed up a private resting place with some pillows for her behind the sofa. As soon as they got home, the cat made a beeline for that very spot, which was the moment that Ramsey said she knew that her kitty understood her. And, one year later despite the gloomy prognosis of the vet, and because, Ramsey believes, of the help of communication and holistic healing it led to, Puffkin is still among the living. "I was able to find out what she wanted," said Ramsey, "and in return she fought to stay alive."
There is no proof that Ramsey actually made contact with her cat. There is no proof that animal communicators can actually understand what animals are thinking. Nonetheless, there is a whole community of communicators out there who charge as much as $100 an hour to read a pet's mind. Pet psychics, or interspecies telepathic communicators, as they prefer to be called, are people who claim to hear an animal's thoughts or feelings and translate them to the animal's owner.
They don't predict a pet's future, but these psychics claim to figure out why Spot keeps peeing on the couch, where Pooky has run off to, or what thoughts are running through Maisey's mind. Despite considerable skepticism from most animal professionals, the number
of animal communicators has rise in the last 10 years to more than 300. "This is the sort of subject that vets will laugh at and joke about," said Dr. David Spiegel, a veterinarian in Pennsylvania. "It's a field with high potential for fraud and for people to make a fast buck."
Om-Meow
All it takes to be a communicator is completing a few how-to workshops. Anyone who has a basic understanding of interpersonal communication could get the hang of it in short order.
Sometimes people call and just want to know what their animal is thinking," said Long. "Unless he has been thinking about stuff to say beforehand, he might say nothing."
Penelope Smith, who is regarded by most communicators as the guru of the field, started the first workshops 20 years ago, not surprisingly, in California. She soon found out that training people was so lucrative that she didn't have to do consultations anymore. She spends most of her time writing books and giving workshops. Her basic course, How to Communicate With Animals," costs $125 and is where the awareness about telepathy begins. The second level, called "The Deepening," which includes chanting and drum circles, will run about $440 plus the price of the textbooks. To get into the interspecies telepathic counselor course ($770), the student must write an essay about how he or she has already used animal communication to help others, and already, of course, must have taken "The Deepening."
Since all the communication is done telepathically, or from one mind to another, it's tough to prove that what's being said is true or false. Animal telepathy, which supposedly taps into the pet's consciousness and intuition, is much like meditation. First the communicator needs to clear the mind of other thoughts. The she focuses on the animal that she is contacting based on the owner's physical description. Practically instantaneously, the messages can begin flowing back.
"I receive communications in a variety of different ways, although they all have a strong sense of a burst of energy," said Elizabeth Severino, an animal communicator in New Jersey. "Sometimes the energy unfolds into actual sounds or emotions or physical sensations in my body. Very often it's images or pictures."
Though all animals are different, they usually have similar messages of hope and love for their owners. Sonya Fitzpatrick, the Animal Planet's pet psychic, talks to several animals both living and dead on her hour-long television show. She tries to pinpoint the symptoms of sick pets and to bring closure to owners whose pets have passed on. In one episode, Fitzpatrick, who is based out of Texas, met with a pig named Homer who was rescued from a burned down farm. Over the past few years, his owners guessed that back legs became paralyzed in the fire. Despite the fact that he cannot walk, his owners are doing all they can to keep his life normal. They move him around using a large swing and exercise his legs in hope that they will one day work again. Fitzpatrick visited the farm to ask Homer if he was in pain or if he would like to be put to sleep. Fitzpatrick squeezed her eyes shut for a few minutes and then jubilantly announced that Homer wanted to live. "He's not going to give up he just wants to stay regardless of whether his legs work or not," said Fitzpatrick. "And also he loves apples and says that he'd like one now."
Fitzpatrick has been talking to animals since she was a child, but gave it up for a few decades after her father killed her pet geese and cooked them for dinner. Building these relationships and sometimes loosing them became too painful for her. She began communicating again in 1994 and since then has helped 3000 animals. She feels that society is finally ready to accept animal communicators. "People are just realizing within the last twenty years, that maybe we shouldn't just cut down all the trees, and maybe we shouldn't treat animals so poorly," said Fitzpatrick. "The interest is simply a backlog of all the dreams and hopes of all animal lovers who have been waiting all their lives to learn how to communicate better with their best friends."
Bunny Talks Hip-Hop
Each communicator receives the information from animals differently, and the communication could take many different shapes sounds, pictures, words, feelings, or all of them at once. The communicators say it depends on what the animal decides to send them. Mary Long, an animal communicator in Delaware, discussed a little rabbit that worked unsuccessfully with other communicators before her. One of the rabbit's failed communicators told the bunny to talk to her using pictures, so he thought he couldn't use any other forms of communication. Long said this made the thoughts "blurry," so she told him to communicate with her in other ways. From then on, she said, their conversations were much clearer.
Communicators are often called in to help piece together the life history of a stray. Some of these animals are abandoned by their owners. Some go off on their own because they can't get along with people. Jodi Druckenmiller, a rescue worker at the Hoboken Animal Hospital in New Jersey, calls Long when she needs assistance with animals in her hospital. Recently, a lost, sick kitten wandered in to the hospital. To make his last days a little more pleasant, Druckenmiller brought him home. As he got sicker, she wondered if she should have him put to sleep. When she had called Long to speak with the kitten telepathically, the kitten said he was ready to die but that in his next life, he wouldn't spend all his time in the bathroom. There was no way that Long could have known that the little kitten had spent all his time in the bathroom at Druckenmiller's house. This small piece of information made her believe that Long was really speaking to the sick kitty. "Talking to the psychic not only makes me feel better but it makes what I do easier," she says.
People call communicators when they are desperate to change a pet's behavior. Almost daily, Long gets calls from people who are trying to discourage their animals from relieving themselves in inappropriate places. But long tells them that animals may pee on furniture to get attention or to let people know that they aren't being treated well. Then she tries to come up with a list of solutions. "I'm like a foreign language interpreter between a person and a pet," says Long, who does all her work over the phone. "When the human calls, I ask for them to have a prepared list of things to talk about. We go through their list and whatever the animal has to say before we sign off."
Squalking the Squalk
Working by phone is said to provide a clearer psychic connection. Long, for instance, needs little information for the consultation. She can connect with the animal from any place, even if the animal isn't with you. She asks for the pet's name, age, breed and color. Then, the magic begins. She might begin providing information about the animal even while the person sits on the other end of the phone in awe. She may hit something that strikes a chord in the person, or she may not. But she keeps throwing out information until she hears that "audible gasp," she says, followed by shocked silence. She knows that she has found the thing that will make the person believe. Of course it doesn't always work. Sometimes she just has an off day or runs into an inarticulate animal. "Sometimes people call and just want to know what their animal is thinking," said Long. "Unless he has been thinking about stuff to say beforehand, he might say nothing."
Another reason for working over the phone is that seeing the animal could interfere with the thought transmissions. The condition of an animal's fur, its eyes or teeth these could give a hint about the animal's health that doesn't help in figuring out what an animal is thinking. They want to know what's going on in their creature's head even if they already know it is sick. For example, if a person calls about whether or not to put her older dog to sleep, the communicator asks the dog if he is ready to die. Though he might look mangy and old, he may tell the communicator that he would like to live. "I don't want to be clouded by what I see," said Long.
Few psychics offer to help find lost animals. When pets are lost, the psychics say that the connection isn't clear, so it is tough to tell where they are. While they can't give specific information such as streets or addresses, they often tell the owner if the animal is dead or alive. Lorelei Hunt, a communicator in Delaware, likes to hold a pendulum over a map and to try to feel where the dog is. She said it's like divining for water with a stick.
When Susan Jackson of Lansdale, Pa., lost her dog two years ago, she contacted two communicators. One said that the dog was so frightened that she was not open to communication at all. Jackson said this was typical of her introverted dog. About three weeks after the dog disappeared, the psychics saw her dog, as being injured and being picked up by a woman in a car. A few hours later, someone called Jackson after seeing the ad for the lost dog that she put in the newspaper. The caller said he saw a dog that matched the description limping down a street in the area where she was last seen. Unfortunately, Jackson's dog was never spotted again and all other attempts to find her failed.
Saying Goodbye
When pets are terminally ill, communicators say they can help pet owners to let their animal friends die in peace. Often, it's a difficult time. Mary Getten, a professional communicator for the past seven years in Washington, says she can help the person honor the animal's wishes during this sacred time at the end of its life. She says she facilitates its passing so the animal dies when it wants to, something which makes the owners feel less guilty.
One child called her to ask about his aging hamster. Should they put him down or give him antibiotics for an infection he had? The hamster told the psychic he would prefer to die at home.
Once an animal has gone, many psychics claim that they can contact its spirit just by seeing a photo of the animal. Indeed, contacting dead animals is the area where the communicators can take the most creative license. Once the animal is freed of its body, it usually sounds very wise and Godlike, they say. Just this week, Getten spoke to a woman whose cat was run over by a car. The woman was beside herself, she kept saying that she shouldn't have let the cat out; she shouldn't have lived near such a busy road. When Getten talked to the cat, he reassured his owner that it wasn't her fault. It was his time to go, the animal said. The woman wanted to believe, Getten could tell, but needed more. Getten then said she heard the cat say, "I will be in your heart. You just need to ask and you'll know I'm there and we will meet again." This last bit gave the woman the relief she needed, Getten says.
City Slicker Psychic
While most communicators prefer to live in rural areas near animals, Ramsey resides in New York City where she came to pursue a singing career. She lives and works out of an apartment on the Upper East Side with her two cats, Sparky and Puffkin, and her dog Ming. She uses an office in her apartment for consultations, but doesn't need to prepare much before the calls. "I meditate every day and just clear my mind before the call," said Ramsey.
"The preparation has come from my training and practice--it is just a part of me and is as easy as talking to people."
Getting in touch with your pet, whether dead or alive, isn't cheap. The first phone appointment, where Ramsey gets to know the animal, usually takes about one hour and costs $100. After that, she charges $75 for a half-hour to 45-minute calls. For quick 15-minute questions, it costs $25. The rare on-site visit runs $125. Some clients call her up regularly. "I get to know the animals," she says. "I might even know them in spirit before they enter a body and then once they are here. I get to see all the transitions."
Even the tiniest animal has some transitions to make from this world to the next, according to communicators. One child called her to ask about his aging hamster. Should they put him down or give him antibiotics for an infection he had? Within seconds, Ramsey was in touch with the little thing. He told her that he would prefer to have the medicine and to die at home. Ramsey said he managed to hang on for five days and then he passed on in the night.
Some animals have specific wishes about how they want to die. One couple came to Ramsey asking if she could help them work with the cat to make her passing more comfortable. The cat told Ramsey that she wanted to die at home and without medicine, and when she stopped eating, she asked that her owners not to force-feed her. Then, she wanted music and candles.
Ramsey first noticed her special ability when she was a child growing up in Michigan, but thought it was something that everyone did naturally. When she discovered that other people didn't think it was possible for her to communicate with animals, she stopped talking to animals. Instead, she used her communication skills to help businesses and individuals as a career coach in New York City. Eight years ago, when a colleague mentioned animal communication she decided to get back into it. Her animals helped her through the process. "When I was very discouraged one night after class, Puffkin told me in a great burst of information that I shouldn't give up. Trust and practice and it will work out."
She trained with leading animal communicators and teachers, studied holistic health issues and complementary healing techniques including Reiki, Therapeutic touch, and Bach Flower Remedies. Using Reiki techniques, Ramsey puts her hands over the pet's body and tries to feel where energy is clogged or not flowing. She tries to absorb bad energy and keep good energy flowing. She says that she is not a "healer," but she can help animals using these therapies in conjunction with a veterinarian. "I opened up my abilities through animal communication training, so it was more uncovering skills rather than learning them," says Ramsey. "It wasn't easy at first, but it became easier as I went along. Now it's second nature."
© 2004 The Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University