Some of the most enriching and rewarding relationships we have in life are with our animal friends. And sometimes, their friendship can be quite astounding. In this article, Cathy Cox explores how far that connection can go...

There's no doubt that many pet owners ‘humanise' their animal friends, projecting what are essentially human personality traits and emotions on to those furry little faces. Nevertheless, animals do form strong bonds with us, protect us, are loyal and affectionate to us, and find their own way of communicating with us. So it stands to reason that in the beautiful expanse of the shared universe, animals connect with us and sense things that are often quite extraordinary. Does this mean that animals are psychic? Did you know:

• Before the devastating Tsunami, the elephants in coastal regions of South East Asia fled to the safety of the higher ground. Those people who observed them and recognised what that signified, fled with them and survived. Did the animals have psychic abilities?
• Dogs regularly bark or run to the door minutes before a member of the family arrives home. Does this illustrate that animals have a psychic power?
• Cats have been known to give warnings, minutes before their owner has an epileptic fit. Is this a type of Psychic control in Animals?

Rupert Sheldrake, a writer and lecturer in consciousness studies, has written a book about these very phenomena, called ‘Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home'. He has identified three main traits, which are commonly observed in our pets...

• Telepathy - a psychic connection that some animals may have with their owners. It is this ability that enables pets to "know" when their owners are on their way home.
• The Sense of Direction - this psychic ability accounts for the "incredible journeys" some animals make to be with their owners, including homing pigeons.
• Premonitions - which may explain the psychic ability that some animals seem to know when earthquakes and other environmental events are about to occur.

Probably anyone who has a close relationship with their pet has observed telepathy at work. There are numerous anecdotes about animals running around in some way before their master arrives, or before the phone rings, or a particular friend or family member calls and so on. But the other examples are not so easy to explain away. Various explanations have been offered regarding the warning some animals give about epilepsy, but Sheldrake wonders if animals are sensitive to other diseases as well. He offers some anecdotal evidence that could suggest that some animals have warned diabetics when their blood sugar was low, and also stories of animals that seem to know where cancerous spots are on their owners, long before the diagnosis is made.

Perfectly reasonable scientific explanations are also offered for animals responding to environmental disasters before they happen. But if an animal is just responding to the changes in atmosphere or subtle vibrations in the earth, perhaps they are being particularly sensitive to energy, just as a psychic is.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating areas though when it comes to our psychic animal friends is in the area of mediumship. Many clients have mentioned sightings of departed animal loved ones, and I have experienced ‘pet' mediumship myself on occasion. But more fascinating still are those animals which can sense the presence of a person who has passed, or a presence in the home not known to the owners. Is this a psychic ability in animals? Animals clearly have sensitivity to beings in other realms - just watch some of their otherwise inexplicable behaviour around the favourite chairs of loved ones, or when favourite music is playing.

Whichever way you look at it, animals share with us, body and soul, and if we trust that they are communicating with us in some sort of psychic way, they will share and enrich our lives even more.